S.S. v. B.S.

46 Pa. D. & C.5th 173, 2015 Pa. Commw. Unpub. LEXIS 955, 2015 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 21496
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Northampton County
DecidedMarch 23, 2015
DocketNos. DR-0079714; 342 EDA 2015
StatusPublished

This text of 46 Pa. D. & C.5th 173 (S.S. v. B.S.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Northampton County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
S.S. v. B.S., 46 Pa. D. & C.5th 173, 2015 Pa. Commw. Unpub. LEXIS 955, 2015 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 21496 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2015).

Opinion

KOURY, J.,

And now, this 23rd day of March, 2015, the court issues the following statement:

[175]*175On January 20, 2015, defendant B. S. filed and served upon this court a timely notice of appeal to the Superior Court of Pennsylvania from the order of court dated December 22,2014. On February 12,2015, pursuant to our request under Pennsylvania Rule of Appellate Procedure 1925(b), we received a statement of matters complained of on appeal.

For the reasons that follow, we respectfully suggest that defendant’s appeal lacks merit.

I. Factual and Procedural History

On June 13,2014, plaintiff S.S. filed a uniform support petition seeking child support for one child, S. B. S. (the “child”), who was bom in the United States on April 11, 2008. See petition for support, S. v. S., No. C-48DR-0079714 (C.P. Northampton County June 13, 2014) (“support petition”). Plaintiff and defendant were married in Pakistan on July 6, 2007, separated on November 20, 2011, and divorced in Pakistan on May 4, 2012.

Plaintiff resides in Texas and filed the petition for support with the child support division of the attorney general’s office (“Texas Support Office”) in Arlington, Texas. See support petition. Defendant resides in Easton, Northampton County, Pennsylvania. The Texas Support Office sent a child support enforcement transmittal to the Northampton County Domestic Relations Section on June 23,2014. See support petition. The parties were ordered to appear for a support conference on July 29, 2014.

On July 21,2014, defendant filed preliminary obj ections to plaintiff’s support petition. See preliminary objections, S. v. S., No. C-48-DR-0079714 (C.P. Northampton County July 21,2014). The parties appeared for a hearing [176]*176on the preliminary objections on August 25, 2014. See order of court dated August 12, 2014, S. v. S., No. C-48DR-0079714 (C.P. Northampton County Aug. 12, 2014). At the conclusion of the hearing, the parties were directed to file briefs in support of their respective legal positions regarding defendant’s preliminary objections. See order of court dated August 25, 2014, S. v. S., No. C-48DR-0079714 (C.P. Northampton County Aug. 25, 2014) (“August 2014 order”). On September 12,2014, the court, by the Honorable Paula A. Roscioli (“Judge Roscioli”),1 overruled defendant’s preliminary objections to the support petition and scheduled a support conference for October 15, 2014. See order of court dated September 12, 2014, S. v. S, No. C-48-DR-0079714 (C.P. Northampton County Sept. 12, 2014).

Defendant appeared at the support conference before conference officer Marta E. Husovsky (“Husovsky”). Plaintiff was not required to appear. See summary of trier of fact, dated October 15, 2014 at 2, S. v. S., No. C-48DR-0079714 (C.P. Northampton County Oct. 15, 2014) (“Support conference summary”). Husovsky determined that plaintiff was unemployed but currently volunteered in a hospital in Texas. See support conference summary. It was noted that plaintiff was only temporarily in the United States. See id. Husovsky concluded that plaintiff could not obtain a physician’s salary in the United States because she was only temporarily in the United States, but was not medically unable to work. See id. (emphasis added). Therefore, Husovsky recommended that plaintiff be assessed a full-time income as a home health aide at $9.98 per hour as per the Pennsylvania Occupational Wage [177]*177Survey. See id. at 3 (emphasis added). On October 17, 2014, Judge Roscioli entered an order of support directing defendant to pay child support in the amount of $1,030.00 per month, allocated as $858.00 for basic support of the one child and $172.00 for arrears. See order of court dated October 17, 2014, S. v. S., No. C-48-DR-0079714 (C.P. Northampton County Oct. 17, 2014) (“October 2014 order”). The order was based on an assessed income for plaintiff in accordance with Husovsky’s recommendation and defendant’s income as determined from pay stubs submitted to the domestic relations section. See October 2014 order.

II. De Novo Hearing

On October 27,2014, defendant filed a written demand for a de novo hearing. See request for hearing de novo, S. v. S., No. C-48-DR-0079714 (C.P. Northampton County Oct. 27,2014). On December 10,2014, defendant and his counsel appeared, as did plaintiff (via telephone) and the Title IV-D advocate, attorney Stephen Mowrey.

At the hearing, attorney Mowrey stated on the record that “there’s a history here of family violence, so there may be certain questions that would be inappropriate based on that history.” See Notes of Transcript at 5:1-3, S. v. S., No. C-48-DR-0079714 (C.P. Northampton Co., Dec. 10, 2014) (“N.T.”). Plaintiff testified she had been in the United States since January 2014 but was not currently employed because she did not have permission to work in the United States. N.T. at 5:22-25; 6:14. While living in Pakistan, plaintiff was employed at the Liaquat National Hospital as a physician. See id. at 6:11-14.

Plaintiff stated that her sole intention in coming to the United States was to bring her daughter to safety as there [178]*178had been threats made against her life. See id. at 7:18-25. Plaintiff described the circumstances that led to her entry to the United States in January 2014, indicating that she received threatening calls while in Pakistan and, subsequently, contacted the United States Consulate. See id. at 20:7-8. She testified that the United States Consulate instructed her to bring her daughter, a United States citizen, to the United States and granted plaintiff an emergency visitor’s visa to do so. See id. at 20:10-21:1. Plaintiff testified that her visa was stamped with an expiration date of July 18, 2014, but she applied for, and received a stay until December 2014. See id. at 22:5-16. Plaintiff testified that she was in the process of filing for political asylum in the United States. See id. at 9:20-10:7. There was no testimony presented by defendant to contradict any of this testimony by plaintiff. See generally, N.T. While plaintiff did not present documentation to support this testimony at the time of the hearing, we found plaintiff’s testimony credible.

Plaintiff testified that she fears defendant. See id. at 22:22. She stated that she had seen last seen defendant in October 2014, when she met him in court in Texas. See id. at 26:18-20. Plaintiff provided a detailed description of an incident of abuse in which defendant had her pinned on the ground, was sitting on plaintiff’s chest with his knees on her hands and was strangling her while her daughter witnessed this incident. See id. at 27:18-28:9. She indicated that part of the reason she came to the United States was because of the issues with violence she had with her husband. See id. at 28:21-24. While defendant testified that there was no domestic violence in his relationship with plaintiff, we did not find this testimony credible. See id. at 31:18-23.

At the December 10, 2014 hearing, the entire [179]

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46 Pa. D. & C.5th 173, 2015 Pa. Commw. Unpub. LEXIS 955, 2015 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 21496, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ss-v-bs-pactcomplnortha-2015.