High Swartz, a full-service law firm with offices in Southeastern PA and New Jersey, is pleased to announce that family law and litigation attorney Chelsey A. Christiansen successfully argued to vacate an orphans’ court decree which terminated a father’s parental rights.
Chelsey represented father, the appellant before Pennsylvania Superior Court, and appellee before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. While the Superior Court and Supreme Court differed in reasoning, Chelsey was able to obtain a consistent result – the vacating of the decree terminating father’s parental rights.
Chelsey appeared before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on April 14, 2021, and after just over three months, received the decision she and her client had advocated for throughout the nearly two-year appellate process.
“The ultimate result of this case is that after two-and-a-half years of litigation, father can return to the place where the matter began – custody court. The right to parent is a fundamental right for a reason – there is nothing more precious than the relationship with one’s child. I feel proud and privileged to have been part of a case which fortifies this right for parents across the Commonwealth.”
View the PA Supreme Court Decision here
Chelsey is a Montgomery County native and graduate of the Thomas R. Kline School of Law at Drexel University, Penn State University, and North Penn High School. Chelsey appreciates that the nature of litigation within the context of the family unit can be overwhelming; thus, she approaches every client matter be it through mediation, trial, or appellate level with compassion and empathy.