When a couple in California “separates”, it means that they stop accumulating community property and community debt. Also, the date of separation is an important barometer for spousal support. Often, orders require someone to pay based on how long the marriage was, from date of marriage till “date of separation”. But just what does it…
In a case certified for publication, San Diego’s Fourth District Court of Appeal has affirmed the decision of a now retired family law judge to grant a restraining order against a man who basically lost it after he found out that his former domestic partner had been unfaithful. According to the case, Altafulla v. Ervin,…
The existing rule regarding California divorces is that property acquired before marriage is separate property. But the existing rule has also been that property changed into joint form during marriage is treated as community property if the parties end up getting divorced, even if the property was first acquired before marriage. Get that? But in a 3-0 decision,…
Is it proper for a family law judge to change custody in the middle of the school year so that the children are required to move from California to Alabama? Maybe, but caution is required. That was the message from the California Court of Appeal recently in a case called Jane J. vs. Superior Court…
Some people will fight over anything. This is particularly true in Riverside County, where the California Court of Appeal recently had to decide whether to approve the decision of a divorce judge increasing child support for the parties’ 17-year-old child by $118 a month. The amazing thing about this case, entitled Marriage of Nigro, is…
Did you know that in a California domestic violence case, a judge may order either side to pay attorney fees? In San Diego, the Court of Appeal may that abundantly clear in a decision that it ordered published earlier this month. Ruling 3-0, the appeals court upheld a decision by the trial judge to award $5,000.00…
Even after you’ve been doing this for a while (and yesterday was the 20th anniversary of the day I opened my practice), you can still be surprised by some of the things that happen in Family Court. For example, this past week, the California Court of Appeal upheld a lower court’s order that the wife…
A surrogacy agreement, followed by an acrimonious divorce and ensuing lawsuits in three states, has led to a strange custodial assignment for one California infant. Sherri Shepherd, former panel member of daytime television talk show “The View,” entered into an agreement with a young waitress named Jessica Bartholomew for her to carry a child for…
How does a mother in southern California with primary physical custody of the parties’ eight year old daughter lose that custody? By behaving badly. At least that was the conclusion of a Riverside County judge who entered an order in August, 2013 awarding custody to the girl’s father, who resides in Idaho. And today, the…
One of the toughest decisions for a family law judge to make, here in California and probably anywhere else in the country, is whether to allow one parent to relocate with the minor children to a place significantly far away from the other parent. A California judge faced this situation recently in the case of…
