If you are in physical danger from someone else, we want to use the law to help keep you safe. This is where Restraining Orders come into play - legal court orders that protect someone from being abused, stalked, or harassed. The abuse does not have to have already happened to warrant a Restraining Order - threats are enough to get the process underway. In California, Restraining Orders can include provisions for Read More

Step-Parent Adoption is an exciting but delicate legal issue. It is not uncommon for step-parents to want to legally adopt their spouse’s children and share parental rights along with them. For many families, it bonds them even closer together. However, in California, only two parents can have parental rights to a child. This means that for a step-parent adoption to happen, the other biological parent must sign away Read More

Love is in the air. This Blog is written for February and Valentine’s Day, the celebration of romance and couplehood that we all know so well. For many couples, this Valentine’s Day will look different than many have before. Couples may be spending it simply in their living room, cooking dinner, and watching a movie. Still, there are some eternal issues, which is why we have chosen February to discuss unwed Read More

Take a deep breath: you made it through the holidays. There might have been times where you thought they would never end, but they did. It is a new year, and it is a new start for all of us. If you are sick and tired of being sick and tired - then it is time to get out of that house. Being stuck together inside a house during the pandemic, many couples have found themselves in constant conflict. A huge amount of Read More

If you file for divorce when you’re in your twenties or even thirties, you’re probably not thinking about retirement. However, creating the foundation for a financially stable future is an important part of starting over, and one of the best ways to gain that security is to obtain a qualified domestic relations order (QDRO).  What is a QDRO? A QDRO is a legal order that acknowledges or creates the right of an Read More

When all is said and done and the divorce papers are signed, what’s on your horizon for the future? Transitioning into your next chapter of life might seem intimidating, but in fact it is a time full of opportunity, beauty, and transformation. When you shed your identity as someone’s spouse, you then get to create a new identity as an empowered single man or woman, who is better and wiser than you’ve ever been Read More

Sometimes a child’s parent is not interested in caring for them. Other times, parents want to be responsible for their children, but, for whatever reason (be it drug addiction, financial woes, or even disability), are unable to do so. In cases where a parent cannot or will not care for a child, it is possible for a non-parent adult, such as another family member or a close family friend, to establish guardianship Read More

When you think of divorce do you imagine a long, drawn-out battle in which people who used to love each other seek revenge and express their anger? While divorce is often portrayed that way, it is luckily not always how it happens. In fact, California family courts try to keep this from happening as much as possible. It is encouraged to pursue a summary dissolution, a special type of an uncontested divorce -- in Read More

When parents get divorced or unmarried parents separate, many find that the most difficult part coming to terms with the fact that your child will have to split their time between homes. Usually, both parents want to spend as much time as possible with their child, making it easier for conflicts to arise. The solution? A visitation schedule. In today’s blog, we’re taking a look at the four biggest things you need to Read More

If you are not married to the mother of your child, you need to take certain measures to establish your fatherhood in the eyes of the law. When a child is born to married parents, the law assumes that the mother’s husband is her child’s father. Unwed fathers, on the other hand, have to actually claim paternity if they want to have all of the legal rights associated with fatherhood.  Establishing paternity in Read More