Legal Question in Family Law in Pennsylvania

Hi, and Thank you for your question,

All I can say is, "WOW"!. I have been practicing Family Law in Delaware County for 25 years and this is the first time I have heard this. It is especially unusual in this day and age when the Court Clerk's Office in most Family Courts throughout the United States have most of the "popular forms" which litigants use in "forms", making it easier and simpler for litigants who want to represent themselves, or who must represent themselves because they cannot afford an Attorney, to simply fill out the forms, give them to the Court Clerk who will assign a Hearing Date, and then "brush up on proper Court etiquette in preparation for the hearing.

The information the Court Clerk gave you is not quite accurate and illogical. If you reverse the tables, you will see how illogical it really is - Suppose the Attorney who represented the parent 15 years ago at one of the original hearings in Family Court no longer had the parent as a client, or just did not want to represent this individual any more. Do you really believe that the Attorney would allow the Court Clerk who is a glorified paper-pusher, to call the shots and tell the Attorney, "You have to represent the Plaintiff because you represented him 15 years ago!" I doubt that very much.

First, you need to prepare a "Petition to Modify Custody", an " Order" which is handed up to the Judge for his signature, and if your County uses them, a "Rule" and a "Rule Returnable" on which the hearing date, time, Court Address, and Court Room" will be printed.. When you prepare these, take them to be time-stamped in the Prothonotary's Office. The original and all your copies should be time-stamped". The original will stay with the Court and make sure you have 2 copies for yourself (1 copy and a spare) and a copy which will be served on the other parent. You then prepare an "Affidavit of Service" with all the pertinent information which you will file with the Prothonotary's Office once you serve the Petition on the other parent.

You did not state who this individual was who told you that you had to have your original Attorney represent you. But, if this individual gives you a problem when you take your pleadings to be Time-Stamped, ask to speak to either the Prothonotary or the Court Administrator, whoever has seniority, and tell them what you encountered and you wanted to know how his or her office handles the cases where the litigants want to represent themselves. By phrasing it this way, you are letting them know the difficulty this individual gave you, and you need or want to represent yourself. I am sure the Prothonotary or the Court Administrator will take care of the situation.

Best of Luck,

ANDREA G. TILLIS