Scheduling
- Effective June 1, 2020, if a judge of the Family Division refers a matter to a Divorce Hearing Officer for a conciliation or hearing, counsel/parties shall follow the procedures below:
- A copy of the order of court referring the matter to the Divorce Hearing Officer, along with contact information (including email addresses) for all counsel and unrepresented parties, shall be mailed or dropped off at the following address:
Family Law Center
Attn: Docket Clerk
440 Ross Street, Room 400
Pittsburgh, PA 15219
- If a check made payable to “Divorce Hearing Officer” for the entire fee accompanies the order of court, which is the preferred practice, the Docket Clerk will contact the attorney of record/unrepresented party via telephone or email to schedule the date.
If a check made payable to “Divorce Hearing Officer” for a portion of the fee accompanies the order of court, the Docket Clerk will wait until the fee is paid in full to contact the attorney of record/unrepresented party to schedule the date.
NOTE: Failure to pay the fee in the time allotted in the initial DHO referral order (or within 30 days from the date of the referral order, whichever is latest) will result in a return of any paid portion of the DHO fee and will require a new referral from the assigned Judge should the case need to be scheduled.
Please call 412.350.0326 with any questions.
Equitable Distribution Conciliations proceeding via Teleconference or Microsoft Teams
Conciliations will continue to he held remotely via teleconference or Microsoft TEAMS until further notice.
Prior to any Equitable Distribution conciliation proceeding with a Divorce Hearing Officer via teleconference or Teams, each attorney/party SHALL submit a Marital Asset and Liability Summary (or updated MALS) via email to the assigned Divorce Hearing Officer, and provide copies to the opposing attorney/party, no later than five (5) days prior to the conciliation date. Since the Divorce Hearing Officers will NOT have access to the Department of Court Records file, the MALS SHALL contain a brief narrative which includes, but is not limited to, the following background and procedural information:
- Date of marriage;
- Date of separation;
- Ages/dates of birth of parties;
- Educational background of parties;
- Number of children (minor and emancipated) and ages/dates of birth;
- Employment of the parties and general income information;
- Any prior marriages of the parties;
- Existence of any executed agreements between the parties (pre-nup/post-nup);
- Budget information, if relevant;
- Date of filing and service of complaint in divorce;
- Date of filing and service of any answer/counterclaim or petition raising claims;
- Listing of all counts raised/pending;
- Date(s) and amount(s) of any support order(s);
- Date(s) and terms of any custody orders;
- Identify any claims(s) that may have been consolidated with equitable distribution, such as support,
discovery matters, other issues raised through motions.
Important: Conciliations will be cancelled if the MALS are not timely submitted.