Every so often family law practitioners are faced with a situation that leaves us without any good answer for our clients; the law either falls short or does not make sense. Our reaction is, “That just isn’t right.” Recently the Pennsylvania legislature addressed one of these situations—and made things right—with the passage of HB-983, which along with Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s signature on Oct. 24, became Act 102 of 2018.

Many Pennsylvania family law practitioners have been confronted with a fact pattern that leaves us feeling helpless and wishing there was more we could do. The fact pattern goes something like this: The wife is the primary bread winner and doing her best to keep the family together. The husband is either unemployed or under-employed, with a substance abuse or a mental health issue, or both. One night the husband is physically abusive to the wife. The police are called and the husband is arrested. Depending on the seriousness of the violence, the husband is charged with a number of criminal offenses. Let’s assume he is charged with simple assault, terroristic threats and harassment.