Co-parenting can be a challenge, and ongoing communication and cooperation between parents can make it easier to manage. However, conflict and miscommunication make it more difficult for co-parents to work together effectively. Even if they recognize that they cannot speak calmly face-to-face or by phone, lengthy emails and vague text messages often keep the friction going.

For example, a parent may send an email that includes multiple requests for things like schedule changes and expense reimbursements, but the important facts get lost in the paragraphs of emotional commentary. This can make it hard for the receiving parent to focus on and respond to just the requests. Rather than letting information become unclear, co-parents who can communicate clearly and make information accessible in both homes may be able to avoid conflict and costly setbacks.

As a way to help reach this point, many co-parents turn to alternative tools for communication. Several web-based tools exist which help co-parents to thoroughly document and organize their communication and help them get straight to the facts. Some of these tools only provide co-parents with one capability like messaging, but replacing long, unfocused emails with long, unfocused messages isn’t really a solution to make communication clearer. Co-parents who regularly face problems with messaging may have more success in communicating if they use other tools to share information.

One set of online communication tools for co-parents that does more than provide messaging can be found on the OurFamilyWizard® website. This suite of web and mobile-based tools provides co-parents with a variety of features for scheduling and track parenting time, log expenses and facilitate reimbursements, sharing documents and other information, and more. Its features are equipped with templates that prompt each parent for complete and timely information, which helps co-parents to continuously update each other with the relevant facts having to do with their children.

OurFamilyWizard® tools can help get co-parents out of the habit of messaging by offering several other easy-to-use features to help break down requests and other information to just the hard facts. However, there may be cases where some information must be shared in long form. If a parent does need to send a message, they can use ToneMeter to analyze the content of their message for emotionally charged content. This gives the parent a chance to recognize where the tone of their message could be received negatively and allows them to adjust their tone before sending.

Using one central zone for communication also makes it easier for co-parents to share their activity with counsel, if necessary. Using online co-parenting tools like OurFamilyWizard®, both parents have access to accurate, print-ready reports. Plus, parents have the option to link their attorney or other professionals working with their family to oversee the communications on the website. Even so, co-parents who can communicate clearly may be able to avoid constant conflict that requires attorney intervention or return trips to court.

No matter how co-parents feel about each other, shared parenting is a responsibility that should be managed with care. Maintaining clear communication and reducing conflict are two positive co-parenting goals, and using the right communication tools can support these objectives.

Family law is changing rapidly in California and every other state, so if you are involved in a dispute over child custody, you must have the help of an experienced family lawyer who stays abreast of current court rulings and related legal developments. In some California divorces, experienced child custody attorneys can help divorcing parents resolve a child custody disagreement in arbitration or in mediation proceedings and without the need for a trial.

Unfortunately, in other California divorces, custody and visitation may be aggressively contested, and a parent will need the counsel of an experienced Long Beach family law attorney. Nothing is more important than your children. If you are divorcing with children in California or any other state, and you want custody of your child or children, there are some mistakes you simply cannot make. Those mistakes are listed and discussed below.

According to Doreen Yaffa, Florida Board Certified Family Law attorney in Boca Raton, Florida, “You don’t really ‘lose’ your children in a divorce or a paternity action. The term ‘child custody’ is no longer used by the state judicial system in divorce cases involving minor children. As of 2008, changes in Florida divorce and marital laws invoked terms such as ‘time sharing’ and ‘parenting plans’ when discussing the children, their visitation and other issues related to their upbringing and general welfare after their parent’s divorce.”

Dan Thorne, founder of the PRAXES parenting program and a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, has worked with many families in the process of divorce, from separation through the ongoing squabbles between parents over their children. “Child custody is determined by the parent’s ability to provide what’s termed, ‘in the child’s best interest.’  Most parents want some form of legal and physical custody, to be part of their child’s life. But unfortunately, that doesn’t always end up to be the case,” Thorne says.

