2010 January Archive

The first thing you need to do if you want to file for divorce is figure out where you need to file. Most people will file for divorce in the courthouse that is closest to their home. For example, if you live in Chula Vista, CA, which is in San Diego County, then you will file your divorce in the Chula Vista courthouse of the California Superior Court in San Diego County.

Sometimes, though, it is not that easy. What if you live in San Diego County but your spouse now lives in (or will soon move to) Orange County? If you and your spouse have no children together, then it will probably be best to file for divorce in San Diego County. If you and your spouse do have children together, most judges will want the divorce to be handled in whatever county the children live in. If you want the children to stay in San Diego County, then file for divorce in San Diego. If you think the children will live in Orange County, then you might file for divorce in Orange County.

What if you live in California but your spouse now lives in another state? If there are children involved, the law requires that the divorce be filed in the location where the children have been living. If you want to file for divorce in San Diego, you will want to be able to tell the judge that the children have been living in San Diego for the last 3 months and in California for the last 6 months.

If you have any more questions about where to file for divorce, please call us to speak to an experienced divorce lawyer. We’re here to answer your questions.

Wallin & Klarich has more than 30 years of experience in family law. Our Southern California family law attorneys know from long experience what works in a divorce case, and are prepared to fight to get you the best possible outcome. With 16 attorneys in 33 offices throughout Southern California, we can be there when you need us — wherever you are. If you’re thinking of hiring an attorney for a divorce, call us today at 1-888-749-7428 for a consultation, or fill out the online case evaluation form to the right.

If you have been accused of neglecting or abusing a child in California, you may have received a letter from the Department of Justice indicating that they intend to put your name on the Child Abuse Central Index. You need to keep your name off this list and you need a lawyer to help you in your effort. Now, your most pressing concern is which lawyer to hire and how do you know which lawyer will do the best job for you.

At Wallin & Klarich, we have been doing CACI hearings in southern California since the inception of the CACI. Our lawyers were the first lawyers to conduct CACI hearings in multiple counties in Southern California. Wallin & Klarich lawyers win CACI hearings. We handle more CACI hearings than perhaps any other law firm. By way of illustration, there are only a handful of private attorneys that conduct the CACI hearings on a regular basis. The government officers who conduct the CACI hearings only know a few of them by name. One of our attorneys the CACI hearing officers know by name is our Wallin & Klarich attorney in San Diego.

The bottom line is when you appear at your CACI hearing, you need to make sure you have a San Diego lawyer who knows the law, knows the people on the other side, and knows how to win. Wallin & Klarich matches your needs perfectly. Call us with your questions at 1-888-749-7428, or fill out the online case evaluation form to the right.

The daughter of Courtney Love and the late Kurt Cobain will no longer be in the custody of Courtney Love. KTLA reported that 17-year-old Frances Bean Cobain will now be under the temporary guardianship of her father’s mother (grandmother) and sister (aunt). The court order is in place until February but doesn’t give the girl’s grandmother or aunt any access to her trust that was set up by her father. The report did not give any reasons for the change in guardianship.

Temporary guardianship is the first step in pursuing permanent guardianship of a child when it is believed that the minor needs immediate help. The temporary guardianship order stays in effect for 30 days or until the date of the general hearing. At that time, court proceedings will determine who should be given guardianship of the minor. A court can grant guardianship of a child and/or the child’s estate.

If you or a loved one is seeking guardianship of a minor, the family law attorneys at Wallin and Klarich can help you through the process. Our experienced California family law attorneys can provide you with legal advice and will be your advocate in a family law court. If you’re thinking of hiring an attorney for a guardianship, call us today at 1-888-749-7428 for a consultation, or fill out the online case evaluation form to the right.

The community residence/home is typically the biggest community property asset to divide between divorcing couples. Should it be sold? Can one party afford to keep it and buy the other party out of his/her interest? These are just a couple of questions to be answered when going through a divorce action. In the past, when our economy flourished, there usually was equity to be divided between divorcing couples. However, in most recent years with the collapse of the real estate market, many couples are facing foreclosures, short sales and may ultimately decide to just walk away from their homes.

