California Divorce Blawg

Past Due Child Support Can Lead To Passport Denial

The Passport Denial Program, which is part of the Federal Offset Program, is designed to help states enforce delinquent child support obligations. Under the program, non-custodial parents certified by a state as having arrearages exceeding $5,000 are submitted by the Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) to the Department of State (DoS), which denies them U.S. passports upon application or the use of a passport service.  Click here for more information.

Grandparents' Rights Survive

      

When the U.S. Supreme Court declared Washington state’s grandparent visitation law unconstitutional in Troxel v. Granville about five years ago, some feared that Granny couldn’t ask a judge for help.  But as state after state examines the constitutionality of their nonparent visitation statutes, it turns out the predictions were wrong.  Click here for the whole ABA eJournal article.

Big Money Mutual Fund Gets Divorce Case Closed To The Public

The divorce trial of an executive with the Capital Group Cos., a firm with assets totaling more than $1 trillion, will be partially closed to the public, a judge ruled Monday.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge John Sandoz agreed with the company's attorneys, who argued that certain information, such as executive pay levels, would damage the privately held company if revealed. Capital Group manages the American Fund group of mutual funds. Capital Group's American assets qualify it as one of the three largest mutual fund families in the United States.  Click here for more.

Becoming a lawyer - without law school

Residents of California and several other states are permitted to become licensed lawyers without entering the classroom. However, becoming an attorney through the combination of independent study and apprenticeship called ”reading the law“ is far from easy.  Click here for more.

The Secret Pain of Divorce

While everyone knows divorce is tough on kids, researcher and writer Elizabeth Marquardt says even when the split is amicable, kids still suffer. For her controversial new book, "Between Two Worlds: The Inner Lives of Children of Divorce," Marquardt spent three years interviewing 1,500 young adults—half from divorced families—who described the painful emotional, moral and spiritual dilemmas they faced. Marquardt talks with NEWSWEEK's Peg Tyre about the pain children of divorce may be harboring and what parents can do about it.

Buzz on Supreme Court Nominee

I know its not family law, but the U.S. Supreme Court has always intrigued me.  Here's the lead-in to a provocative op-ed piece concerning Harriet Miers, Presdient Bush's latest nominee to the Supremes.

"When in 1962 Edward Moore Kennedy ran for his brother's seat in the Senate, his opponent famously said that if Kennedy's name had been Edward Moore, his candidacy would have been a joke. If Harriet Miers were not a crony of the president of the United States, her nomination to the Supreme Court would be a joke, as it would have occurred to no one else to nominate her."  Click here for more.

Private Judges Handling More Family Law Cases

Courtrooms are crowded.  The conventional family law system moves very slowly.  As these impediments grow worse, more divorcing couples are utiizing private judges.  Learn more in this interesting Slate article.

Veto of California Gay marriage bill anger both sides

Sacramento -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger delivered on his promise Thursday to veto a bill that would have given same-sex partners the right to marry but said he would not support any rollback of the state's current domestic partner benefits.  That stand would put him at odds with two initiatives being pursued by conservative groups for the ballot next year. Those measures would not only create a constitutional ban on gay marriage but would also eliminate rights domestic partners currently enjoy. By:  Lynda Gledhill and Wyatt Buchanan, San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writers, sfgate.com.