He explains that “One reason for the loss of child custody is that a parent relinquishes rights and just phases out of the child’s life, due to personal problems or unwillingness to take on the challenges of parenting. Another reason is the parent’s inability to care for the child, due to a criminal record, a history of drug or alcohol use, or a history of physical abuse and/or neglect of the child. A final reason is because the parents’ animosity towards each other is so intense that one parent says, ‘I give up’ and walks away from the child to avoid contact with the other parent.  There are numerous examples of these happening with either the mother or father, which leaves one parent taking both roles and dealing with the struggles of being a single parent.”

“Luckily, loss of custody doesn’t have to be permanent,” Thorne says. “A parent who once was negligent can rehabilitate themselves and have the courts reconsider their situations, or vice versa. Also, as children become older, they can have more say in which parent they live with. Parents need to consider their options carefully during the divorce process, because the decisions they make at that time have long ranging consequences which affect not only them, but deeply affect their children for years to come. Divorce is one of the major traumatic factors which affect children and increases their risk of behavioral problems as they mature.”

From the start, the divorcing parents of minor children should understand that both parents begin the process with joint custody rights and with the same right to pursue custody. The presumption that mothers will inevitably be awarded custody no longer really exists. Actually, today, fathers who seek primary custody of their children prevail in just about fifty percent of the cases. The court’s role in a California custody dispute is to work exclusively for the best interests of the child or children.

Physical custody and legal custody are the core issues in a child custody dispute; their resolution governs how visitation and related matters will be resolved. A parent with legal custody decides where a child lives, attends school, and receives medical care. Physical custody refers to the parent who provides daily supervision. Many divorcing spouses in California eventually settle on joint physical custody so that a child can spend plenty of time with both parents.

Oakland personal injury lawyer Jeffrey Nadrich suggests that when bitterness runs high between divorcing spouses, a custody proceeding can be brutal. Especially if one spouse has experienced some form of abuse or injury while married. Sometimes entirely fabricated accusations are made; more often, exaggerated accusations are made that blow the truth out of proportion. If you want to keep the custody of your children, you need to avoid certain behaviors and even certain appearances. For parents who are seeking custody and for those who anticipate that they will be seeking custody in the near future, here is a list of seven ways that parents often lose a child custody dispute:

1. NOT BEING THE PRIMARY CARETAKER

In a typical household, one parent takes more responsibility for the children’s basic needs. That parent is considered the “primary” caretaker, and that parent has an advantage in a custody case. If you are not spending time with your child – eating, playing, driving, teaching – you will be at a disadvantage. If you are not actively involved in the raising of your child, you are probably not going to prevail in a custody dispute. There is no more certain way to lose a custody case than to demonstrate to a judge that you are not really very active in the raising of your child.

2. NOT PARTICIPATING IN TYPICAL PARENTING ACTIVITIES

Along the same line, if you are not currently participating in some kind of typical parenting activities, your likelihood of prevailing in a child custody dispute is low. Do you routinely take part in school conferences and events, or in activities like Little League or Girl Scouts? Do you take your child to the doctor, the library, or the zoo? Do you know the names of your child’s teachers? If these answers are all no, you probably will not become the custodial parent.

3. HAVING SUBSTANCE OR ALCOHOL ABUSE ISSUES

If a judge even suspects that a parent is involved with drugs or has an issue with alcohol, that parent probably will not be awarded custody. Most judges take substance abuse accusations quite seriously, and any allegations will be examined with random drug testing and psychological evaluations. If you are a parent with a substance abuse issue, seek help now. If your drug or alcohol abuse has resulted at any time in domestic violence, you will almost certainly be denied custody. Parents who are chronic offenders, violent criminals, and those facing years in prison may in some cases actually have their parental rights terminated by a California court.

4. LEAVING A TRAIL OF NEGATIVE BEHAVIOR

A great deal of personal behavior that in the past was private is not private today. That angry telephone call might be recorded. Evidence of bad parenting – or just bad personal behavior – can now include text messages, photos, videos, voice mails, and emails. Sometimes, that’s precisely the evidence that can sway a judge’s custody decision. If you are prone to impulsively ranting at your children, spouse, or third parties, there’s probably a record of it somewhere, and you will be at risk for losing custody.

