Category Archives: Family Law
What Happens When Children Don’t Want to Follow a Time-Sharing Agreement?
Children under the age of 18 are generally not considered legally competent to make their own decisions. Although we do take their interests into account when making custody and time sharing decisions, their wishes when it comes to these matters do not determine, by themselves, what is in their best interests. When a Child… Read More »
The Benefit of Taking on Additional Marital Debt
When you are working out the areas of your divorce, one of the things you will have to decide on is who will be responsible for the marital debt. Both spouses may treat marital debt as a hot potato, trying to get rid of it by giving it to the other spouse as fast… Read More »
Who Makes Medical Decisions for a Minor Child?
Your divorce case is over, whether by the hand of a judge making decisions for you, or by the consent of both parties, who have voluntarily and possibly amicably agreed to the terms of the divorce, including timesharing and parenting. The first time your child (or children) get sick post-divorce, you may be wondering… Read More »
Pay Attention to Your Financial Affidavits
In almost every kind of family law case, parties are required to fill out and complete financial affidavits. These are detailed accountings of income of every source and property that you may own. Many people fill these forms out haphazardly, or don’t fill them out at all, either out of laziness, or in a… Read More »
The Benefits of Collaborative Divorces
When people think of a divorce they often think that it can be either uncontested, where the parties generally agree on everything, or contested. Many people are not aware that there is a third category, called a collaborative divorce, which allows the parties to resolve even disputed issues, with lessened time, expense, and heartache… Read More »
What Can You Expect in Your Family Law Deposition?
In any kind of case, the thought of having to give a deposition makes people’s skin crawl. It is seen as a process that’s highly combative and highly invasive. Often, just the threat of doing them is enough to convince reasonable people to try to settle cases early. It can make things easier if… Read More »
California Enacts Law Allowing Judges to Make Pet Custody Findings
For many people, pets are family. Spouses may have selected a pet from infancy and raised the animal as if it were a human child, with all the love care and affection that goes into raising a child. When spouses divorce, there may be talk about who gets “custody” of the family dog or… Read More »
How to Handle an Inability to Pay Alimony or Child Support
As this post is being written, the federal government is shut down for business. Hundreds of thousands of government workers are working without pay, at least temporarily. That not only affects those workers, but also those who depend on their income for support—including any ex- spouses who receive alimony or children who receive child… Read More »
Make Sure Your Prenuptial Agreement Isn’t Ambiguous
Premarital or prenuptial agreements (“prenups”) are, at their core, contracts, and are read as such. That means that where courts can apply common sense, or the obvious meaning of language can be used, that’s how courts will interpret the agreements. But when there is ambiguity in the language used, courts will have to turn… Read More »
There are Stringent Requirements to Modifying Parenting Plans
When you are getting divorced, you may settle the matters in your case through agreement. This is favored—by doing so, you get to negotiate what will happen to your property and your children without leaving it in the hands of a judge. Agreeing to Time Sharing of Children When you originally negotiate an agreement,… Read More »
