Articles by Our Attorneys

Governor Wolf’s moratorium on residential mortgage foreclosures and landlord tenant evictions in Pennsylvania expired on August 31, 2020. The question is what happens now.

On May 29, 2020, the Pennsylvania Legislature passed the Covid Relief – Mortgage and Rental Assistance Grant Program. A minimum of $150,000,000.00 was allocated for rental assistance grants and the money has been appropriated to the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency for Covid Relief. An eligible lessee (tenant), mortgagor (homeowner), landlord or mortgagee (bank) may apply for relief if the tenant or homeowner became unemployed after March 1, 2020 or had their annual household income reduced by 30% or more due to reduced work hours and wages related to Covid-19.

The application shall include a statement by the landlord or lender releasing the tenant or homeowner of any remaining obligation for any past due or future rent or mortgage payment for which the Agency pays the landlord or lender.

Only households with an annualized current income of no more than the upper limit of “median income” will qualify.

For rental assistance, an amount equal to 100% of the tenant’s monthly rent, not to exceed $750.00 per month, for each month for which assistance is sought for a maximum of six months is available. For mortgage assistance, an amount equal to 100% of the homeowner’s monthly mortgage, not to exceed $1,000.00 per month for each month for which assistance is sought for a maximum of six months is available. Payment shall be made no later than November 30, 2020.

In Chester County, Pennsylvania, Friends Association For Care and Protection of Children based in West Chester, has started a program beginning September 1, 2020 to prevent evictions. They will provide an attorney and social worker at court for any Chester County eviction and similar programs in Montgomery County and Philadelphia County have helped 80% of the tenants stay in their housing. If you are a landlord or a tenant you should contact an attorney to help you navigate these new procedures.

Despite the growing acceptance of marijuana in society and its shown medical benefits, a Pennsylvania Superior Court has held that it is not an abuse of discretion to consider a parent’s marijuana use, whether medical or recreational, when determining a child’s best interest. H.R. v. C.P., 2019 PA Super 357 (Pa. Super. 2019). This is significant given the fact that medical marijuana is legal in Pennsylvania and the law legalizing it states that an individual’s medical marijuana license shall not be considered by a court in a custody proceeding.

Generally child custody disputes in Pennsylvania are decided using the “best interest of the child” standard. This standard includes a host of factors, including a party’s history of drug or alcohol abuse and any other relevant factor.
Even though the Medical Marijuana Act states that an individual’s medical marijuana license shall not be considered by a court in a custody proceeding, the wording of the law does not explicitly ban the courts from still considering an individual’s history of recreational drug use. So while the court will not consider that a party has a medical marijuana license, they can consider the party’s medicinal use of the drug.

No one factor should be given more weight than any other factors, but it is important to know that a medical marijuana license does not prevent the courts from factoring a party’s marijuana use into their determination.

If you have a loan with Complete Business Solutions Group, Inc., d/b/a Par Funding (“Par Funding”), you should hire an attorney ASAP because they have just been placed into a receivership and you should know your rights. In the past, if you default on the loan, Par Funding will often file a confession of judgment against you in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, and I have defended many of these. In addition to many of Par Funding’s loans charging exorbitant interest rates, they often confess judgment against not only the entity borrowing the money but the individual guarantor even though we have argued that the loan documents my clients have been given by Par Funding do not authorize a confession against the guarantor. If you are having trouble paying back the high interest rates on the hard money loan, a receiver has just been appointed for Par Funding and it will probably be easier to negotiate a settlement with the receiver than it would have been with Par Funding. An article in the Sunday Philadelphia Inquirer on July 31, 2020 stated some of the loans charged more than 400% interest and a sample of the loans found more than half carried interest rates of more than 95%. Protect your rights and hire an attorney.

It has recently come to light that, in addition to having problems with their borrowers, Par Funding is now being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission as an investment scam. The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) filed a complaint in the Southern District of Florida against Complete Business Solutions Group, d/b/a Par Funding and other entities including Lisa McElhone and Joe Barletta a/k/a Joe Cole a/k/a Joe LaForte, Perry Abbonizio and Dean Vagnozzi, who advertises aggressively as “A Better Financial Plan”.