5. EXPRESSING DISAPPROVAL OF THE OTHER PARENT

Judges tend to favor parents who support their child’s relationship with the other parent. According to Dean Tong, an MSc. and Diplomate with the American Board of Forensic Examiners, “Not placing the child’s needs in front of your own and not fostering or nurturing the child’s relationship with the other parent and denigrating or vilifying the other parent in front of the child is in totality legal suicide on your prospect for child custody.”

A parent who is angry, bitter, or critical is poisoning the child’s relationship with the other parent. If you want to show a judge that awarding custody to you is in your child’s best interests, understand the value of your child’s relationship with the other parent and act to encourage that relationship. Obviously, this can be quite difficult in an acrimonious divorce, but it’s what a judge almost always wants to see.

6. LACKING SELF-DISCIPLINE

To prevail in a child custody dispute, a parent must act consistently with self-control. A parent who cannot remain calm will be at a severe disadvantage. A judge will remember anger expressed in court. Likewise, a parent who behaves irrationally in front of attorneys, social workers, teachers, or police officers will face a great deal of negative testimony at a custody proceeding. A parent who is dedicated to winning custody must exercise self-discipline and put the child’s interests first.

7. NOT FOLLOWING SOUND LEGAL ADVICE

A divorce or a custody proceeding is one of the most difficult experiences a person can go through. Whether you seek primary custody, joint decision-making, or a say about the parenting plan, your top priority is making sure that your children – and your relationships with them – are secure. You will need to work with and listen to an experienced and knowledgeable family lawyer with a reputation for excellence and a record of success. In southern California, an experienced Long Beach family law attorney can help you avoid the mistakes discussed here and can also provide the insights and legal services that a parent fighting for custody will require.

Far too often in the United States, grandparents are excluded from the lives of their grandchildren, frequently after a major family change like a legal separation or a divorce. A recent survey by the AARP tells us more than a third of all grandparents in the United States provide financial support to their adult children for their grandchildren. Nevertheless, child visitation attorneys in California and other states often find themselves fighting on behalf of grandparents for visitation rights.

As a rule – and of course, there are exceptions – keeping a child from spending time with grandparents is not only unfair, but it’s actually damaging to the child as well as painful to the grandparents. In Southern California, if you are being prevented from seeing your grandchildren, an experienced Long Beach family law attorney will probably be able to help. Grandparents should know from the start, however, that the law regarding grandparental visitation is complicated, and unfortunately, not all grandparents seeking visitations with their grandchildren will be successful.

In fact, since the year 2000, it’s become much harder for grandparents to win visitation rights from the courts. That’s the year when the Supreme Court tossed out a law in Washington state that permitted courts to allow visitation rights to grandparents when the court deemed that grandparental visitations were in a child’s “best interests.” As a result, in California and the other forty-nine states, grandparents no longer have an absolute legal right to visitation, even when visitation is in the grandchildren’s “best” interests.

WHAT OPTIONS DO GRANDPARENTS HAVE?

Of course, there are exceptions when the court may be able to allow limited visitation rights, but the current law makes it possible in many cases for parents completely to remove grandparents from a child’s life. A parent’s rights are the top legal priority according to the Supreme Court. Winning visitation rights can, therefore, be a considerable legal challenge for grandparents. When both parents do not want grandparental visitations, changing that situation requires a grandparent to present extreme conditions to the court.

But that doesn’t mean grandparents in such circumstances are hopeless. Under current California law, to give a grandparent legal visitation privileges with a grandchild, the court has to find that there is a pre-existing relationship between the grandparent and grandchild that has “engendered” an emotional bond that is in the best interests of the grandchild. The court must also then balance the best interests of the child with the legal right of the parents to make decisions for and regarding their child. In general, state courts are going to rule in favor of the parents, but there may be exceptions when:

• The parents are legally separated.
• A parent’s whereabouts have been unknown for at least thirty days.
• One parent supports the grandparent’s desire for visitations.
• The child does not live with either parent.
• A stepparent has adopted the child.

