From The blog

“What Does It Take To Get A Family Law Restraining Order Renewed?” Family law restraining orders can be renewed upon application to the court that issued the order. The request must be filed within the three months before the expiration of the order, and there will be a hearing set to consider the issues. In the past, a restraining order would be renewed only if there had been violations of the...

“What Are Jackson Credits?” Jackson Credits are credits against child support arrears that come into play when the parent who does NOT have legal physical custody of the minor has, in fact, had the child living with him or her. Essentially, what can happen is that the parties can have a court order, but be ignoring it. This actually happens quite frequently—the child changes residence, but the...

“My Ex and I Are Fighting About the Holiday Visitation Schedule” The holidays are hard for separated families, and they can be harder if you are having a disagreement about your holiday visitation schedule. There are, however, ways to head off potential problems. 1. Make sure you have a court-endorsed copy of your holiday visitation schedule well in advance of the holidays. 2. Make sure you...

“What Are ‘Epstein’ Credits?” Epstein credits, sometimes called reimbursement claims, are credits for repayment which one party to a divorce claims should be reimbursed to them from the community property of the marriage at the time of dissolution. The begin to accrue when one party makes post-separation payments with separate property (usually income made after the separation) on community...

“What Are ‘Watts’ Claims?” Watts claims, sometimes called Watts charges, are charges which one party to a divorce claims should be counted against the community property share of the other party at the time of dissolution. They involve the use of a community asset by one party only, such as a car or a house. The claim is based on the fact that only one party is getting the use of the asset...

“What Is A Custody Evaluation and Why Is It So Expensive?” A custody evaluation, often called a 730 Eval (the family law code section which authorizes them is section 730) is an evaluation of the parents and children in a contested custody situation for the purpose of making a custody and visitation recommendation to the judge. They are expensive (and take some time) because they are conducted...

“How Are Retirements Divided During A Divorce?” Retirements that are earned during marriage are community property and must be divided by the court. This includes retirements that are earned partly during the marriage and partly before or after. There are different kind of retirements---pension plans, and investment plans such as 401K’s and IRAs. These are divided in different ways. For a...

“What Is A Status-Only Divorce Judgment?” A status-only divorce judgment is used where one or more parties wants to be officially divorced before all the financial or custody or other issues have been resolved. There are two ways to do this. First, by agreement. If both parties agree that they wish to have the dissolution take place, they can do it in court and have a judgment issued on just...

“What Is A Preliminary Declaration of Disclosure And Why Do I Have To Fill One Out?” A preliminary declaration of disclosure (often abbreviated to PDD) is an initial financial disclosure that parties are required to make at the beginning of a divorce. They are normally filed within 60 days of filing and contain financial information both on income and assets and debts. They are required because...

“In A Divorce, Who Pays The Bills?” So you’ve filed for divorce, you’ve separated residences, but you’ve got a problem: you have a lot of mutual bills, and neither person wants to pay them. These can be utility bills, insurance bills, cell phone bills, car payments, mortgage payments, credit card bills, or even time-shares or IRS payments. The issues can be very difficult, particularly because...