One of the most common assumptions people make is that child support automatically stops at a child's eighteenth birthday. There are a number of reasons, however, that this might not be what happens in your case. In California, one major reason that support might not...
Divorced parents often have a misconception about child support: it's just for the basics necessities. It isn't. Sure, regular expenses used to calculate the percentage of support each parent has to provide will include the basics: food, shelter and clothing. However,...
The last thing you may feel like doing after going through a difficult marriage and a subsequent divorce is being supportive of your ex-spouse. However, if you have children together, that's precisely what you need to do if you want to convince a judge to give you...
Many parents don't realize that they can be arrested and charged with kidnapping their own child. However, the law in California is very clear: If you withhold a child from his or her lawful custodian or legal guardian, that's a crime -- even if you are the child's...
When the Christmas season ends, "divorce season" usually begins. It's such a common occurrence that family law attorneys even refer to the first Monday after Christmas break as "Divorce Day," because their email boxes are usually clogged with requests for appointments...
Marriages don't usually sour overnight. Instead, they tend to slowly fall apart, with each spouse gradually becoming more independent and thinking of himself or herself as an individual, rather than part of a couple. That's often reflected in their finances as well,...
If your child is facing a severe, lifelong disability, that's a factor that should be considered in any child support agreement for several different reasons. 1. Child care may be harder to arrange and more expensive. Even if you have things arranged so that you can...
Unfortunately, not all divorces proceed smoothly. One of the most common areas of contention between parents is child custody. While California courts always urge parents to work out child custody arrangements and parenting plans themselves, sometimes litigation...
As a long-standing family law firm serving Livermore and Bay Area families, we have watched many parents struggle with child support issues. Most of the time, both parents want to do right by their children, but feelings of inequity or financial betrayal may muddy the...
Maybe you filed for divorce as an emotional response to something that you've now worked through with your spouse, and you'd like to stay married. Maybe there have been other significant life changes that make it appear your marriage isn't going to end after all. Once...