If a grandparent is granted visitation rights for one of these reasons, and if circumstances later change so that none of these conditions apply, one or both parents may petition the court to terminate the grandparent’s visitation rights, and the court will almost always grant that request. Of course, when it’s possible, it’s always best to try to resolve these matters outside of a courtroom. Before going directly to court, for example, grandparents seeking visitation rights in Southern California may want to consider mediation. It’s a process that can reduce the level of acrimony between the parties while also keeping costs to a minimum.

Mediation is a way to discuss openly and safely your own concerns while working to reach an agreement that is in the best interests of the grandchildren. If you go directly to a California court, a judge will probably order mediation anyway. Some courts may not allow your lawyer to participate in the mediation process, so be sure to talk with your attorney before entering into mediation.

HOW DOES A GRANDPARENT ASK A COURT FOR VISITATION RIGHTS?

A California grandparent who wants the court to order visitation with a grandchild must file a petition with the court with the help of a family law attorney. If there’s an ongoing divorce, child support, or domestic violence case involving the grandchild, the process will be somewhat different. What’s certain is that you’ll need a seasoned family lawyer’s insights, advice, and legal services.

In California, there’s no official statewide form for grandparents requesting visitation privileges, but courts in several jurisdictions have developed their own forms. Be sure that you have an attorney to help you complete the required paperwork – any mistake could end your hopes of winning visitation privileges. What’s most important for grandparents in this situation – when mediation has failed – is what they tell a judge when they finally have that opportunity.

WHAT SHOULD A GRANDPARENT SEEKING VISITATION TELL A JUDGE?

Grandparents seeking visitation rights with a grandchild will need to explain to a judge the nature of their relationship with the child; why it is in the child’s best interests to have visitations with you; and anything else that you think may be important or helpful for the judge to know about your relationship with your grandchildren. A discussion with a Long Beach family law attorney can probably help you identify and articulate your feelings, reasons, and concerns.

When you file the legal papers to request visitation, California law requires you to give notice to the parents (or to the stepparents or anyone else with physical custody of the child). The legal papers must be served by someone at least 18 years old who is not a party to the case. Personal delivery will be required in some cases; in other cases, you’ll be allowed to notify the parties by certified mail. Your attorney can help you make sure that all necessary parties are notified properly.

After the parties are notified, there may be a court hearing. As mentioned previously, you may be ordered to mediation. If no agreement can be reached, the judge will decide the case based on what the court perceives to be the best interests of the child balanced against the right of parents to make decisions in their children’s lives. Every case and every family is different, and California law does not specify any precise legal path for grandparents seeking visitation rights, so the best hope for California grandparents seeking visitation rights with their grandchildren is to speak with an experienced family law attorney and to adhere to that attorney’s advice.

The ancient wisdom of the Book of Ecclesiastes says that, “To everything there is a season.” For many people who are seeking to dissolve their marriages, the divorce season coincides with tax season – January through April. With the holidays behind us and the expectation of cash back from the IRS, thousands choose tax season as the time to make the transition and to file for divorce. If you are counting on your tax refund to pay for your divorce, speak as quickly as possible with a good spousal support lawyer in Southern California. You simply cannot go into the divorce process alone and without sound, reliable legal advice.

If you choose to divorce during the tax season or at any other time of the year, it is vital for you to understand fully that a divorce often can mean some quite substantial changes in at least one spouse’s income, finances, and lifestyle, and you must be fully prepared to accept and deal with those changes and challenges. If the financial side of your divorce is not properly managed by an experienced and trustworthy divorce lawyer, you could be heading directly into a financial disaster. Adequate financial preparation for a divorce begins by comprehensively reassessing all of your finances and by speaking with an experienced divorce attorney regarding your legal fees and the other costs that are associated with a divorce. When a divorce becomes inevitable in your own marriage, you should take some pro-active measures to protect yourself and your finances. Consider these suggestions:

• Cancel all joint credit cards. This keeps a negligent or vindictive spouse from creating debts that could later become your obligations.
• Create a budget and closely watch your spending.
• Change the beneficiary on your accounts if the beneficiary is your spouse.
• Safeguard your share of any joint bank accounts. Withdraw half of the balance and set up a new individual account in your own name at a different bank. Notify your spouse about the withdrawal in writing, and make and keep a copy of that notification letter.
• Examine your life insurance policy to see what changes will be required.
• Reevaluate your financial, estate, and retirement plans.