If you are an investor in Par Funding, you also need to hire an attorney ASAP as the SEC is asking a Federal Judge to freeze the assets of LaForte and McElhone, Vagnozzi and Abbonizio, and a receiver has been appointed for Par Funding to protect any remaining investor assets.

Michael G. Louis, Esquire
MacElree Harvey, Ltd.
17 West Miner Street
P.O. Box 660
West Chester, PA 19381-0660
(610) 840-0228
e-mail: [email protected]

1. It is insurance. You get medical insurance not because you are sick, but so that in the event that
   you get sick you have insurance to help you out during an already stressful period. A prenuptial
   agreement (or “prenup”) does not mean that you are expecting your marriage to end or that
   you are not in love with your spouse, it just means that you want protection in the event the
   unthinkable happens. It is better to have it and not need it, than to not have it and need it later
   on.
2. It provides full disclosure. The drafting of a prenup forces couples to discuss difficult topics such
   as finances, assets, and any debts in detail. The main way to invalidate a prenup is to say there
   was not proper disclosure. When getting a prenup drafted your attorney will require you to
   share important documents with your soon-to-be betrothed to ensure that you have both fully
   disclosed the value and nature of all assets and liabilities, and that you have discussed and
   agreed about how to split these things.
3. Take the “guesswork” out. In the event you and your spouse do find yourself in a position
   where you would like to file for divorce, then the stress of dividing your estate is no longer
   there. The divorce process can be stressful, unpredictable, and in some cases contentious. The
   prenup can give you security and confidence that a major factor of the divorce is already
   handled. Besides, it might be better to decide these emotional topics while things are still
   amicable.
4. It can be a wise investment. Getting a divorce can be expensive. There are a host of different
   costs and fees that can arise during the process, especially if the marital estate is large and/or if
   the parties struggle to reach an agreement on how to split assets, debts, and other property.
   Coming together at the beginning to draft this contract can help reduce costs on the back end,
   should a divorce occur.
5. It is your prerogative. Anyone can get a prenup! It is not just for celebrities, it is for anyone who
   wants that safety net. A prenup is just an agreement between you and your spouse that says
   how you would like to handle your assets, debts, property, and even spousal support.
   Regardless of age, race, sexual orientation, or social class, anyone can get a prenup if they want
   one.

In a recent article, we discussed the enactment of The Small Business Reorganization Act (“SBRA”), which went into effect on February 19, 2020. This article will discuss some of its more significant provisions, which give small businesses effective new tools for dealing with debt and creditors, and for successfully reorganizing under the amendments to Subchapter V of the Bankruptcy Code.

There are numerous significant changes under Subchapter V benefitting the debtor. There is no unsecured creditors committee. An individual case trustee is assigned to each case, whose role is supervisory and to facilitate the debtor getting a consensual plan with creditors. These changes, along with others referenced herein, evidence the intent of the amendments to encourage consensual plans and avoid the contentiousness that sometimes arises in regular Chapter 11 cases between the debtor and the creditors committee and/or the US Trustee.

There are also no US Trustee fees and no requirement to file a disclosure statement in Subchapter V cases. Unlike regular Chapter 11 cases, only Subchapter V debtors may file a plan and only Subchapter V debtors may modify that plan. Some deadlines are also accelerated in comparison to a regular Chapter 11 case; for example, the Subchapter V debtor must file its plan within 90 days of commencement of the case.

Also, of great significance is the fact that the Absolute Priority Rule does not apply, which was often a significant impediment to small business debtors confirming and completing a plan of reorganization. The Absolute Priority Rule prevents a debtor from retaining any property if it does not pay all of its creditors in full. Moreover, the debtor is not required to contribute new value in order to get a plan confirmed. The Subchapter V debtor also has the ability to “cramdown” or, in other words, reduce or discharge the debt owed to unsecured creditors. These provisions will not only enhance the odds of putting together a confirmable plan but will facilitate the debtor’s ability to successfully negotiate with creditors.

Because of the tighter deadlines in Subchapter V bankruptcy cases, and the new provisions for dealing with creditors, it is expected that Subchapter V cases can proceed more quickly, can be completed for less cost and will result in consensual plans between a debtor and its creditors.
These attributes are of great value to small businesses seeking to reorganize and will place a premium on pre-bankruptcy planning and negotiations with creditors.