Friday, December 28, 2012

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CAN MY EX-WIFE MOVE THE KIDS OUT OF CALIF. WITHOUT MY APPROVAL?

QUESTION: My ex-wife and I share 50/50 legal custody and 70/30 physical custody. She has been living with her parents for the past 9 years. She doesn't have a job. Her parents are moving out of state and she wants to move with them. How can I contest the move of my kids and gain full custody? =============================================== MY RESPONSE: If you do nothing, she will succeed. Retain an experienced Family Law Attorney to represent you in an RFO (Request for Order, formerly called an Order to Show Cause) seeking Orders that the children not be moved out of California. Whether or not you can gain full custody of your children would be based on factors that were not addressed in your question. =============================================== This educational blog is brought to you by DONALD F. CONVISER, an effective and aggressive Los Angeles Family Law Attorney and Divorce Lawyer serving clients in the courts of Los Angeles and Ventura County for over 35 years,owner of Warner Center Law Offices, with offices in Woodland Hills and Century City. Call 888.632.4447 or 818.880.8990 for a free confidential consultation with a Certified Family Law Specialist to discuss your divorce or family law issues. | www.conviser.net | www.conviserfamilylaw.com |

DO I HAVE TO PAY CHILD SUPPORT FOR A DISABLED ADULT CHILD?

QUESTION: My ex is trying to make me pay for a child who is 20 years of age. She claims he is disabled, yet he is attending college and living on his own in a dorm. When does child support stop for a disabled child if he was disabled. And how do I prove he is not disabled? ============================================== MY RESPONSE: A parent can be ordered by the Court to pay child support for a disabled adult child of the marriage. You can file an RFO (Request for Order, formerly called a Motion) for your expert Medical Doctor (or Psychiatrist or Psychologist, depending on the claimed disability) to examine the adult child (at your expense), and you can file an RFO (formerly called Order to Show Cause) to terminate support for your adult child, based on your expert's opinion, if the expert's opinion is that your adult child is not disabled. You will need to have your expert testify at the hearing on your RFO. ============================================== This educational blog is brought to you by DONALD F. CONVISER, an effective and aggressive Los Angeles Family Law Attorney and Divorce Lawyer serving clients in the courts of Los Angeles and Ventura County for over 35 years,owner of Warner Center Law Offices, with offices in Woodland Hills and Century City. Call 888.632.4447 or 818.880.8990 for a free confidential consultation with a Certified Family Law Specialist to discuss your divorce or family law issues. | www.conviser.net | www.conviserfamilylaw.com |

HOW CAN I PREVENT MY WIFE FROM TAKING MY DAUGHTER AND EVERYTHING THAT I HAVE?

QUESTION: My wife is threatening to leave me. How do I keep my wife from taking my daughter and everything I have? =============================================== MY RESPONSE: File a Divorce case and have it served on your wife. The reverse side of the Summons contains automatic Temporary Restraining Orders which are effective against your wife upon service. Given the nature and content of your question, you would best retain an experienced Family Law Attorney to represent you in your divorce. =============================================== This educational blog is brought to you by DONALD F. CONVISER, an effective and aggressive Los Angeles Family Law Attorney and Divorce Lawyer serving clients in the courts of Los Angeles and Ventura County for over 35 years,owner of Warner Center Law Offices, with offices in Woodland Hills and Century City. Call 888.632.4447 or 818.880.8990 for a free confidential consultation with a Certified Family Law Specialist to discuss your divorce or family law issues. | www.conviser.net | www.conviserfamilylaw.com |

IS AN ANNULMENT THE SAME AS A DIVORCE?