EXACTLY WHAT WILL A DIVORCE COST?

The exact cost of a divorce will be different in every state and region and frankly in every case. That cost will depend on how complicated the divorce is going to be and on how much cooperation can be achieved between the divorcing spouses. Many divorce attorneys can offer you a quite reasonable payment plan. Under the California Family Code, theoretically no one is supposed to be at a disadvantage in a California divorce simply because of an income disparity. In some cases, you may even be able to have your attorney’s fees paid by your divorcing spouse as part of your divorce verdict or settlement. If you divorce in southern California, an experienced Long Beach divorce attorney can tell you more about how attorney’s fees might be determined in your own divorce.

What a divorce attorney will need in terms of payment will also depend on the precise type and amount of legal services provided by the attorney. The more issues that are in dispute, the more a divorce will cost. If you and your spouse can settle your disputes independently, you can significantly lower the final price of a divorce. These are the matters that are usually disputed and that will require resolution in a typical divorce:

• the division of property, assets, and debts
• child custody, support, and visitation
• alimony (“spousal support”)
• attorney’s fees and other claims for reimbursement
• claims for breach of fiduciary duty

You’re paying for the help, so it’s important to take full advantage of the legal advice, insights, experience, representation, and resources that a seasoned divorce attorney can provide. If you intend to pay your divorce attorney with your income tax refund this tax season, understand that criminals are working hard in the state of California to steal tax refunds. “The identity theft with the tax returns has become a cottage industry,” one tax lawyer told CBS. The Internal Revenue Service uses identity theft screening filters to spot phony tax returns, but the IRS also advises that you should never carry your Social Security number with you and that you should protect any documents, papers, or files that include your Social Security number. The IRS never contacts taxpayers by telephone, so never give information over the phone to anyone who claims to be calling from the Internal Revenue Service. Just hang up.

WHAT’S REQUIRED IN A CALIFORNIA DIVORCE?

Divorce in the state of California is now “no-fault” divorce. No one any longer has to prove that anyone else is adulterous or is mentally disabled, for example, and either partner may make the initial filing for the divorce. The technical requirements for a divorce in California are that at least one spouse must reside in the state for at least six months and in the county where the divorce is filed for at least three months. A divorce in the state of California takes at least six months to become final. Any property that was acquired during the course of the marriage will be divided by the court unless the divorcing spouses can arrive at their own agreement regarding the division of marital property. Property division may sound easy, but determining which spouse actually owns what can be quite tricky, especially if a divorce becomes acrimonious or if the property and assets that must be divided are extensive.

Marital property typically includes much more than simply your home, cars, and bank accounts. It can also include real estate holdings, equity and bond holdings, works of art, and the pets. One issue that can substantially muddle a divorce proceeding is the division of retirement plans. A spouse may have a claim to pensions, IRAs, 401Ks, and 403Bs. If you divorce, you must do everything that you can to protect your retirement savings. Discuss your retirement savings and any other property concerns – like your pets – with your divorce attorney early in the process.

The courts in California frequently order spousal support – usually known as “alimony” – to be paid by one ex to the other. When one spouse has maintained the home or has only worked sporadically or part-time in order to raise children or to support the other spouse’s career, that spouse is entitled by law to seek spousal support from the full-time, income-earning partner. The alimony sum that a California court eventually orders will hinge to a great extent on each partner’s personal circumstances and current income. If the divorcing spouses can agree on an alimony arrangement, the court will almost always approve that agreement. When there’s a dispute regarding alimony, the court will make the final decision.

WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN?

Nothing, of course, is a higher priority than your children and their future, and the courts in California will always put a child’s best interests first. Every child custody case – and every child – is important and unique. When divorcing spouses are also parents, the courts in California begin with the presumption that joint custody is preferable, but even if eventually only one parent is granted custody, the other parent will almost always be allowed generous visitation privileges. The non-custodial parent will usually be ordered to pay child support to the custodial parent to help cover the costs of a child’s clothing, schooling, food, housing, healthcare, and other basic needs.

Typically, and with only rare exceptions, child support payments in California continue until a child’s 18th birthday. The courts in California adhere strictly to legally-specified guidelines when they decide on child support amounts, and the state aggressively pursues parents who fail to meet their child support obligations. When your life circumstances or your ex-spouse’s life circumstances change as the years go by, you or your ex may petition the court to modify the custody, visitation, and support orders as needed. Your divorce attorney can handle those modification requests on your behalf and represent your interests if your ex challenges any of your modification requests in the future.

When you seek a divorce in the state of California, you must have the advice and services of a trustworthy divorce lawyer who will see to it that you are treated right. For the personal and specific legal help and advocacy that you’ll require in a California divorce, speak to an experienced Long Beach divorce attorney. Tax season is when many divorce, but for you, the best time to divorce is when you are fully financially and emotionally ready to divorce. Then, you’ll need an attorney who is sensitive to not only your financial circumstances but also to your emotional concerns. An experienced and trustworthy Long Beach divorce attorney can help. If you are divorcing in the Long Beach area or anywhere in southern California, when you are ready to divorce – whether it’s tax season or any other season – make the call promptly.

A court will pass a child support order at the time of finalizing a divorce decree, and you, as the paying parent, will be required to make youngster assist payments every month. Remember, the local child support agency will be able to track whether you are behind on your youngster assistance payments. For help understanding more about your youngster assist obligations, speak to a Los Angeles child support attorney.

Just some of the consequences of failing to fund youngster support can include a blot on your credit rating. These payments are reported to all the major credit reporting agencies, and failure to fund youngster assist is also reported.

You might find that your application for the renewal of your passport, or issue of a passport is denied by the US State Department unless you have cleared all of your youngster assist payments. That can happen if you owe more than $2,500 in unpaid dues.

If you fail to pay youngster assist, the Local Child Support Agency also has the right to file a lien against a property like a home or a piece of property, when you fail to pay youngster support. Your state-issued license, like a lawyer’s license or contractor license, could even be suspended for failure to pay assist.

Your income tax refunds can also be used as a source to pay back your child assist dues. The agency could even take a proportion of the disability payments that you currently receive to pay off the child assist dues. To learn more about your child assistance obligations, talk to a Los Angeles family lawyer. For help protecting yourself if your spouse takes action against you for failure to pay child support, schedule a consultation with a Los Angeles child support lawyer.

An annulment will allow you to declare and establish that your marriage was never legally valid, or should never have occurred. In an annulment, or a nullity of marriage or a nullity of domestic partnership, a court will declare that the wedding was not legally valid.

An annulment, therefore, even though it ends your wedding, is very unlike a divorce, which will establish that the marriage was legally valid, but is now terminated. Talk to a family lawyer in Los Angeles to learn whether you qualify for an annulment.

There are only a few grounds on the basis of which you can get a legal annulment of the marriage in California.

• You must prove that you and the other person in your wedding are actually close blood relatives.
• You must demonstrate that one party was already married to someone else, or was in a registered domestic partnership with another person at the time of the wedding
• You must prove that you were below the age of 18 at the time of the marriage
• You was demonstrate that one party was of unsound mind at the time of the marriage
• You must prove that the marriage was the result of fraud
• You must demonstrate that the wedding was the result of force or coercion
• You must prove that your spouse is physically incapable of consummating the wedding and continues to be physically incapable of doing so

The burden of proof on you to prove that any of these criteria are true in your case is heavy. In fact, it is actually easier for you to divorce than to prove that your marriage was invalid. You cannot simply state that you and your spouse have irreconcilable differences, and now want to get an annulment. With an annulment, you are trying to prove that the wedding should never have occurred in the first place.

