Divorce Law - A Blog By A Divorce Attorney!

           In most divorce cases, a party may petition the court for spousal support AKA alimony payable by his or her spouse.  In California, there are two types of spousal support payments, temporary and long term.  This post will address temporary spousal support.   California courts have consistently maintained that the duty of the court in establishing temporary spousal support is to render a fair and appropriate order to reflect parties’ financial circumstances at or near the time of separation.     In most cases, said status can be obtained by simply plugging numbers into a guideline calculation.   In Los Angeles County, the dissomaster  computer  program performs this calculation.  This really does away with much of the court's discretion and an attorney's ability to advocate. In some case, however, the use of dissomaster can render an unfair and inappropriate support orders , thus necessitating the trial court’s intervention. For several decades, the co

Many people believe that a separate property business (meaning a business established prior to marriage) is off limits for the proverbial divorce chopping block.  In most instances, especially those involving a service based business, this could not be further from the truth.  In a service based industry, where one (or both) spouse(s) work in the business, the community estate can gain an interest pursuant to the case of Pereira .  Pereria , which was decided nearly 100 years ago, carves out a community property interest in a separate property asset.  The analysis is based on the following rationale, WHERE THE PERSONAL LABOR INVESTED IS THE PRIMARY SOURCE OF GROWTH - A PEREIRA APORTIONMENT ROVIDES A FAIR APPRECIATION AT THE LEGAL RATE OF RETURN TO THE CAPITAL AND ASSIGNS THE REST OF APPRECIATION AS GROWTH FROM LABOR In real world litigation or mediation perspective, the Pereira interest is generally determined by obtaining two different business valuations, date of marriag

                  SPOUSAL SUPPORT IS ENFORCEABLE NOTWITHSTANDING ONE'S CAPACITY !                I was recently retained in a very interesting case.   The matter posed a unique set of facts and legal issues.  Can the daughter of a party, who lacks capacity, enforce a spousal support obligation on behalf of said party?   Given the ruling by the trial court yesterday, the answer is YES !                                                                  THE LAW!                Although, in general , the only persons permitted to be parties to a proceeding for dissolution or legal separation are the husband and wife ( Cal. Rules of Court , rule 1211(a) .) , the California Code of Civil Procedure provides an exception for a party lacking capacity.   Said representation is usually permissible by and through a guardian or a conservator of the spouse. Code of Civil Procedure § 372.                An "incompetent person" includes “‘a person for whom a conser