Articles Tagged with child support modification

The Consequences of Withholding Visitation Rights

Visitation-RightsVisitation is an important part of any custody agreement. However, it can be difficult to allow your former partner to spend time with your child after having sustained multiple negative experiences with them in the past. In addition to any perceived hostility from the other parent, many situations might make you tempted to withhold visitation, such as attempts by the parent to manipulate your child, failure to pay child support, or even risk of physical or psychological abuse. If the court has already determined that the other parent has visitation rights, withholding visitation is an act of defiance against a standing court order and could result in severe consequences. In fact, the other parent can even accuse you of kidnapping. That’s why it is critical to follow the appropriate legal procedures for your situation instead of simply attempting to withhold visitation rights on your own. A family law attorney can go over the specifics and help you determine the best course of action to ensure the safety and wellbeing of your child. Continue reading

Co-parenting With Someone of a Different Religion

Co-parenting-With-Someone-of-a-Different-ReligionIn the state of California, the term child custody is used to reference the ability to make decisions that affect the quality of life of your children, such as those relating to health and education. For some parents, religion plays a big role in making those decisions, which can significantly complicate things when your religion differs from that of the children’s other parent. Outside of simply including religious holidays into your custody schedule, other factors that could be impacted include attending religious ceremonies, dressing a certain way, eating a certain diet, and more. There is no set template for how to navigate these sorts of challenges, given that the details of each case vary significantly. However, there are certain elements that will likely be taken into account and strategies you can employ to find a mutually acceptable resolution.
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Child Custody and Support Outside of Wedlock

Child-Custody-and-Support-Outside-of-WedlockNavigating custody and child support cases is a normal part of course proceedings. If you happen to be an unmarried parent who has newly separated from their partner, you might be wondering if any legal provisions are in place to support you and your child. In 2018, the CDC revealed 39.6% of all births in the United States resulted from relationships outside of wedlock, so this is hardly an unusual situation. However, the information and resources available to parents going through custody-related claims in court are generally focused on situations where the parents were previously in a legally recognized union. Continue reading

Attorney fees can be a very important issue in many divorce cases. Most family law litigants in California, and certainly their attorneys, are familiar with Family Code section 2030, which awards attorney fees on a “need and ability” basis. This statute is designed to make sure that each party has equal access to legal representation. This makes perfect sense: as a matter of public policy, we don’t want people prevailing on issues as important as child support and child custody because the prevailing party had an attorney and the losing party did not.

There are, however, many other mechanisms that allow the Court to award attorney fees and/or sanctions, many of which are underutilized. They are discussed below.

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There are two types of support in Family Law cases in California. There is child support, which refers to support intended to assist in providing for the needs of the children involved in the case. Then there is spousal support, sometimes called “Alimony” (The two terms are interchangeable) which is intended to provide spousal maintenance after a divorce proceeding is initiated. During the course of a case, the court may make an order for either, or both, child and spousal support. After the order has been made, the court expects the amounts to be paid.

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