John J Bongivengo Esq.

To all my custody clients, your current custody order is still in effect, unless otherwise ordered by the Court and only by the Court. If your custody is being withheld for the general reason of self quarantine or by the shutdown the other party is in contempt. Simply stated unless you can prove the other party or a household member has been exposed or has admittedly began to show symptoms of this virus your child should either come to you or go to them.

I have a little more detail to the statewide courthouse closure. Emergency hearings will proceed. Those hearings include ex parte (meaning only one side appears) protection from abuse applications, Emergency Children and Youth hearings. Juvenile detention hearings, Bench Warrant rescission hearings, Gagnon 1 hearings (This is a detention hearing on alleged parole/probation violators typically conducted by parole officers). All other types of hearings have been moved an...d will be rescheduled. If you or a family member have pending criminal charges and a preliminary hearing scheduled the hearings are continued if the person is not incarcerated. If the person is incarcerated the hearing will be conducted by video conference. Also, the police can still file charges at the magistrate and apply for search warrants. Again I will be available generally by email. See more

As I am sure everyone is aware, Governor Wolf has imposed mandatory closing to include legal services. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has suspended Rule 600 and other time requirements in regards to civil and criminal matters. As such my law office will be closed until the court house will open again on April 3, 2020. I however can still be reached by email [email protected] and will respond to your questions. To all stay safe.

watching tv, I see commercials for attorney's all the time. Ninety-nine percent of the time the commercial involves an experienced personal injury or disability attorney, all of them rightfully taught their experience. When you or someone you love is charged with a crime, your very freedom is at stake. Shouldn't you seek the same experience in an attorney? I am that attorney I have tried in front of a jury over 50 cases to verdict. If you are charged with a crime, my experience is what you need.

Police officers do not need any probable cause to run your registration and/or your plate. If you have an expired registration the police can run it confirm it is expired and pull you over without any other traffic violation. To avoid being pulled over make sure your registration is current.