Can the Other Parent Take Away My Parental Rights?
In the eyes of California family law, every child deserves a mother and a father who are both financially responsible for them and provide them with the necessities for healthy development. For this reason, parental rights are highly protected in family law courts. Very few things can take your rights as a parent away. Your parental rights can be transferred to another parent if they adopt your child. If you…
Read MoreThe Benefits of Residential Time
The benefits of spending time with your child are plenty and obvious. Spending time with your child, even if you are not the primary caregiver, can help them develop healthy relationships with you and others in their life, it can help them know how to ask for help when they need it and can teach them that while some relationships aren’t made to last, the parent-child relationship is forever. During…
Read MoreEnforcing Child Support Orders When Support Goes Unpaid
Once a child support order is issued, monthly payments are enforceable. Unfortunately, there is no fail safe way to ensure those payments are actually made. Child support not paid, also called arrearage, must be paid back with a 10% interest rate per year. The only way for child support payments to stop are: If the parental rights are signed over to another parental figure willing to take on the financial…
Read MoreTax Breaks for Parents: What You Can Expect After Divorce?
One of the many things that will change after divorce is your taxes. You will have a separate filing status and may be in significantly different financial circumstance. Dependency Exemptions One thing that can change is your dependency exemptions. There are many tax breaks for parents. You can claim a dependent on your taxes to reduce your overall taxed income and take advantage of possible tax credits. Some expenses from…
Read MoreWho’s the Father?: How Paternity is Established
Today, families come in many shapes and sizes. Families can begin and grow before a marriage and not all mothers and fathers are meant to be together. In these cases, you may have to establish paternity to gain certain benefits for your child. There are many reasons why you may want to establish paternity. If you are seeking child support or other benefits for your child, you will need to…
Read MoreHow is a Child Support Order Modified?
Child support is often a long commitment, usually lasting until your child turns 18 or stops attending high school full time. However, child support is calculated off of a standard formula as set forth by the State of California. It is based mainly off of parental income and residential time, although these both fluctuate throughout the course of a child’s upbringing. Significant changes in income or residential time may warrant…
Read MoreWhat Does Child Support Cover?
Caring and providing for your child is a requirement of all parents, regardless of separation or divorce. To ensure no parent walks away from a divorce without the obligation to financially provide for their child, child support is ordered in every divorce case, unlike spousal support, which isn’t always necessary. The State of California has set forth a standard calculation to determine basic child support amounts. This calculation takes heavily…
Read MoreManaging a Demanding Work Schedule with Joint Custody
Nothing will test your time management skills as co-parenting a child with a demanding work schedule. It is important you exercise your timesharing rights and have to accommodate the other parent’s schedule as well. After agreeing upon a timesharing schedule in your Parenting Plan, the family law courts will enforce it and hold each parent to “making it work”. Not making an effort or not being able to consistently exercise…
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