Q. Tell us about yourself and your practice.
A. I grew up in Detroit, Michigan and attended Western Michigan University, where I majored in Philosophy with minors in History of Religions, Sociology and Economics. I migrated to California in 1970, during that restive time to join a collective and help to overthrow the state. I was a production potter for five years before applying to law school. I attended the New College of California, School of Law, which I referred to as Lefty Law Tech because it described itself as a Law School set for the Public Interest. It was age, gender and racially diverse. I graduated in 1981 and joined the California Bar in 1982.
In 1983, I married Rose Eng M.D. We have two children Michelle and Genevieve. Michelle graduated UCLA this past June with a degree in Geography. Genevieve will commence her junior year at Bishop O Dowd High School this fall. I have always had a home office and many of the household and child rearing hats were worn by me. My non-traditional life style helps me understand the stories my clients tell me of their lives and the problems that brought them to need my professional advice. I have always had a small practice and a home office, although I have worked from time to time for practitioners in larger offices. I have always practiced in the area of Family Law which encompasses dissolution of marriage, legal separation, annulments, paternity actions, child custody, child support and restraining orders cases that fall within the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act and Probate actions, specifically contested Guardianships where they intersect with Family Law.
I also do mediation, which I think is a more satisfying way of ending a marital partnership. I don’ t think the present model for ending marriages is the best model. I
think there should be mandatory mediation or arbitration much like in other civil cases.That said, I’ m not afraid to try a case and be a zealous advocate for my client.
Q. Does your office offer paralegal services to help with simple document filings?
A. I do not employ a paralegal. When folks come to me with relatively simple cases, I usually suggest they do it themselves and show them where they can obtain forms
online and what their options are. I do help them, if they remain unsure of themselves and charge anything from free to full freight, depending on their circumstances and
whether they ultimately are going to represent themselves
Q. What is your billing and payment procedure?
A. My hourly rate is $250.00 per hour billable in 1/10 of an hour increments. I ask for a retainer in an amount commensurate with the legal complexity of the case, with an eye
towards the economic circumstances of the client as well. When I first started practicing I took numerous referals from a Community based office that required you
agree to a sliding scale. I haven' t tried to replicate them, but I do try to be sensitive to my client’ s ability to pay attorney fees.
Q. Do you offer a free initial consultation?
A .My policy towards free consultation is that the consultation is free, if the prospective client decides they can either do without my help or don’ t want me to help them with
whatever problem they have. If however we spend a considerable amount of time discussing their issues, it’ s clear that I will become their legal counsel and we
essentially begin our professional relationship. I usually include that as billable time. Usually, my first contact with a new client is over the phone and I’ ll spend a bunch of
time sorting through their issues at that point. By the time someone comes to my office, it usually is to commence the attorney-client relationship.
Q. How much will it cost to file for divorce?
A. California has state-wide filing fees. It costs $350.00 to file a Petition for Dissolutionof Marriage, Legal Separation or Annulment or a Response to any of those, as well as, a
Complaint to Establish Paternal Relations. That’ s just to get started. Usually, folks need to sort through preliminary issues like who will care for the kids most of the time.
Who will live in the family residence, pay the bills and pay support are matters that need to be sorted out during the transition from married to un-married. These requires
going to court for orders “ pendente lite ” orders pending trial. It costs $40.00 to file a Notice of Motion or an Order to Show Cause which involves going to courts. An additional $25.00 is tacked on if one of your issues relates to child custody and/or visitation.
Q. What is an uncontested divorce?
A. An uncontested divorce is one in which the Respondent, the person who didn’ t initiate the divorce doesn’ t file a Response. A lot of times there is a lot of agreement
between the parties. They may or may not be both represented by counsel, but however when they get there they manage to reach an agreement on how to dissolve their
marital partnership. So, one of them or one of their attorneys draft a Marital Settlement Agreement, which is merged into a Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage and submitted
to the court for approval and the judge’ s signature. Basically the Respondent saves a filing fee, which may or may not be a good thing. If there are kids involved and a dispute
arises down the road, oftentimes the Respondent needs to file a motion bringing the custody visitation or maybe just support back to court. That’ s when the county will get
their piece.
