Blog Posts in February, 2016

Duty to Support Adult Children

In most cases, child support orders include language that states the obligation to support continues only until the age of 18 or graduation from high school if the child turns 18 in their senior year. Parents may choose to voluntarily continue to support their children beyond this age, and often they do. Parents often pay for their kid’s college tuition and rent and other expenses upon graduating ...

Rights for Cohabitating Unmarried Couples

The property and spousal support rights and obligations found in the California Family Code are applied when a valid marriage or registered domestic partnership exists. If a couple decides to only live together and not get married, this does not give rise to protections under the Family Code. This is true even if the couple holds themselves out as a married couple, as California has gotten rid of ...

California Appellate Court Affirms Extensive Grandparent Visitation

In the case Stuard v. Stuard before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the two parties fighting over custody of a young girl are not husband and wife. The parties are actually father and grandfather, where the grandfather is seeking visitation with their granddaughter, Riley. The facts of this case show that the grandparents didn’t just play the typical grandparent role that most of us imagine in ...

Termination of Spousal Support

Spousal support orders are intended to support a non-earning or low-earning spouse for a certain amount of time, depending on the length of the marriage. Divorcing parties are welcome to agree to the length of time support will be provided. If they do not agree ahead of time how long a certain support amount will last, then the supporting spouse may want to request the court terminate support ...

Setting Aside a Child Support Order from DCSS

If a parent or child is receiving cash aid from the State of California , a request for the parent receiving welfare will automatically be forwarded to the Department of Child Support Services (DCSS). DCSS works to create and enforce child support orders from DCSS in order to ensure the State of California spends less on supporting its residents, and that parents of children in need step up and ...

California on its Way to Becoming a Majority-Single State

According to the latest U.S. Census statistics, only about 51% of Californians over the age of 18 are married, which is down from 74% in 1960. The percentage of Californians who have never been married is at 34%. One reason for these trends is that women across the nation are waiting until they are older to get married, on average around the age of 27. Another reason for the boost in the single ...

Collecting Property or Support on a Divorce Judgment

All divorces end with a final judgment from the family court, officially terminating the parties’ marital status. Many times this final judgment includes specific orders for the division of property and the payment of support. This can be incorporated as a Marital Settlement Agreement, or it can be decided by the judge, sometimes after a lengthy trial. Often parties do not comply with orders to ...

An App to Reduce Child Support Conflicts

Conflicts over money are common after divorce, especially when it comes to child support . Often parents incur small costs throughout everyday life while caring for their children, including sports fees and equipment, after school programs, summer camp expenses, etc. These extra costs are usually not incorporated into the final support orders. So the parent with more custody , or the parent ...