Family Law

What happens when you have a court order granting you certain custody or visitation rights but your former spouse has fled the state with your child?  When you are faced with this situation, it is possible to enforce the out-of-state order but it largely depends on the law of the state where your former spouse […]

Paternity litigation refers to disputes concerning the identity of a child’s father.  For mothers, establishing paternity is the first step to enforcing a father’s obligations to the child, including payments of child support. For fathers, establishing paternity is the first step to seeking custody and visitations rights.  There are various ways of establishing paternity (or parentage) but below […]

“Pro per.” Many people believe that being “pro per” or self-represented is the best way handle their legal issues without having to pay for an attorney.  While some pro pers got their day in court, like this guy, http://calapp.blogspot.com/2011/03/mccollough-v-johnson-rodenberg-lauinger.html, this is a rarity.  An individual with legal representation is much better off in terms of obtaining […]

Family law is the one area where the cases are abundant and the majority of the litigants are pro per (not represented by counsel).  Due to the high-volume court dockets and limited resources, many courts have adopted local rules to facilitate order to show cause hearings (where you ask the court to make an order) […]

Gamesmanship

  The Family Code provides that the court has the discretion to order one party to pay the other party’s attorney’s fees in a contested divorce proceeding to ensure that each party has access to adequate representation.  However, attorney’s fees can also be awarded to sanction a party pursuant to sections 271 and 2107, subdivision (c).  […]