Practice Areas

Child Custody

In California, child custody orders have two facets: Legal custody and Physical Custody.

Legal Custody is defined as the right to make legal decisions for the child, such as which school the child or children will be enrolled in, medical treatment, and application of a passport or driver’s license. Generally, unless one parent unreasonably interferes or withholds consent from the other parent, parents share joint legal custody of any child.

Physical custody is not easily defined as labels such as joint or sole are not determinative. Case law in California requires the courts to look to the actual time share to determine whether the parents are actually sharing the responsibility of having joint physical custody or that the amount of time spent with one parent in effect gives that parent sole physical custody. The parent with more than 50% of time is normally the primary custodian with the right to claim the child on tax returns and enroll the child in a school nearest to their home.

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Child Support

By law, the parents of a minor child are legally required to provide support for that child. In California, child support is calculated using the Guideline Formula. This formula has a variety of factors, however the basic factors are:

  • Time that each parent has the child in their custody and control. Even if the child is at school, one parent still has the control if that parent would be responsible to pick up child if he/she was sick or by taking care of the child if school was closed.
  • Tax filing status of each parent
  • Gross Income of each parent
  • Insurance premiums
  • Child care costs

Items that are not included in the Guideline Calculation are:

  • Car Payments
  • Credit Card Payments
  • Rent or Mortgage Payments
  • Groceries
  • Extra-curricular costs

The underlying principal in Guideline Child Support calculations is to shift and balance the money available for the child in each of the two households so that the child would have the financial benefit of both parents.

Generally the child support amount is designed to help the receiving parent for the general expenses associated with raising and sheltering a child i.e. contributive share to rent, utilities, and groceries.

Child custody and child support are very closely intertwined. In the State of California, Child support cannot be ordered retroactively. Even though each parent has a moral responsibility to support their children, without a court order, one parent can’t be forced to pay the other parent child support. This makes it very important to establish child support orders as soon as possible upon separation.

Once a child support order is obtained, support can be enforced through wage garnishment, levies and contempt. Also, any unpaid child support automatically accrues interest. In the State of California, these penalties and interest can be very substantial, sometimes actually exceeding the actual amount of past due child support.

It is imperative that if you’re a parent that owes child support and your financial situation has changed such that you cannot pay the current amount of child support, you go to court as soon as possible to request a modification of the existing orders. Your driver’s license can be taken away, professional licenses can be suspended, and you could face potential criminal prosecution by the district attorney if you fall too far behind on your child-support payments. By not addressing the issue, due to interest and penalties increasing the amount you owe, it could take several years to pay off the amount owed. Rather than allowing the past due child-support owed to continue to increase, it is much more inexpensive and smarter to retain an attorney to protect your legal rights.

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Visitation

Parents have a fundamental right to have at a minimum visitation with their child if not a joint share plan or sole custody. Also, in very limited cases, other close relatives such as grand-parents, uncles, aunts or cousin may have a right to visitation or access.

Although this right is constitutionally protected, the child has a higher right to custody terms that is in the child’s best interest and welfare. As such, there may be limited or no visitation in the case of a parent who has suffers from addictions, has severe psychological problems or is a danger to the child.

Even when the child would be at risk, generally contact with the child and the parent is crucial to the child’s development, so visitation is ordered supervised with a social worker, psychologist or another neutral third party while the non-custodial parent visits with the child.

Most custodial time or visitation orders do not require supervision for either parent for their time with their children. To allow for bonding time for the visiting parents, these visits take place away from the other parent and often include overnights, weekends and vacations.

Despite their disagreements that caused the separation, parents often can agree on a visitation schedule and share custody. In these situations reducing the agreement into a writing signed by both parents is very important so that there are no misunderstandings down the road. While a court order may not seem to be needed, it is prudent to go through the process so that when a disagreement arises the court will have jurisdiction to enforce the terms of that agreement.

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Restraining Orders

Throughout the course of a typical family law case, a number of orders are issued from the court. During the early stages, a temporary restraining order may be used for a number of different reasons. The basic function of any temporary restraining order is to keep things the way they are until further order of the court.

Allegations of domestic violence in California are a typical use of a temporary restraining order in family law proceedings. This will require the alleged abuser to stay away from the complainant and likely the children. Another use of a California restraining order (temporary) can be to prevent one spouse from taking funds at whim from financial accounts.

Although anyone can try to get a restraining order, these can often times be complex legal issues. Divorces can be difficult enough, but by adding a restraining order to it, most of the time, your interests are best served through representation by a qualified and experienced divorce lawyer.

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Domestic Violence

The Webster’s Dictionary defines Domestic Violence as “the inflicting of physical injury by one family or household member on another”. This includes abusive relationships where physical violence, threatened violence, and/or other forms of abuse exist. There are many types of relationships this applies to, such as but not limited to, Spousal (separated or divorced), cohabitant, dating, having children in common, etc…

Either directly or indirectly, children can be the victims of domestic violence. If a child is the recipient of physical striking, verbal abuse, threats, or sexual misconduct, domestic violence charges are very likely.

If the child is present during the abuse to another person, child endangerment charges could be justified. The abuse a child suffers when witnessing domestic violence is child endangerment. This is not taken lightly by the courts and is a serious crime and charged under the California domestic violence laws.

There is a reason that the California law is strict on domestic violence offenders. This is why it is extremely important to have an experienced California lawyer representing your best interests.

You should immediately contact your local law enforcement agency if you are a victim of domestic violence. For immediate help, two types of protection can be used. The first is an Emergency Protective Order which is issued by law enforcement and valid for 5 days. The second is a Temporary Restraining Order which is issued by family law court which can last between 3 weeks and 3 years. These are used for issues that are not serious enough to be considered by the district attorney. If this order is violated, the that person can be found in contempt of court, charged with a misdemeanor or even get up to 1 year in jail.

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Divorce and Legal Separation in California

A separation is typically the first step in a divorce. When the marriage is terminated, a divorce decree establishes the new relations between the parties. This can include their duties and obligations relating to property that they own, support responsibilities of either or both of them, and provisions for any children.

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Guardianship

If a person is unable to administer his or her own affairs, either due to age, or to some other physical, mental or emotional impairment, a guardian can be designated the legal responsibility for providing the care and management of that individual. For a minor child, the guardian is charged with the legal responsibility for the care and management
of the child and his or her estate. A legal guardian will be required to appear in court to give periodic reports regarding the status of the child and its estate under the supervision of the court.

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Adoption

An adoption is when the parental rights including responsibility for the care and supervision of the child, its nurturing and training, its physical and emotional health, and its financial support is official transfer through the court system to another person. All of the parental rights that a biological parent has to a child are being terminated and being assumed by the adopting parent. There can be many complicated issued involved and it is highly advisable to hire an experienced lawyer for these types of proceedings.

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California Child Custody | CA Child Support | Visitation| Domestic Violence | Restraining Order | Divorce | Legal Separation | San Bernardino Child Support | Family Law | Divorce Lawyer | Guardianship | Adoption | Los Angeles Divorce Lawyer | Riverside Family Law | Claremont Attorneys

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