Speak to a family lawyer in Los Angeles for help getting an annulment.

California laws lay down time limits for you to bring a suit for annulment if you want to get the marriage annulled. There is no time limit for a divorce, but in the case of a dissolution, statutes of limitations will apply. Statute of limitations refers to the time frame within which you must bring the legal action.

If you’re filing for an annulment, claiming that you were below the age of 18 at the time of the marriage, you must file for an annulment within four years after you reach the age of 18.

If you are filing for annulment based on a prior existing wedding, or a domestic partnership, then you may file as long as the parties involved in the current marriage are alive.

If you are filing for annulment based on unsound mind, rendering you or your spouse incapable of understanding the nature of marriage or the obligations involved, you may file at any time before the death of either party.

If you are filing for annulment on grounds of fraud or coercion, you must make a claim within four years of discovering the fraud, or four years of the coercion.

If you are filing for dissolution based on physical incapacity to consummate the marriage, you must file a claim within a period of four years after the wedding.

Get in touch with a Los Angeles family lawyer, and learn whether you qualify for a dissolution of your marriage. Remember, with annulment, you are seeking to declare that the marriage never existed, was never valid and should never have occurred. These statute of limitations also make it more complicated to ensure that you file for annulment before the deadline runs out. To learn more about how you can get started filing for a dissolution of your marriage, speak to a Los Angeles family attorney.

A restraining order can help protect you in an emergency situation, and can offer different types of protection. That’s because there are several different types of restraining orders.

If you have been in a domestic violence emergency, and need a protective decree immediately, you can get an emergency protective decree. This is issued by a judge, and law enforcement can call a judge and get the emergency protective order issued immediately. This order can last for a period of up to up to seven days, and will require that the other person leave the home immediately, and stay away from you for at least seven days.

The most common type of restraining decree is a temporary restraining order, which you can get by going to court, and filling out documents that will inform the judge of why you require the restraining order. These orders are usually effective for up to 5 days.

At the hearing that is scheduled for your temporary restraining order, you can ask for a permanent restraining order. Remember, while the name of the order may say “permanent”, the decree only lasts for three years.

If criminal charges are filed against the accuser in your case, the court may issue a criminal protective decree which will require that the defendant stay away from you, while the case is going on.

If you are currently in a situation involving domestic violence, learn your rights immediately. Take action before the situation becomes even more dangerous for you. However, remember that if you’re considering divorce, it is very important to ensure that your spouse is not aware of your plans. If you are looking up Los Angeles family lawyers on the Internet, make sure that you don’t leave behind a trail for your spouse to follow. Speak to a Los Angeles family attorney today.

If you are a victim of domestic violence, get in touch with a Los Angeles family lawyer and learn how you can get a domestic violence restraining order in to help protect you and your family.

A restraining order is a legal court decree that will order the other person to stay away from you and your children. Under the order, the person can no longer make any contact with you or your children, your relatives or anybody else who lives in your family. He must stay away from your home, your workplace, and even your children’s school. He might even have to move out of your house.

There are several other restrictions that a domestic violence restraining order will place on the other person. He must, for instance, not possess a gun, must comply with child custody orders, and must continue to pay child support or spousal support. Under the terms of the restraining decree, the other person is also not allowed to make any changes to insurance policies, or assets, or incur large expenses that affect your financial health.

However, the one thing that a restraining decree will not do is end your marriage. Just because you have applied for and got a restraining order against your spouse does not mean that your marriage has effectively ended, or that divorce is the next step. Speak to our Los Angeles family attorneys about how you can file for divorce in a domestic violence situation.

Remember, the restraining order is often the very first step that people take before they make a final decision about their marriage. If you are currently in a domestic violence situation, it’s important to get legal help, and also take the right kind of steps to keep yourself safe.