Much of the practice of family law is adversarial by nature. Even in an amicable divorce, the two parties have competing interests. When not handled well, child custody and child support disputes can lead to wounded pride and lingering resentments.
By contrast, adoption is a very upbeat legal issue. The goal is to bring a family together and take care of a child. When a family succeeds with an adoption, everyone involved is happy.
Any type of legal issue that involves family is stressful. There can be a large amount of uncertainty and fear and many situations aren't helped by the fact that such matters can be extremely complicated. Dealing with family law issues such as child support, however, doesn't have to be rife with unanswered questions and guesses.
Starting with the basics is a good plan of action for any situation, and that's where we'll start with our child support discussion today. Navigating the process of child support, whether modifying or seeking payments, is indeed difficult. Understanding the foundation of the issue, however, can go a long way in making it seem much less intimidating. We'll look at three questions in this blog.
A child's grandparents can easily get overlooked during a custody dispute or even when things in a family are running smoothly, that is, without any major wrangling over custody and visitation. On the other hand, in Orange County, California, as well as most other parts of the country, grandparents play a vital role in a child's growth and development. Losing that relationship can have a long-term impact on a child.
Unlike with parents, grandparents normally have no absolute constitutional rights to raise and relate to their grandchildren. Still, the state of California, under its regular statutes, gives grandparents some ability to pursue visitation.
California parents who are trying to raise a child in two separate households probably would hope their children would be able to live close to them. On a practical level, that makes child custody and visitation easier to manage. Emotionally, many also find that living close can make a huge difference in the quality of relationship a parent has with his or her children.
However, the reality is that people, including parents who are living apart, often move, sometimes out of necessity or in order to pursue important job opportunities that can benefit their children. When this happens, California law requires that the parent who is moving treat the other parent fairly so both parents can keep up their relationships with their children.
When parents in California decide to divorce, the well-being of their child may be the first thing on their mind. Of course, they may want to see that their child weathers the separation as well as possible emotionally, but they may also be concerned with child custody decisions, and how their child will adjust to having two homes.
Often, when one parent has primary physical custody of the child, the noncustodial parent will pay child support to the custodial parent. These payments are meant to assist with the costs associated with raising a child. Parents in such situations may wonder how child support in California is calculated.
Californians may have heard of the oft-cited statistic that half of all marriages these days will end in divorce. However, there has been much discussion as to whether this statement is accurate. For example, according to the American Psychological Association, the divorce rate in our nation is somewhere between 40 percent and 50 percent. That being said, these numbers are up for debate, and, in fact may differ among various demographics.
"Millennials" who often live with their partner before getting married are less apt to divorce than couples from other generations. For example, according to one report, the divorce rate for couples between ages 55 to 64 increased by more than 50 percent between 1990 to 2012. Moreover, during that time frame, the divorce rate for those age 65 and older increased threefold.
Not every marriage in California is meant to last, and even if both you and your spouse agree that divorce is the best option, it is still an emotional time. However, you should not let your emotions cloud your judgment. The following are some specific rational steps you can take to protect yourself during the divorce process.
First of all, if you are contemplating divorce, you may want to retain an attorney and financial adviser. It is important that these professionals are a good fit for you, and that you have a good connection with them. If you don't really understand what they tell you or do for you, they may not be a good fit. Moreover, don't try to go at it alone. An attorney can explain the law to you and represent your interests throughout the divorce process.
Child support issues can become thorny, particularly if a child support modification is sought. After all, any issue regarding money has the potential to escalate.
When it comes to child support in California, sometimes the paying parent wishes to pay less due to an unforeseen change in circumstances, and, on the flip side, the receiving parent may feel that some significant change has taken place that warrants an increase in the amount of support paid.
Couples in California who decide to end their marriage can often work out many legal issues between themselves through out-of-court negotiations. One of these legal issues is property division. However, in California, even if a couple has already agreed on how to separate their property, until the final divorce decree is issued, any community property owned by the couple still belongs to both of them, and legally will not be considered separate.
When dividing property in a divorce, it is often good to do so in a way that allows each party to walk away with about an equal amount of the property. Of course, this doesn't mean everything has to be split equally down the middle. For example, if a couple has two bank accounts, instead of each of them splitting the money in each account, they can each take over one account if the value of the accounts is relatively the same. Or, if one account is much more valuable than the other, one party can keep the bank account, while the other party can be awarded some other property of equal value.
If a stepparent in California wishes to adopt his or her stepchild, the child's other biological parent must be notified, as the adoption will terminate his or her parental rights. This means that the child's other biological parent must be found and provide written consent for the child to be adopted, or the stepparent must obtain a court order, after showing a thorough and exhaustive search has been made and the biological parent cannot be found, that will end the child's other biological parent's parental rights.
There are numerous ways in which a parent or stepparent can try to locate the child's other biological parent for adoption purposes. For example, a letter can be sent to the biological parent's last known address. If a parent or stepparent knows that the biological parent no longer lives at that address, he or she can still send a letter to that address, but write on the envelope that they do not want the letter to be forwarded, but instead that they want the address requested so that the letter will be returned to them with the correct address.
Kevin Qualls Family Law
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Orange, CA 92868
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