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…
This Memorial Day, we saluted those who made the ultimate sacrifice. But we owe a great deal of gratitude to all those who serve, not just those who are gone. Perhaps that is what the Legislature was thinking when it enacted Family Code section 3047. Section 3047 says that if you are in the military…
When summer arrives, schools close down (at least the ones that are not year round). So it figures that parents may choose this time to move, as opposed to during the middle of the school year. After all, there is less disruption and housing prices seem to rise in the summer. For single parents seeking…
In my last blog, I mentioned the difficulty of getting ex parte or emergency orders in family court. Today, I want to talk about what is an emergency, at least as far as child custody and visitation is concerned, and how ex parte relief may be obtained. The conversation might as well start and end…
