Orange County Family Law Blog

Unwed parents should seek support for their children

On behalf of Rosen & Rosen, LLP posted in Child Support on Friday, August 23, 2019.

If you are unmarried and have a child, you may not immediately realize how important it is to determine the legal paternity of the child to pursue child support. There are many reasons why parents may neglect to do this, however.

They may still be in a relationship with their child's other parent and fear that making it legal might rock the relationship boat and cause problems. The child's other parent may actually be married to another person and want to keep their spouse from learning of the child's existence. In some cases, the custodial parent may fear the other parent will harm them or their child physically or worry that the parent is not fit to be involved in their child's life.

Is lump sum alimony a viable option?

On behalf of Rosen & Rosen, LLP posted in Divorce on Friday, August 9, 2019.

Paying alimony every month can be an irritating link to the past you thought you had left behind. This is particularly true if you have moved on to a new relationship and it rankles that you continue to be legally required to subsidize your ex's lifestyle.

However, even the recipients can grow weary of waiting for alimony payments that arrive late or end up being short. If only there were a workable alternative to these monthly spousal support issues.

We can help you get more child support if needed

On behalf of Rosen & Rosen, LLP posted in Child Support on Friday, July 26, 2019.

It's very expensive to rear a child here in Southern California. If you are a divorced parent who relies on child support from your child's other parent, it can sometimes seem that the amount you receive falls far short of meeting your child's needs.

That can be especially true if you face a sudden hardship like an unexpected job loss or are felled by a serious illness and can no longer work. If something like this occurs, you may wonder if you can seek additional child support from your co-parent.

We can modify your custody order

On behalf of Rosen & Rosen, LLP posted in Child Custody on Friday, July 12, 2019.

Summertime is a good time to review the child custody orders that are in place for your kids. What typically happens is that the children "outgrow" the original order that may now be several years old.

For instance, if you divorced when your children were in preschool and they are now approaching middle school, a lot has changed in your kids' worlds since then. They may play on sports teams, take music or dance lessons or have other commitments related to their extracurricular activities.

Should you file for divorce this summer?

On behalf of Rosen & Rosen, LLP posted in Divorce on Friday, June 28, 2019.

You and your spouse haven't been getting along well for a long time. It's almost as if the two of you are already living separate lives even though you are married.

Maybe it might be a good idea to make it official and file for divorce from your spouse this summer. At least that way, the two of you will be free to finally begin to once again live your best lives.

Can my child support include the kids' summer camp fees?

On behalf of Rosen & Rosen, LLP posted in Child Support on Friday, June 14, 2019.

Parents, does it ever seem like your child support amount shrinks during the summer? While the amount stays the same all 12 months, having the kids home for the better part of three months has some definite financial consequences.

With that in mind, some parents wonder if their children's other parents can be forced to kick in some extra dollars to cover summer camp tuition and other related expenses.

Can I adopt my stepchild with my spouse's permission?

On behalf of Rosen & Rosen, LLP posted in Child Custody on Friday, May 31, 2019.

If you are the stepparent of your spouse's child from a previous marriage or relationship, at some point you may want to pursue adopting the child as your own. Do you have that right if your spouse gives consent?

The answer, as with many legal queries, is "it depends," and the person on whom it depends is typically the child's other birth parent.

The timeline of a divorce

On behalf of Rosen & Rosen, LLP posted in Divorce on Friday, May 17, 2019.

If your marriage is foundering, it just may be time to toss in the towel and file for divorce. But divorce is a process and not a single event. You may be uncertain about how the process will unfold, and that can add to any anxiety you may already be experiencing.

While no two divorces are alike, most share certain commonalities. Below is a general divorce timeline that can make it easier to understand what's going on.

What you need to know about child support payments

On behalf of Rosen & Rosen, LLP posted in Child Support on Friday, May 3, 2019.

Whether you are ending a bad marriage or just found out that you have a child, you may be faced with paying child support to your child's other parent. This is one of those topics that people rarely delve into until it affects them personally, either as the payer or recipient of child support.

Both parents have legal and moral obligations to support their children financially unless their parental rights were terminated. As most parents acknowledge, it is expensive to rear children in today's world.

It's worth the effort to get along with your kids' other parent

On behalf of Rosen & Rosen, LLP posted in Child Custody on Friday, April 19, 2019.

If you share children with a spouse you're divorcing, you will likely have that person at least peripherally in your life for the foreseeable future. When the kids are minors, there will be custody exchanges and probably the payment or receipt of child support.

But even when your children are grown and have families of their own, you will still run into your ex at extended family functions, especially once there are grandchildren. All of this makes it worthwhile for the two of you to attempt to heal old wounds and form at least a civil relationship with one another.