Divorce can become even more stressful when pets are involved and both parties are attached. While many people feel as though their pets are part of the family, the law doesn’t see it that way.

In a divorce, a dispute over a pet is not treated like a child custody matter, where the court must look at what is in the best interest of the child and works towards a goal of frequent and continuing contact with each parent. Rather, a pet is treated as a piece of property, just as a car or any other inanimate object would be. Continue reading

The competency of a party can have profound effects in family law in California. We will explore that a little in this post.

First of all, whether or not a party is competent can be relevant as to the validity of the marriage contract itself. Pursuant to Family Code section 2210(c), a marriage is voidable if either party to the contract is of unsound mind. In other words, if they are not competent to enter the marital contract, the marriage can later be annulled. Continue reading

An interesting decision out of an Australian Federal Circuit Court this month caught our eye when a judge ruled that a man was entitled to only 1/3 of the marital estate because he had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and was estimated to live for only one more year. In this case, after a 30-year marriage, the parties had accumulated approximately $1.5 million in assets that had to be divided in their divorce.

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Famous 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.

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