San Diego Divorce Attorneys BlogFamous clothing designer, Karl Lagerfeld once said of photographs, “What I like about photographs is that they capture a moment that’s gone forever, impossible to reproduce.” Mr. Lagerfeld captured in that simple quote what it is we humans love so much about photographs; capturing moments. Until scientists are able to recreate a time machine, photographs and home videos are the only way we can go back in time to relive moments.
Articles Posted in Divorce
The Panama Papers: Hidden Assets in Divorce
We’ve been hearing a lot about the “Panama Papers” lately; the leak of millions of documents out of the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca disgorging details of the firm’s wealthy clients hiding money via shell companies in various tax havens. Among those allegedly involved are world leaders, athletes, celebrities and businessmen.
As divorce attorneys, it is not uncommon that our clients are convinced that their spouse is hiding money. Continue reading
Social Security and Child Support
When I talk to clients about what constitutes income available to pay for child support I ask them to imagine an umbrella…a very BIG umbrella. Everything underneath that umbrella is income available to pay child support. In California, this has been codified in Family Code Section 4058, which states;
“The annual gross income of each parent means income from whatever source derived…and includes, but is not limited to, the following:
Income such as commissions, salaries, royalties, wages, bonuses, rents, dividends, pensions, interest, trust income, annuities, workers’ compensation benefits, unemployment insurance benefits, disability insurance benefits, social security benefits, and spousal support actually received from a person not a party to the proceeding to establish a child support order under this article.”
I emphasized “social security benefits” because that is the theme of this blog. Continue reading
Three Custody Orders Judges Should Make, but Often Don’t
There are some orders that we feel are underutilized by Judges in Custody cases. One of the reasons we list them here is because the judges in this county tend to not have egos: if you ask them to adjust an order they just made and they like the suggestion, they won’t have any qualms about doing so. So if a judge in your case doesn’t make an order listed here, feel free to tell them why they should!
How Your Divorce May Affect You This Tax Season
We are divorce attorneys, not tax experts, but marriage and finances are so intertwined that inevitably divorce and taxes do intersect. Each year as the IRS tax return filing deadline approaches, we are increasingly confronted by our clients with tax preparation questions. For specific tax inquiries, we advise that you consult a tax professional. However, we felt it may be useful to share a brief (non-exhaustive) list of some common points Continue reading
What exactly is the lender intent rule? Answer: No one knows.
The lender intent rule in California family law is, at once, one of the most consequential and one of the most unfathomable rules.
The general idea is this: if a loan is incurred during the marriage, that loan, and any proceeds acquired with said loan, will presumed to be a community obligation/property. The burden then falls on the party seeking to show that the loan is separate to produce evidence to that effect. What exactly is that burden? Well, therein lies the rub.
Why Disclosure is so Important in California Divorces
The State of California imposes very broad duties of disclosure between spouses that are in the midst of a divorce. Inevitably, a spouse will try to cut corners or try to defraud their spouse altogether in an attempt to get an edge in the divorce case. The Family Code has built-in provisions that severely punish or otherwise disincentivize this kind of behavior. We will talk about a few of these provisions below.
Remarrying Your Ex: Elon Musk and Talulah Riley’s Marital Rollercoaster Ride.
Billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk’s wife, British actress Talulah Riley, filed for divorce on March 21st in Los Angeles. Musk may be experiencing deja vu right about now, as this is the second time that the couple will be going through a divorce. Originally married in 2010, the two already divorced in 2012. Then they remarried just a year later, in 2013. And yet again, Musk filed for divorce in 2015, only to later dismiss his request. This time it is Riley who pulled the trigger to initiate the divorce process once again.
Helping Children Cope With Divorce: Kids’ Turn San Diego
At a recent continuing education seminar for San Diego family law attorneys, a family court judge was asked what, if anything, the court tries to do to minimize the harmful impacts of divorce on children. The judge responded that she often refers families in her courtroom to a program called Kids’ Turn San Diego, and that she has found the program to be very beneficial for children whose parents are going through a divorce. I began to do some research on the program out of my own curiosity, and I’ve decided to share a bit about the program in case any of our readers with children are also interested in knowing more about what they can do to help their child cope with divorce or separation.
The “Low Conflict” Child Custody Case (or another blog about getting along)
Let’s be honest shall we? I am a custody attorney, and there is only one kind of custody case that I take to trial; the high conflict custody case. (Okay…To be fair I take other custody cases to trial that are not “high conflict”, but those are generally move away cases that almost always require a trial.)
But just as a robbery detective does not do his job because he loves theft, as a custody lawyer I do not do my job because I love high conflict cases. Quite the opposite is true. My favorite case is the “low conflict” custody case. The problem is those cases do not get talked about.