Rule Text
(a) The action shall proceed as prescribed by Pa.R.C.P. No. 1910.11 unless the court by local rule adopts the alternative hearing procedure of Pa.R.C.P. No. 1910.12.
(b) The president judge or the administrative judge of Family Division of each county shall certify that all support proceedings in that county are conducted in accordance with either Pa.R.C.P. No. 1910.11 or Pa.R.C.P. No. 1910.12. The certification shall be filed with the Domestic Relations Procedural Rules Committee, and shall be substantially in the following form: I hereby certify that
County conducts its support proceedings in accordance with Pa.R.C.P. No.
.
(PRESIDENT JUDGE) (ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE)
Amendment history: The provisions of this Rule 1910.10 amended November 7, 1988, effective January 1, 1989, 18 Pa.B. 5326; amended March 30, 1994, effective July 1, 1994, 24 Pa.B. 1953; amended September 5, 1995, effective January 1, 1996, 25 Pa.B. 4097; amended October 30, 2001, effecitve immediately, 31 Pa.B. 6273; amended October 8, 2002, effective immediately, 32 Pa.B. 5262; amended July 30, 2003, effective immediately, 33 Pa.B. 4072; amended January 12, effective May 12, 2010, 40 Pa.B. 586; amended September 16, 2013, effective October 16, 2013, 43 Pa.B. 5701; amended October 13, 2015, effective January 1, 2016, 45 Pa.B. 6400; amended October 14, 2016, effective December 1, 2016, 46 Pa.B. 6819. Immediately preceding text appears at serial pages (378981) to (378983).
Plain-English Summary (for reference only — not a substitute for the rule text above)
This summary is not the rule. The rule text controls.
Pennsylvania handles child support cases in two different ways, depending on the county where you live. Each county must follow one of two sets of procedures spelled out in the state's court rules.
The judge in charge of each county picks which procedure that county will use. Once that decision is made, the top judge must sign a form saying which procedure their county follows and send it to the state committee that oversees these rules.
If your county has not chosen the alternative method, your support case will automatically follow the standard procedure. This means where you live in Pennsylvania can affect how your support hearing is run, even though the same state laws apply everywhere.
Committee Notes
For a complete list of the Alternative Hearing Procedures for each county: http://www.pacourts.us/courts/supreme-court/committees/rules-committees/domestic-relations-procedural-rules-committee.
In accordance with Pa.R.C.P. No. 1910.10, a judicial district may opt for one of two procedures for support matters; the procedure selected is then certified by the president judge or administrative judge to the Domestic Relations Procedural Rules Committee as prescribed in subdivision (b). Subdivision (b) was added in response to requests from appellate court judges who find that it is often difficult to determine the rule with which the actual support procedure is intended to comply. Subsequently, a judicial district may, at any time, change its support procedure by filing a new certification with the staff of the Domestic Relations Procedural Rules Committee indicating the rule according to which support matters will proceed. However, a judicial district may, by local rule, permit interstate actions to proceed directly to a hearing officer or judge without a conference.
The procedure set forth in Pa.R.C.P. No. 1910.11 provides for a conference before a conference officer, a conference summary and entry of an interim order for support calculated in accordance with the guidelines, and a right to demand a hearing de novo before a judge. The hearing must be held and the final order entered within 60 days of the written demand for hearing.
The alternate procedure, as set forth in Pa.R.C.P. No. 1910.12, provides for a conference before a conference officer, a record hearing before a hearing officer, and issuance of a report and recommendation to which exceptions may be filed within ten days. The court must hear argument and enter a final order within 60 days of the filing of exceptions.
In lieu of continuing the practice of including in the Note a 67-county list identifying the hearing procedure selected by the local county court, the list can now be found on the Domestic Relations Procedural Rules Committee website.
