Despite the publicity surrounding very contentious custody battles, many divorcing couples with children end up with a court order for joint physical custody and have to figure out the details of sharing time with their kids. As with most things, it helps to get it all spelled out in advance — and in the custody [...]
Filed under: Family Law, Legal Topics | Tagged: child custody, custody orders, divorce, joint physical custody, visitation | Leave a Comment »
After a divorce, both parties want to continue to live in the style to which they have become accustomed. And California law supports this desire by requiring courts to base spousal support awards on the standard of living established during the marriage. Fam C §4330(a). Ah, but the rub can be in determining what exactly was the [...]
Filed under: Family Law, Legal Topics | Tagged: spousal support, standard of living | 1 Comment »
Each year almost 2 million American workers report to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration that they were victims of workplace violence — and many more cases go unreported. Although much of this violence is out of their control, employers can take actions that will cut down on this terrible statistic.
Filed under: Criminal Law, Employment Law, Family Law | Tagged: employees, employers, injunction, temporary restraining order, workplace violence | 1 Comment »
What is the test of whether a person is a putative spouse? Is it based on whether the person actually believed in “good faith” that the marriage is valid, or does he or she need to have an “objectively reasonable” belief in the validity of the marriage? The California Supreme Court is set to answer this question in Ceja v Rudolph [...]
Filed under: Estate Planning, Family Law, Legal Topics | Tagged: invalid marriage, putative spouse | Comments Off
Family lawyers and estate planning attorneys operate quite independently of one another. Each discipline is complex, and its practitioners are specialized to the point that it may be unreasonable to expect attorneys to be fully versed in both areas. But it is important for attorneys to recognize that their advice and actions in one context for [...]
Filed under: Legal Topics, Estate Planning, Family Law | Tagged: Estate Planning, divorce, wills, trusts, ATROs, beneficiaries, legal separation, crossover | Comments Off
I am very excited about my newest YouTube video — an interview with Jon Heywood, a CEB’s Publications Attorney and one of the editors of CEB’s new book Crossover Issues in Estate Planning and Family Law. This crossover book is so important because issues involving the family often extend into the estate planning area. For example, [...]
Filed under: Estate Planning, Family Law, Legal Topics | Tagged: crossover issues, Estate Planning, family law, YouTube | Comments Off
In the wake of the California Supreme Court’s landmark decision Elkins v Superior Court (2007) 41 C4th 1337, then Chief Justice Ron George created a task force to look into measures that could be undertaken to ease the burden on both overcrowded courts and the large number (approximately 70%) of unrepresented family law litigants. The drafters [...]
Filed under: Family Law, Legal Topics, New Legal Developments | Tagged: AB 939, depositions, due process, Elkins, Family Code, family law cases, testimony | Comments Off
According to the Huffington Post, non-custodial parents owe $19.2 billion in delinquent child support payments in California. At least part of the reason for these incredibly high arrears is the unemployment situation. Child support payments that are set when the parent has a good-paying job are left unpaid once that parent is laid off. The [...]
Filed under: Family Law, Legal Topics | Tagged: child support, delinquency, modification, unemployment | 4 Comments »
By now we all have heard about the son that former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger fathered with his married household employee. Many pundits are jumping to assumptions that this child is now entitled to live the luxury lifestyle of his father. Others are labeling Schwarzenegger a deadbeat dad, assuming that he should, and did not, provide for his biological son. It turns [...]
Filed under: Family Law, Legal Topics | Tagged: conclusive presumption, Family Code, Governor Schwarzenegger, marital presumption, parentage | 5 Comments »