If both parties pay their filing fee and the Respondent files a Response, a Marita Settlement Agreement can still be filed, but the parties can also file a Stipulation for
Judgment. If the responding party does absolutely nothing for a long period of time, their default may be entered and the moving party, the Petitioner can file a
proposed Default Judgment.
Q. How does one begin the divorce process?
A. Let me go over some language that I’ ve been using just to make things clearer. The person who initiates the divorce is called the Petitioner. They will file a Petition for
Dissolution of Marriage. The person who didn’ t file is the Respondent and they will need to file a Response, if they want to contest any of the issues raised by the Petition.
All the forms used throughout California’ s judicial system are available for free online. The website is http //www.courtinfo.ca.gove/forms/html. There are a number of
documents that need to be filed at the outset of a divorce, but at a bare minimum the Petition and Summons must be filled out. The original and two copies are filed at the
court house and the $350.00 filing fee is paid. That’ s all that’ s needed to commence a dissolution process. The next step is to serve the Respondent. The Petitioner can’ t do
it. It must be done by an individual older than 18 years old, a citizen of the U.S. and not a party to the action. When the Respondent is served the court acquires jurisdiction
over his or her person.
While strictly speaking, the above is all you need to initiate the divorce, complying with the disclosure statutes is the next piece and you can’ t go very far until that’ s taken care
of. This is the time when you gather your list of all your stuff, real property, cars, valuables, stocks, bonds, retirement plans, insurance policies, credit card debts, bank
accounts, investment accounts, jewelry, all manner of tchotkes, household furniture and furnishings. If you have investment opportunities that the community might have an
interest in, they need to be disclosed. A completed Schedule of Assets and Debts and an Income and Expense Declaration must be completed and served on the Respondent,
who if they respond must serve the same on the Petitioner. That’ s getting a little more ahead than commencing, but it’ s part of the initial phase and folks should know in
advance of filing, that it’ s a good thing to know where important documents are and maybe to get copies of them, if they’ re not normally documents you have control over
but are part of the community’ s assets or debts.
Q. Must fault be proven to obtain a divorce?
A .Nope. California has been a no-fault state since 1984. The only requirement is that one party no longer wants to be married and they are beyond the help of a marriage
counselor. Game over.
Q. Who receives custody of the children in a divorce?
A. Custody issues are the hardest to sort out. When California went to no-fault, they also changed the way custody disputes were resolved. The intent of these
changes was to remove custody disputes from becoming contested. Family Court Services was created to help folks resolve their disagreements on how their children
would be shared. These mediators are psychologists, LCSW’ s, folks trained in working with families and kids. .The legal standard they apply is “ the best interests of the child”
which is extremely broad and vague– intentionally so, because there needs to be a standard that encompasses the wide range of situations they’ ll face every day. Before
the “ best interests” standard there was the “ tender years doctrine” which pretty much said that young kids belong with their mom, but that was back when moms stayed at
home with the kids and dads went to work and made the money to support the kids. It’ s not that way anymore. It’ s quite possible that a dad might have assumed more child
raising responsibilities because mom has the more successful or at least demanding career.
Bottom line though, it’ s real important for both parents to be involved in caring for their kids. The parents are divorcing each other, the kids aren’ t divorcing their parents.
They love both of them and their worlds are usually rocked by divorce. It’ s hugely important for both parties even though they are struggling with their relationship trying to
find the strength to muster basic civility, that they focus on what’ s best for the kids assuring them that they’ re still loved and things will get better. That’ s what the
mediators will be pushing for, if you can’ t develop a parenting plan on your own. If you believe your ex shouldn’ t be seeing your children you best have a very good reason.
Don’ t get me wrong a lot of times there is domestic violence and the kids need to be sheltered from that. A lot of times the home atmosphere is decidedly tense and toxic
and there will be a sense of relief when the tensions are reduced. Moving forward, however, the parents have to put aside their difficulties and focus on how to transition
the kids as painlessly as possible with both parents maintaining an active part in their kids’ lives. The best situation is to work out a plan between yourselves. Remember
that raising a child is a marathon, not a sprint and being a single parent is really hard. And just to make things even more difficult the amount of custodial time each parent
has, bears upon the amount of support that’ s paid. It makes sense that the Legistlature wrote the law this way, but it can wreak havoc in creating child sharing plans.
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