Southern California Family Law Attorney Blog

Many readers in San Bernardino, and across California, are aware that additional or significant stresses, such as financial challenges, can put pressures on a marriage that could cause it to break down. As the financial crisis that swept across the U.S. in recent years affected couples, the same stresses that were causing them to fall apart where also forcing them to stay together.

According to reports, when housing prices dropped, many couples were forced to stay together because divorcing was not financially feasible. The recovery of the U.S. housing market may have relieved some of the stresses facing married couples, but the divorce rate is once again rising. Experts reportedly contribute the rise to a couple’s ability to sell their marital home, freeing up funds from what is typically a couple’s largest asset, in order to provide each spouse with the ability to move on separately.

Continue reading Economic recovery leads to increase in divorce rate

For both same-sex, and opposite-sex, couples in San Bernardino, settling child custody issues can be one of the most difficult aspects of finalizing the dissolution of a civil union or a divorce. Often times, both parents believe they know what is best for the child and, if those opinions do not mesh, it can make tenser an already emotionally charged situation.

A temporary child custody agreement has reportedly been reached between reality TV star and wedding planner, David Tutera, and his estranged domestic partner. The pair, who is in the process of dissolving their almost 10-year civil union, shares two children, a set of fraternal twins. Tutera is the biological father of one of the twins, who were carried by a surrogate, while his ex-partner fathered the other. According to reports, the arrangement stipulates that the twins will be separated, with each man being granted sole custody of his biological child.

Continue reading Child custody arrangement separates David Tutera’s twins

In California, as well as in other states across the U.S., when a court orders a parent to make child support payments, it is expected that they comply. For any number of reasons, however, a parent may fall behind on their monthly payments. When this happens, the parent who is owed the payments may take legal action in order to get the back pay.

A woman in Illinois reportedly filed a lawsuit against Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois when they declined her wage garnishment request. According to reports, the woman, claimed her ex-husband was routinely late with his child support payments, as well as often paying the wrong amount so she sent a request to Blue Cross Blue Shield. While in most cases, this type of request would go to a person’s employer, as a self-employed chiropractor, BCBS was her husband’s largest source of income. Blue Cross, however, reportedly did not feel they were subject to the Illinois state withholding law, which requires payers to withhold earnings when requested.

Continue reading Judge orders Blue Cross to pay woman owed child support

Marriage can be difficult and, as is the case anytime a marriage is put under stress, a couple may decide that they no longer work. While military families in San Bernardino and elsewhere have always had a certain level of added stress, since the U.S. started deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, those stresses have been increased.

Recently, researchers from the RAND Corp. published the results of a study they had conducted on over 460,000 married military service members from 1999 to 2008. Among other key trends, the study reportedly showed that female military service members run a much higher risk for divorce than their male counterparts. According to reports, if within the first five years of marriage a woman in the military deploys, there is a 50-50 chance that she will divorce.

Continue reading Female military members more likely to divorce, study shows