QUESTION: I would like to permanently separate from my husband without going through the divorce process or having that on record. Could I get my marriage annulled to avoid a public record? =============================================== MY RESPONSE: An annulment is very different from a divorce, but both types of cases are in the public records. There are very limited specific grounds and time limits for an annulment, and you would have to appear in Court to testify to provide evidence relevant to those grounds, and unless the Court is persuaded by your evidence that sufficient grounds exist for an annulment, the Court would deny the annulment. If you wish to end your marriage, you would best file a Petition for Dissolution of Marriage - you could also check the box for Annulment as well, but you shouldn't file only for Annulment, because if the Court denies an Annulment, you would want to get a divorce at the same hearing instead of having to start all over again by filing a separate divorce case at that point. You would best retain an experienced Family Law Attorney to advise and represent you. ============================================== This educational blog is brought to you by DONALD F. CONVISER, an effective and aggressive Los Angeles Family Law Attorney and Divorce Lawyer serving clients in the courts of Los Angeles and Ventura County for over 35 years,owner of Warner Center Law Offices, with offices in Woodland Hills and Century City. Call 888.632.4447 or 818.880.8990 for a free confidential consultation with a Certified Family Law Specialist to discuss your divorce or family law issues. | www.conviser.net | www.conviserfamilylaw.com |

HOW CAN MY CHILD VISIT HER FATHER IF I HAVE A RESTRAINING ORDER AGAINST HIS MOTHER?

QUESTION: I have a restraining order against my child's paternal grandmother. Is there anything that I should ask the judge for when we go to court for child custody and visitation? This is my first time dealing with family law and he has an attorney so I am a little nervous. =============================================== MY RESPONSE: If I understand your question correctly, you have a restraining order against the father's mother, and you are asking in essence how to address that matter to the Family Law court in your custody and visitation case against the father. You didn't indicate whether or not the child's father lives with his mother. You should bring at least four copies of the Restraining Order against the mother to the hearing - one for you, one for the other side, one for the Judge, and one for the court reporter. When the Court calls the case for hearing, advise the Judge of the Restraining Order, and ask the Court for orders that take that Restraining Order into consideration. You would best retain (if not consult with) an experienced Family Law Attorney as soon as possible, to discuss, strategize, and prepare testimony in question and answer sessions, and to come up with specific requests to address to the Court regarding protection of you and your child in connection with the Restraining Order against the mother. =============================================== This educational blog is brought to you by DONALD F. CONVISER, an effective and aggressive Los Angeles Family Law Attorney and Divorce Lawyer serving clients in the courts of Los Angeles and Ventura County for over 35 years,owner of Warner Center Law Offices, with offices in Woodland Hills and Century City. Call 888.632.4447 or 818.880.8990 for a free confidential consultation with a Certified Family Law Specialist to discuss your divorce or family law issues. | www.conviser.net | www.conviserfamilylaw.com |

IS THE ORIGINAL OWNER ENTITLED TO A LARGER PORTION OF THE EQUITY?

QUESTION: California state scenario: a man owns a home. He marries a woman who moves into the home. Both live there for 7 years. They sell the home and move to a new home, live there for a few years, then sell and repeat this process a couple times over the period of an 18 year marriage. The couple plans to divorce and sell the home that they currently live in/own together. Question: is the man who owned the home to begin with entitled to any greater part of the equity that comes from the sale of the current home? =============================================== MY RESPONSE: Yes, to the extent that he or his forensic expert can trace funds from the sale of his former separate property home to the current home. Unless he has all of his escrow records from all of the homes and all of his banking records over that period of time (account statements and cancelled checks), such tracing can be a daunting or even impossible task because banks and other lenders typically keep their records for only seven years. =============================================== This educational blog is brought to you by DONALD F. CONVISER, an effective and aggressive Los Angeles Family Law Attorney and Divorce Lawyer serving clients in the courts of Los Angeles and Ventura County for over 35 years,owner of Warner Center Law Offices, with offices in Woodland Hills and Century City. Call 888.632.4447 or 818.880.8990 for a free confidential consultation with a Certified Family Law Specialist to discuss your divorce or family law issues. | www.conviser.net | www.conviserfamilylaw.com |

MY WIFE LEFT ME; WHAT CAN I DO TO PROTECT MYSELF?

