The biological father of a four-year-old was 45 years old when he met the child’s mother, who was 19 at the time. The biological father had an extensive criminal history and the mother had just been released from jail when she moved in with him. At his request, the mother began prostituting herself. After the […]
Court Erred In Not Considering Domestic Violence When Ordering Custody Of Children.
Without considering the effect of domestic violence restraining orders against the father or finding any significant change in circumstances, the trial court modified an earlier custody order which gave sole legal and physical custody of the children to their mother. The new order granted joint legal and physical custody to the parents. The appellate opinion […]
Visitation: Grandparent’s Rights vs. Mother’s Right To Parent.
A juvenile court judge in dependency court terminated the court’s jurisdiction over a minor. At the same time, the court ordered regular visitation with the paternal grandmother. The child’s mother contended the visitation order impermissibly infringed on her fundamental parenting rights under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Welfare and Institutions Code section […]
No Causation In Legal Malpractice Action.
A woman, who was born in the USA, began living with a man in 1998. Without the benefit of a marriage license, in 2000, they participated in a traditional Hmong marriage ceremony. They signed numerous documents, filed tax returns indicating they were married and had two children. In 2009, the woman filed a petition for […]
Spousal Support With Lavish Lifestyle Ended When Couple Separated.
An unemployed married couple lived the high life with monthly expenses averaging $45,000, thanks to subsidies by the husband’s parents, who deducted the money from their son’s expected inheritance. When the couple separated, the husband’s annual income was about $99,000, and the trial court ordered him to pay monthly permanent spousal support of $2,000 and […]
Life Insurance Policy In Dissolution Of Marriage Proceeding.
During a 20-year marriage, the husband used community property funds to purchase an Life Insurance Policy on his life, naming his wife as the policy’s only owner and beneficiary. The trial court ruled the Life Insurance Policy was community property because it was acquired during the marriage with community funds. The trial court awarded the Life […]
Daddy Or Donor Of Semen??
Jason and Danielle tried to have a baby both naturally and by means of in vitro fertilization [IVF] but were unsuccessful. The two began to live separately. Two or three years after their first attempt to conceive, Jason gave Danielle a letter in which he wrote that he was not ready to be a father, […]
Mother’s Chutzpah: Dead On Arrival.
In 1985, the father of two children was ordered to pay child support, which he did until the mother of the children, his former wife, disappeared with the children, moved out of state and changed the children’s names. The father did not see the children again for 15 years, almost their entire minority. In 1998, […]
Parents May Limit Court’s Jurisdiction In Adult Child Support Order, But They Didn’t Limit It Here.
When a couple divorced in 2001, they reached an agreement to equally split the future college expenses for their three minor children. Eleven years later, their daughter began incurring significant expenses, but by then the [former] wife was disabled and had an income of less than $23,000/year; whereas, the [former] husband’s income was over $400,000. […]
Time For Appealing Issuance Of A Domestic Violence Restraining Order.
In the midst of a divorce, the court ordered a domestic violence restraining order against the husband and in favor of the wife. Both the husband and his lawyer were in the courtroom when it was ordered. Neither the wife nor the court clerk served a document entitled “Notice of Entry” of the restraining order or a […]