It is not all that uncommon for couples to live together without getting married, but what happens if they split up after living together for a long period of time, several years even? California does not recognize common law marriage, and parties do not acquire community property simply by living together, so how do the…
In late May this year, a woman was shot multiple times in the head and chest in the San Ysidro neighborhood of San Diego. She was last reported as being in critical condition and facing serious, life-threatening injuries. The police had reason to believe she knew her attacker, and the case was being investigated by…
What if you or your spouse took $231,399.00 from a home equity line of credit within months prior to separation and gave a substantial portion of that money to your father or some other relative, without telling the other spouse about the withdrawal? That’s apparently what happened in a recent San Diego County divorce case. …
The San Fernando Valley Bar Association devoted the May edition of its Valley Lawyer magazine to family law matters. A couple of interesting articles highlighted some important and related issues to watch out for in a high-conflict divorce: the reluctance of children to participate in visitation with the non-custodial parent; and the situation where the…
In the event of physical violence, harassment or threats, or emotional, psychological or financial abuse, a spouse can fairly easily obtain a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the other spouse. The TRO can order the abusive spouse to move out of the house and avoid all contact with the other spouse, the children or even…
The short answer is — probably not. The Supreme Court of the United States, by a 5-4 vote, issued two landmark rulings on Thursday with respect to same sex marriages. The net effect is that in California, same sex marriages are once again legal. Stated differently, same sex couples are once again allowed to marry.…
If one spouse files for divorce or legal separation in California, may the other spouse stop the process by arguing the filing party doesn’t know what he is doing? That was more or less the situation in a recent case decided by the California Court of Appeal entitled Marriage of Greenway. In Greenway, the parties had…
Successfully appealing a judge’s decision is difficult here in San Diego and throughout the nation. After all, the appealing party does not get to retry the lower court case and hope for a better outcome. Instead, it must be shown –usually from the transcript– that the trial court judge made a mistake. It is not enough…
In the newest published Court of Appeal case, affecting all divorce courts in California, including San Diego, a trial judge was reversed for ruling that a mother with a struggling business could make over $13,000.00 a month performing a different job. In this case, the three appeals justices unanimously held that when it comes to…
This is a question that many people ask. There is no one specific answer — though the court funding crisis might be one reason and the number of disputes in a contentious case might be another. But one of the biggest roadblocks to either a settlement or trial is the failure to expeditiously do a…