If there is some equity in a community property residence, it is always a good idea to have it professionally appraised. In San Bernardino County, courts typically order a professional appraiser to value a home when there is some equity to be divided between the parties. This is the most accurate method of calculating what a home’s worth is rather than rely on a market analysis by a real estate agent or through some website like Zillow.com.

Once this is done, the next question is whether one of the parties can afford to keep the home, refinance it in their name and buy out the interest of the other party. If neither party can keep the home, the home will have to be put up for sale and split the equity should any exist. Many professional appraisers now include prequalification approval statements as to the parties to show the court that one of the parties can afford to keep it and is pre-qualified for a refinance loan.

If you are going through a divorce or are involved in a family law matter in San Bernardino County, contact the San Bernardino divorce attorneys at the Law Offices of Wallin & Klarich at 1-888-749-7428 to obtain competent and professional legal representation. Visit our website at www.wkfamilylaw.com.

Spousal support is support paid to the non-working or disadvantaged spouse seeking marketable or renewed job skills to become self sufficient and self-supporting. Many times the former spouse being supported was previously the homemaker or main care-taker of the children.

Other instances provide that the supported party was out of the work force for so long that their job skills would have to be renewed to the point that re-training is required to enter to current job market. There also may be medical issues or medical limitations that restrict or limit the supported spouse from obtaining gainful employment in today’s job market. Also, age may be another significant factor courts take into consideration when awarding spousal support.

In California, a marriage of ten years or longer is considered a long term marriage, and the courts may have continuing jurisdiction on the issue of spousal support in these instances. This would allow the court to modify the amount of support and the duration of spousal support in the future, even after dissolution.

Call the Law Firm of Wallin & Klarich at 1-888-749-7428 to review your current marital situation and get the competent representation you deserve and visit our website at www.wkfamilylaw.com.

The father of a child born out of marriage can petition the court to establish and enforce his rights as a father. Some of these rights include custody, visitation and the right to support the minor child.

The process involves filing a Petition to Establish a Parental Relationship along with filing an Order to Show Cause seeking orders for these rights. A DNA test can be done to prove whether or not the father is the biological father of the child. The court can make temporary orders regarding custody and visitation of the minor child once paternity has been established. These orders can include custody, visitation and support for the minor child.

Protect your rights as a parent and contact the experienced attorneys at the Law Firm of Wallin and Klarich. Call our firm now at 1-888-749-7428 and schedule an appointment with our experienced Los Angeles County family law attorneys to discuss your rights and options and also visit our website at www.wkfamilylaw.com.

In other posts, we discussed the first, second, third, and fourth tips that you should follow when preparing to work with a lawyer for your child custody and/or visitation issue in court. Let’s go on to the fifth and final tip.

Fifth, remember that the vast majority of family law lawyers charge an hourly rate. The more work they do, the more you will end up having to pay them. By contrast, the more work you do for your lawyer, and the more preparation you put into your case, the less work your lawyer will have to do, and the less you will have to pay him or her. This advice is especially helpful if money is tight. You should not feel like you are unable to hire a lawyer if you are not super rich. As long as you are willing to do the work in a timely manner and get things done, your lawyer should not have a problem with you helping with your case. In fact, your lawyer should appreciate you taking such an active role in your case. Having this kind of teamwork go a long way to benefit your case and hopefully earn the outcome you want, and at the same time save you some money.

This is the last of our five tips on the things you should do before meeting with a family lawyer. The next step is finding and meeting with the right lawyer. If there is any other advice we can give you, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Wallin & Klarich has more than 30 years of experience in family law. Our Southern California family law attorneys know from long experience what works in a divorce case, and are prepared to fight to get you the best possible outcome. With 16 attorneys in 33 offices throughout Southern California, we can be there when you need us — wherever you are. If you’re thinking of hiring an attorney for a mediated divorce, call us today at 1-888-749-7428 for a consultation, or fill out the online case evaluation form to the right.

