Our Mission In Action - MidPenn Legal Services

Donations to the York County Bar Foundation support community programs like MidPenn Legal Services. In 2021, $93,250 were granted to MidPenn to support the provision of free legal services and to preserve the critically needed family law attorney position in the York Office. Below is just one example of the many cases that the family law attorney handled in 2021.

Julie, the mother of two children, sought our help after her ex-boyfriend filed for custody of the children. Family Law Attorney Mike Lister met with Julie and discovered that the situation was more complicated than first thought. Julie knew her ex-boyfriend, who was listed on the birth certificate of her oldest child, was in fact not the child’s biological father. In fact, the biological father was seeing the child in question on a shared custody basis. 

The ex-boyfriend, however, was the biological father of the younger child. Based upon this information, Attorney Lister filed Preliminary Objections alleging that ex-boyfriend did not have standing to pursue custody of the oldest child. After presenting the Preliminary Objections, the oldest child’s biological father was joined to the custody action and paternity testing was ordered. This testing confirmed that the man who was not on the birth certificate of the older child was the older child’s biological father.

Another hearing was held to determine if the ex-boyfriend had any grounds to bring an action for custody of the oldest child. After the evidence was heard, the Complaint with regard to the oldest child was dismissed allowing the ex-boyfriend to only pursue custody of the younger child who is his biological child. This matter is still in litigation. Julie and the biological father of the older child were able to continue to co-parent their child without the interference of a third party.

*Names and photos have been changed to protect the privacy of clients.