Document Type
Article
Abstract
The adoption of the Pennsylvania Divorce Code on April 2, 1980, P.L. 63, Act 1980-26 was the second major change of the Divorce Law since 1785. “The Divorce Law,” May 2, 1929 P.L. 1237, 23 P.S. § 63 authorized local rules. The new 1980 act created three major features not found in the earlier act: no-fault divorce, alimony, and equitable distribution of property. For an early discussion of the new Code, see Lynne Z. Gold-Bikin and Jack A. Rounick, The New Pennsylvania Divorce Code, 25 Vill. L. Rev. 617 (1980), at https://digitalcommons.law.villanova.edu/vlr/ vol25/iss4/2. The results of the statutory law resulted in the need to create new rules to go along with law. These new rules, promulgated first in 1981 (though a few rules pre-date that year), are enshrined in the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure §§ 1900-1959. The following legislative history provides the history of each section of the rules as they were adopted and then amended over the forty-year plus history of the rules to the end of 2022. Interestingly, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Domestic Relations Procedural Rules Committee is now currently reviewing the creation of a new set of family court rules separating them from the Rules of Civil Procedure to become the Pennsylvania Rules of Family Court Procedures (as of the date of this publication). Regardless of whether a change occurs, there will be a continuing need to follow the rules as they are being adopted or amended.
Repository Citation
Fishman, J., & Maurer, H. E. (2023). The History of the Pennsylvania Rules of Domestic Relations, Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure §§1900- 1959 (1980-2022). Pennsylvania Family Lawyer, 45 (1). Retrieved from https://dsc.duq.edu/law-faculty-scholarship/195