In other posts, we discussed the first, second, and third tips that you should follow when preparing to work with a lawyer for your child custody and/or visitation issue in court. Let’s go on to the fourth tip.

Fourth, have a plan. If you want more time with your child, make sure you think about how much more time, and when you propose to have that extra time. Saturdays? Tuesday nights for dinner? What about transportation? How do you propose the transportation should be worked out? If you or the other parent is unavailable to provide transportation, is there anyone else you do or do not trust to provide the transportation? For example, if the other parent’s sister has a suspended license due to a DUI, you know that you do not want her to be driving with your child in the car. You might even get a calendar of the rest of the year and mark all days that you want to have your child. You can easily find online yearly calendars by doing a search in any search engine. Not only will this help you plan out your ideal custody and visitation schedule, but it will also help you and your lawyer calculate child support. This is because child support is often calculated yearly in order to get the monthly amount.

Wallin & Klarich has more than 30 years of experience in family law. Our Orange County child support attorneys know from long experience what works in a divorce case, and are prepared to fight to get you the best possible outcome. With 16 attorneys in 33 offices throughout Southern California, we can be there when you need us — wherever you are. If you’re thinking of hiring an attorney for a mediated divorce, call us today at 1-888-749-7428 for a consultation, or fill out the online case evaluation form to the right.

This is just the fourth of five tips, visit our blog again to continue reading Part 5.

In other posts, we discussed the first and second tips that you should follow when preparing to work with a lawyer for your child custody and/or visitation issue in court. Let’s go on to the third tip.

Third, write down everything you want to say. It is not enough to just say it—you need to write it. Make sure your statement is well organized by dividing it into sections and even subsections if you must. One section can be about your child’s schooling. In the first subsection you might talk about the other parent’s deficiencies when it comes to supporting your child’s school activities. The second subsection might be about how helpful you are when it comes to your child’s schooling. If your child is seeing a therapist who wants to prescribe your child medication and you and the other parent disagree on what to do, your second section might discuss this issue.

The first subsection about this issue might discuss what you think is best and why and the second subsection might discuss what the other parent wants and why the other parent’s position is a bad idea. These are just examples. You will of course need to write about whatever issues are relevant to your situation and most important to you. You should write down everything that you want to see. Your child custody Los Angeles lawyer can always go over later and tell you what he or she thinks is important and not important.

Wallin & Klarich has more than 30 years of experience in family law. Our attorneys know from long experience what works in a divorce case, and are prepared to fight to get you the best possible outcome. With 16 attorneys in 33 offices throughout Southern California, we can be there when you need us — wherever you are. If you’re thinking of hiring an attorney for a mediated divorce, call us today at 1-888-749-7428 for a consultation, or fill out the online case evaluation form to the right.

This is just the third of five tips, visit our blog again to continue reading Part 4.

In another post, we discussed the first tip that you should follow when preparing to work with a lawyer for your child custody and/or visitation issue in court. Let’s go on to the second tip.

Second, remember that if you want to criticize the other parent about some aspect of his or her parenting, make sure you can prove that you are doing well in that aspect of parenting. It does not help much to point to the other parent’s deficiencies when you yourself are deficient. If you feel like you both have room for improvement, go ahead and say so. Offer suggestions on how you can both improve.

It is understandable that you are very emotional when it comes to your situation. On the other hand, the judge will appreciate your position more if you approach your situation objectively and fairly. Judges can frequently hold it against you if you decide to try to pull some punches. Judges will often try to figure out which party is acting fairly and appropriately, and which party is causing all the problems. You always want to take the high road. You certainly do not want the judge to think you’re the one making things difficult.

Wallin & Klarich has more than 30 years of experience in family law. Our child custody Orange County attorneys know from long experience what works in a divorce case, and are prepared to fight to get you the best possible outcome. With 16 attorneys in 33 offices throughout Southern California, we can be there when you need us — wherever you are. If you’re thinking of hiring an attorney for a mediated divorce, call us today at 1-888-749-7428 for a consultation, or fill out the online case evaluation form to the right.

This is just the second of five tips, visit our blog again to continue reading Part 3.