Venue refers to the proper county within California, that has proper jurisdiction of your family law case. Generally, proper venue for trial of a marriage divorce proceeding is the county in which either the petitioner or respondent has been a resident for three months preceding the commencement of the proceeding. (CCP section 395(a)). However, this […]
There is a general rule that all income and property acquired during marriage is community property (belongs to both spouses equally). However, if a spouse receives a gift or inheritance that becomes the acquiring spouse’s separate property. (California Family Code section 770(a)(2)). We must always look at the donor’s intent when analyzing if it is […]
The recent case of In Re D.M. which came down from the Second District gives important guidance to dependency courts and reinforces the parental disciplinary privilege in child abuse and child custody cases. It involves a mother who used her hand or a sandal to spank her two children on the buttocks on rare occasions […]
Notice of Hearings Foster Parents must be given notice of nearly all dependency hearings. No matter what County your case is in, it is not uncommon for the social worker to fail to provide notice to the foster parents. If you find yourself in this situation, you should remind the social worker that you want […]
In the Juvenile Dependency system, foster parents are the unsung heroes. They open their homes and take care of children that may not be wanted elsewhere. They may be scrutinized and criticized but typically do not have legal representation to defend themselves. As a foster parent, you should know some of the basic rights you […]
Mediation is a term often heard in family law, but unless you work in the legal profession, you may not know exactly what it means or how it applies to your divorce or child custody case. Mediation is the process where both parties to a family law case meet with a third party and attempt […]
Most people have heard of the Dissomaster or the XSpouse computer programs as the only way to calculate child support payment guidelines. However, the California Department of Child Support Services website has a free support guideline calculator individuals can use to get an estimate of the child support payments. Here is the link: https://www.cse.ca.gov/ChildSupport/cse/guidelineCalculator# Keep […]
In re D.P. – Paternity Here’s an interesting Paternity case from the Fourth District. The Dependency court did not abuse its discretion in denying a man’s request for paternity testing and in finding that he was merely an alleged father, which under the facts of the case, prevented him from establishing parenthood and from obtaining […]
