Divorce Mediator Bucks County PA

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Office Hours: 9am to 5pm Monday through Friday
evening appointments available upon request

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Equitable Mediation is The Smartest Way to Divorce in Bucks County, PA

Whether you were born and raised in the Newtown - Yardley area, or crossed into New Hope to escape the high cost of living in the Garden State, one thing's for certain: Bucks County is a great place to raise a family.

But now that you and your spouse are getting a divorce, it's important the option you choose to end your marriage is not only peaceful and cost-effective, but most importantly: child-focused.

The "good" news in this otherwise trying time is that an alternative dispute resolution option does exist.

And that option is Bucks County divorce mediation.

Divorce in Bucks County PA

If you and your spouse are looking to amicably end your marriage and live in Bucks County, divorce mediation is your best option - instead of family law attorneys.

But while choosing to mediate your Bucks County divorce is a great first step, there’s still one more very important choice you’ll need to make.

The choice of which Bucks County divorce mediation team you’ll choose to help you and your spouse negotiate and come to agreement out of court on all of the issues required for the divorce process.

As mediating a divorce in Bucks County isn’t as easy as you think.

The Challenges of a Bucks County Divorce Mediation

On the surface, you may be wondering, “Why is divorce in Bucks County different than anywhere else in PA?”

And that’s a fair question.

There are two reasons: its proximity to the border, and its economic diversity.

And while either of these issues alone would be enough to complicate a divorce, add them both together, and you’ve got quite a complex situation on your hands.

That’s why it’s critical that the Bucks County divorce mediation team you choose is not only aware of the unique issues you’ll face, but has the experience to help you resolve them.

Divorce is a “State-Specific Process”

Just like in PA, every state in the US has rules about divorce that only apply to their state.

Things like how long the parties have to be a resident before they can get a divorce, and how long the parties have to be living separate and apart.

Another thing that every state in the US has is a child support guideline. Child support is a state level issue. And how it’s determined varies greatly from state-to-state.

The Complexities When Crossing Borders with Kids

Recently we worked with a couple who lived in the Yardley / Newtown area.

The husband worked in PA while the wife worked in NJ. Their parenting plan had the wife with the kids a majority of the time. And she wanted to move closer to her job and relocate the kids to Princeton, just across the border.

No big deal, right?

Yardley to Princeton is only a 15 minute drive.

But…

When it came time to determine child support, that's when things got complex.

You see, the PA and NJ child support guidelines produce very different results. And the cost of living in Princeton can be significantly higher than in the Yardley / Newtown area.

Technically, since the couple was getting a divorce in Bucks County PA, the PA child support guidelines applied in their situation. But if the cost of living in Princeton is higher than in Yardley / Newtown, how then, were mom and dad going to know if the kids would be financially OK?

That’s where working with an experienced Bucks County divorce mediation team like us is critical.

Working together, we prepared a thorough cost-of-living analysis for both sides of the border, ran the child support guidelines for both states (as we practice in both PA and NJ) and developed a customized solution that met the parties' unique needs.

And since the wife was already “across state lines” with the kids, we worked out a parenting plan which had provisions on additional relocation, transportation duties, and future parenting plan modifications should she decide to relocate elsewhere in the state.

Alimony and Economic Diversity

While some states are moving towards using an alimony guideline, PA does not currently have one.

So determining an appropriate amount of alimony in PA can be a real challenge as it’s truly up to the parties to negotiate and decide. It is based on, among many other things, each party’s financial needs, post-divorce.

Now let’s say you and your spouse both plan on living in Bucks County once you’re divorced. One of you is going to stay in the Doylestown area to keep the kids in the same school district, while one of you is going to move to Quakertown.

In theory, the party living in Doylestown is going to require more cash on hand to make ends meet than the party in Quakertown. (To give you an idea of the economic diversity of Bucks County, the median home price in Quakertown is $182,720 while in Doylestown it's $418,678.)

So now you’re the spouse living in Doylestown and you’re asking for alimony. And the spouse living in Quakertown says, “Why should I have to pay that much in alimony when you could move out here and I could pay you less?”

Again, fair point.

And with no alimony guideline in Bucks County (or Pennsylvania in general), coming to agreement can be a real challenge.

Just one more reason to work with an experienced Bucks County divorce mediator instead of divorce lawyers!

At Equitable Mediation, we help Bucks County couples divorce peacefully and cost-effectively with our all-inclusive flat-fee divorce mediation services.

Let us help you create an agreement that's fair, equitable, works for both of you and puts your family first.

If you and your spouse live in the Bucks County Pennsylvania area and want to have an amicable divorce, book an initial meeting for the two of you today.

Get Started

Other Useful Divorce, Mediation & Pennsylvania Resources:

• Bucks County Court Information
• Bucks County Domestic Relations Division
• Newtown Township, PA Information
• Divorce Mediation FAQ's
• Learn about Our Flat-Fee Divorce Mediation Services
• The Real Truth Behind the Cost of Divorce Mediation
• Think it's Easy to Determine PA Child Support? Guess Again!
• Understanding The Challenges of Determining Alimony in PA

Directions to Equitable Mediation's Bucks County / Newtown Office:

Equitable Mediation Services of Newtown is conveniently located at 110 North State Street, in the heart of Newtown, Bucks County.

From the north (New Hope area):

Take PA-32 South towards Washington Crossing. Turn right onto Brownsburg Road, East which will turn into Eagle Road. Follow Eagle Road for 4.5 miles until you hit PA 532. Make a left onto PA-532 North and then your second right onto North Sycamore Street. Follow North Sycamore and make your first left onto Jefferson Street and then your first right onto North State Street. Our building will be approximately ¼ mile down on your right.

From the south (Langhorne area):

Take PA-413 / Pine Street North and follow for 3 miles. PA-413 will turn into North State Street. Once you cross over PA-332, our building will be down 1 mile, on your left.

From the east (Yardley area):

Take 95 South to exit 49, and merge onto PA-332 West towards Newtown. At the TD Bank, turn right onto Newtown Yardley Road. Follow Newtown Yardley Road (which will become Washington Avenue) for approximately 1 ¾ miles. At State Street, turn right and our building will be 500 feet down, on your left.

From the west (Warminster area):

Head northwest on PA-132 East towards PA-263 South. Turn left onto PA-332 East and follow for 8.7 miles. PA-332 East will turn into Newtown Richboro Road which will turn into Center Avenue. The First National Bank & Trust of Newtown, make a left onto State Street and our building will be on your left, approximately ¼ of a mile down.