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“She started it”! That’s something we might hear one sibling say about another one, but it’s also the argument that appears to have worked for a man in a California divorce case. In the case of Marriage of Grissom, the wife (“Valerie”) filed for divorce in San Diego and at the same time requested a…
Last night, I was watching a television drama. Indirectly, the show made reference to one or more characters having to have visitation with their children on a supervised basis. That means a third party, usually a professional, shadows the parent and child to make sure the child is safe during the visitation and that the…
If there’s one thing we know for sure about spousal support, also known as alimony, it’s that it ends with the death of either party. That’s why Family Code section 4360 exists. It provides that a court making a spousal support order “may include an amount sufficient to purchase an annuity for the supported spouse…
California determines child support by an algebraic formula that looks at essentially four things: the payor’s income; the custodial parent’s income; the number of children; and the amount of time each parent spends with a child. But what if the custodial parent, who is usually the parent who receives child support, is not working but…
How long does spousal support (i.e., alimony) last? That’s a question I get a lot. And the answer is it could be a long time, especially if the marriage has been for over ten years. The law in other places may be different, but in California, a marriage that has lasted over ten years is…
As California family law lawyers, we’re trained to tell our clients that California is a no-fault state. And that’s true. You can get a divorce for just about any reason, provided either you or your spouse has lived in California for at least six months and the county of filing for at least three months.…
When divorced parents suffer a cut in pay or a job loss, they often are entitled to a reduction in any child support that they have been ordered to pay. After all, child support in California is almost always based on a computer formula that looks at basically four factors: the number of children; the…
I remember a case I had years ago where the alleged victim of domestic violence obtained a temporary restraining order but then engaged in consensual sex with the alleged perpetrator before the hearing where the judge would decide whether to make a temporary restraining order permanent. Based on the incidence of sex, the judge dissolved…
Is a California judge allowed to deny child visitation to a father even if the visitation is supervised. Answer: yes. That’s the message from the Court of Appeal in In re T.M., which was decided last month but certified for publication this week. In T.M., a seven-year-old boy’s mother had died. Years went by, but…
A judge makes an order for child support. But it later turns out that the child is not living with the parent to whom the child support is supposed to be paid. Is that fair? Is there anything a court can do, or does it even matter? The answers to some of these questions were…