San Diego Family Law Blog

How long does someone who has been ordered to pay alimony/spousal support have to keep paying it?  It depends on the circumstances, but we do know that spousal support ends when the payor dies, the recipient dies, or the payee remarries, whichever occurs first (although if there’s a written agreement, the parties can agree that spousal…

In California, as in most states, if there is a dispute between parents and grandparents over grandparent visitation with the grandchildren, the parents usually win.  But that is not always the case.  California Family Code section 3104 gives grandparents a chance, and in the recently published case of Stuard v. Stuard, the father’s parents won…

If someone in a dating relationship suffers mental abuse, does that mean he or she is the victim of domestic violence.  The answer is yes, according to a recent decision of the California Court of Appeal. Ruling 3-0, the justices held that a trial judge made a mistake when he did not allow a woman…

Most people know that if you’re a parent and you don’t live with your child or children, the other parent will be able to get a child support order against you. In the California case that I am about to discuss, there was a child support order but the man tried to get out of…

Anyone who’s been through the legal system –or contemplated going to court– knows how nasty litigation can be.  But a recent case out of Ventura County shows the type of behavior you couldn’t even make up. In the case of Crawford v. Chase, a lawyer (who once ran in an election to unseat a judge)…

There’s no question that “the experts” do not condone the type of spanking and corporal punishment that was more common in this country decades ago. But disagreements over how to punish children remain, especially in family law cases.  A recent case called In re D.M. decided last week by the California Court of Appeal illustrates…