Finding Hidden Retirement PlansAlmost every divorce, whether the parties are low-net-worth or high-net-worth (HNW) individuals, involves dividing retirement assets. Failing to divide these retirement assets properly can result in significant, unanticipated, irreversible, negative downstream financial impacts. For this reason, most family law attorneys hire outside “QDRO counsel” to draft qualified domestic relations orders for
As an attorney who litigates Borderline divorces in Los Angeles and who consults nationally and internationally with spouses of Borderlines, attorneys and child custody evaluators, watching Borderline Personality Disorder (“BPD”) slowly emerge from the shadows into public awareness is extremely exciting. In 2011, Marshall Brandon, who played NFL football with the Denver Broncos and Miami
A recent article in the Los Angeles Times discusses the unexpected to-do that surrounds determination of pet custody. An increasing amount of money, time and resources is being spent to decide the fate of household pets, and the process can be as complicated as a child custody battle.
Complications arise because the animal has no
Virtual visitation is the latest custody-related family law fad. California family law courts are issuing virtual visitation orders in lieu of face-to-face visitations where face-to-face visitations are feasible, albeit inconvenient. This is not good. Virtual visitation orders should only be issued where in-person child visitations are not possible.
Admittedly, virtual visitation helps people like deployed
Proposed federal legislation would require state family law judges, including California’s, to automatically re-establish, upon a servicemember’s return from deployment, the custody and visitation schedule in effect at the time the servicemember was deployed. Under current law, many servicemembers lose custody and visitation time when deployed because they cannot be present to defend against requests
A five year-old kindergartener’s hands and feet were hand-cuffed with zip ties by a Stockton, California police officer who then arrested the five year-old ADHD sufferer for battery on an officer for kicking the officer in the knee. Lieutenant Frank Gordo was apparently victimized by five year-old Michael Davis. As an American, it is embarrassing
State-sponsored child abuse is epidemic in Los Angeles and throughout the United States as evidenced by law enforcement protocols, family and juvenile court proceedings, adoptions, foster care programs and, increasingly, schools. For example, in November 2011, Hawaii’s Child Protective Services, in cooperation with the Honolulu Police Department, traumatized a three-year old girl by taking her
The Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (“UCCJEA”) governs many international child custody disputes involving California (or any state within the United States) and a foreign country. In addition, the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (“Hague Convention”) as made effective in the United States by the International Child Abduction
Attorneys who either want to churn fees or who are afraid their client will not do well on a psychological/custody evaluation will oftentimes resort to litigating a psychological/custody evaluation during the evaluation. Their purpose in doing so is to unfairly influence the outcome of the evaluation. Unfortunately, they oftentimes succeed and the family is forced
Attorneys who either want to churn fees or who are afraid their client will not do well on a psychological/custody evaluation will oftentimes resort to litigating a psychological/custody evaluation during the evaluation. Their purpose in doing so is to unfairly influence the outcome of the evaluation. Unfortunately, they oftentimes succeed and the family is forced