QUESTION: I have been married for 13 years. My wife left me at the house we live in. She's been gone for four days and she hasn't answered my calls. What can I do to protect myself ? Can I lock up the house so she can't get in while I'm at work? If I get a divorce do I have to pay alimony? What does the law say? =============================================== MY RESPONSE: What protection do you think you would need? You should not base what you do on a few online questions and answers. Interview experienced Family Law Attorneys and retain one without delay to advise, represent and protect you. =============================================== This educational blog is brought to you by DONALD F. CONVISER, an effective and aggressive Los Angeles Family Law Attorney and Divorce Lawyer serving clients in the courts of Los Angeles and Ventura County for over 35 years,owner of Warner Center Law Offices, with offices in Woodland Hills and Century City. Call 888.632.4447 or 818.880.8990 for a free confidential consultation with a Certified Family Law Specialist to discuss your divorce or family law issues. | www.conviser.net | www.conviserfamilylaw.com |

HOW IS CHILD SUPPORT APPORTIONED AMONG CHILDREN?

QUESTION: How is Child Support apportioned when you have more than one child? =============================================== MY RESPONSE: All of your children are entitled to Guideline Child Support. However, the way that Guideline Child Support is calculated where you have more than one child is to apportion child support in such a way that when the oldest child's Child Support ends (at age 18, or if still a full time high school student, then at the first date of completion of 12th grade or age 19), you wouldn't have to go back to Court for a modification of Child Support for the other two children. Using that form of calculation (as opposed to calculating a figure for all three children and dividing the number by three) results in the highest amount of support for the youngest child, next highest for the 2nd child, and lowest amount of support for the oldest child. =============================================== This educational blog is brought to you by DONALD F. CONVISER, an effective and aggressive Los Angeles Family Law Attorney and Divorce Lawyer serving clients in the courts of Los Angeles and Ventura County for over 35 years,owner of Warner Center Law Offices, with offices in Woodland Hills and Century City. Call 888.632.4447 or 818.880.8990 for a free confidential consultation with a Certified Family Law Specialist to discuss your divorce or family law issues. | www.conviser.net | www.conviserfamilylaw.com |

CAN I BE PUT IN JAIL IF I AM BEHIND ON CHILD SUPPORT?

QUESTION: I was served with child support court papers. If I get behind on child support, what can happen to me? Could I be put in jail? ============================================== MY RESPONSE: You could be subject to a number of enforcement actions, including contempt, writ of execution against your wages or bank account, interception of your income tax refund, and suspension of any licenses that you may have (including driver's licences and professional licenses), if you are behind with your Child Support payments. If you are convicted of contempt, the possible penalties could include incarceration, although that is less likely in a first contempt conviction than in subsequent contempt convictions. If the reason you are in arrears on Child Support payments was that you lost your job, you may have a defense against contempt, but if you were collecting unemployment insurance payments, you should have paid something - so you could be convicted of contempt for failure to make at least partial payments while you were collecting unemployment insurance payments. Whether or not you have a defense to contempt, the arrearages continue to mount while you are not paying or fully paying your Child Support obligation in accordance with the Court's orders, and the arrears bear interest at the rate of 10% per annum. If you have lost your income or if your income has diminished, you are advised to quickly file an Order to Show Cause to modify your Child Support obligation, and you are admonished that the modification will not be retroactive, i.e., it won't affect the amount you already owe or the interest that has accrued and continues to accrue on that amount. ============================================== This educational blog is brought to you by DONALD F. CONVISER, an effective and aggressive Los Angeles Family Law Attorney and Divorce Lawyer serving clients in the courts of Los Angeles and Ventura County for over 35 years,owner of Warner Center Law Offices, with offices in Woodland Hills and Century City. Call 888.632.4447 or 818.880.8990 for a free confidential consultation with a Certified Family Law Specialist to discuss your divorce or family law issues. | www.conviser.net | www.conviserfamilylaw.com |