Procedure Modification

PROCEDURE

11-10 MODIFICATION / TERMINATION

The mother appealed from an order that modified the parties’ child support. She claimed that her procedural due process rights were infringed upon by the trial court. The father had filed a petition for modification of a prior support order. The petition failed to specifically aver any facts or request any relief. The Lancaster County Domestic Relations Section accepted the petition according to its internal protocol of accepting all petitions, and scheduled a support conference. At the support conference, an interim order that reduced the father’s child support obligation was entered. The mother filed a demand for a hearing. A de novo hearing was conducted by the trial court and a modified support order was entered to which the mother filed a timely appeal. The mother claimed that her state and federal rights of due process had been violated because the father never alleged any facts, nor requested any relief, in his petition for modification of child support in order to apprise the mother of the specific nature of his claims. The mother argued that the father’s petition violated the provisions of Pa.R.C.P. 1910.19(a), which states, in pertinent part, that a petition for modification or termination of an existing support order must specifically aver the material and substantial change in circumstances upon which the petition is based. However, the father’s reasons for seeking modification (his disability) were explored at the conference held some two months prior to the de novo hearing before the trial court. The mother had notice of the basis of the father’s claim before the de novo hearing; thus, the faulty petition for modification did not prejudice the mother. Summers v. Summers, 35 A.3d 786 (Pa.Super. 2012).