My favorite holiday song is Andy Williams’ version of “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” Something about that song encapsulates everything that is special about the winter holiday season. There are the lights, the food, the family, and the nostalgia of being a kid at Christmas. Now that I…
Articles Posted in Post-Divorce Issues
Changing your child’s school enrollment
Change is a big part of any divorce. When you have children, dealing with change can be one of the most difficult parts of the divorce. No matter how many times people tell you that “kids are resilient and everything will be okay” it doesn’t make it any easier. The…
Dealing with Divorce at Thanksgiving
If you have children and are currently going through the divorce process or have been recently divorced, you have probably already realized that the holidays as you’ve come to know them will be different from now on. The Thanksgiving holiday, as family-centered as it is, is one of the most…
Can The Changed Circumstances Rule in Child Support Be Suspended by Agreement?
Child support in California can be very complicated and the changed circumstances rule is one of the reasons why. The changed circumstances rule requires a court to deny a request to modify child support if the court determines that there was no material change in circumstances since the time the…
What Are Court Orders; When Are They Effective; and Who Drafts Them
In family law we spend a good deal of time talking about court orders. There are orders for child support, orders for spousal support, custody orders, and orders for the payment of attorney fees. Getting more specific, all of the aforementioned orders can either be interim orders (also called temporary…
Settlement isn’t always possible, as shown through Christina Estrada’s divorce
For years, Christina Estrada’s life read like a fairytale; former international supermodel fell in love with a billionaire Saudi Arabian sheikh, raising a daughter and sharing a mansion in the British countryside with an unlimited monthly budget to spend on whatever their hearts desired. She is quoted describing her married…
Moore/Marsden – Determining the Community Interest in a Home after the Second Spouse is Added to Title
In two previous posts, we discussed the very important Moore/Marsden formula, which is the formula that determines the community interest in real property when the community pays down mortgage principal on the separate property of another spouse. In the first post, we discussed the basic formula, while noting that in…
Preventing International Child Abduction
Last week, we wrote a post with some tips about child custody and international travel. This week, we will look a little more closely at the provisions in the Family Code that help the Court prevent international child abductions. Although the relevant provisions apply to domestic as well as international…
Going Negative
I have blogged in the past about tips for co-parenting, how to talk with your attorney, and any number of other ways to address child custody issues in the Family Court system. With the presidential primaries heading towards the Iowa caucuses, I thought I would do a blog called “Going…
Forget Save the Whales…Save My Credit
A family law judge out of New Jersey made the following finding in a case involving a post judgment request to sell a residence due to one party’s failure to refinance the residence post-judgment: “This court takes judicial notice, as a matter of indisputable common knowledge, that a positive credit…