Celebrities and the sometimes twisted lives they lead make for fabulous tabloid fodder – entertaining perhaps, but not usually educational per se. On the contrary, the current soap opera surrounding Kim Kardashian, Kris Humphries, and Kanye West provides the perfect scenario to learn about one aspect of California law most people may be unaware of.
Kardashian and Humphries married on August 20, 2011. Seventy-two days later, they split up and Humphries claimed the marriage was a fraud from the get-go. In legal parlance, Humphries claimed grounds for an annulment. Kardashian, on the other hand, wanted a divorce and denied any fraud on her part. Leaving the intervening details to the tabloids, suffice it to say that as of January 2013 Kardashian and Humphries are still legally married.
Which brings us to the twist in this story: Kim Kardashian is pregnant and it’s no secret that the baby was sired by Kanye West. Nonetheless, under California law, as long as Kardashian is married to Humphries, Humphries will be presumed by law to be the baby’s father. Like other states, California has anti-bastardization laws, also known as parentage laws, which state when a mother is married, her newborn child is legally presumed to be her husband’s child.
In other words, Humphries will be deemed to be the baby’s legal father unless he disputes parentage through the court system. He will have all the rights and responsibilities of a father to include visitation rights and the duty to provide child support.
Surely Kardashian and West can put together enough money for diapers and daycare, but you never can tell with some folks. Humphries may want to take steps to protect his good name, especially since he claims he was never legally married to begin with.
At the
Law Offices of Judy L. Burger, we will persistently pursue the best outcome possible for you in your divorce, custody, or other family law matter.
Judy L. Burger is known for her aggressive representation of clients in high conflict cases in and around the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento areas. If you are a parent facing a custody dispute, call us today to learn more about how we can help. Call (415)293-8314 in the San Francisco Bay area or (916)631-1935 in the Sacramento area, or contact us online via our
confidential inquiry form.
Changing a child support or visitation order is a common issue in family law. Usually driven by a change in the life of one of the parents, there are basically two ways to go about making these changes.
If the parents can agree to the changes without going to court, you can file your agreement with the help of an attorney. If you are agreeing to change child support, the attorney will help you file a Stipulation to Modify Child Support and Order. To make changes to visitation or custody they will assist you with filing a Stipulation for Custody and/or Visitation of Children.
If you and the other parent can’t reach an agreement, you will need to take the other parent back to court. Since the court will consider many factors before making a decision, you should speak to a qualified California family law attorney before filing any documents with the court. Your attorney will know which factors should be highlighted to give you the best chance of successfully getting your child support or custody order modified.
At the Law Offices of Judy L. Burger, we will employ the strategy most likely to achieve the best outcome possible for you in your divorce or custody proceedings. Judy L. Burger is known for her aggressive representation of clients in high conflict cases in and around the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento areas. If you are a parent facing a divorce or custody dispute, call us today to learn more about how we can help. Call (415)293-8314 in the San Francisco Bay area or (916)631-1935 in the Sacramento area, or contact us online via our confidential inquiry form. 
It is not unusual for couples seeking a divorce to be unable to reach an agreement on various issues, such as child custody to the division of assets and liabilities. While one spouse may have no interest in compromising on a particular issue, the other spouse may be anxious to move on. In some cases, it may be appropriate to ask the court for a “bifurcation” of marital status. What this means is that the court will address the issue of your marital status while postponing resolution of the remaining issues.
Though bifurcation is possible, it is rare. Courts are reluctant to bifurcate divorce cases for two reasons. First, they generally prefer to handle each case as a whole. California courts are heavily burdened as it is, and splitting one case into two inevitably creates more work.
The second reason courts are reluctant to bifurcate divorce cases is that once a marriage has been dissolved, one or both parties may lose motivation to work out the other issues.
Nonetheless, bifurcation is granted in rare circumstances, such as when a spouse is expecting a child conceived outside the existing marriage. In that situation, bifurcation may lead to a quicker judgment of divorce, allowing the expectant mother or father to marry the other parent prior to the child’s birth.
If bifurcation is appropriate in your situation, seek the help of an experienced California divorce lawyer.
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We spend a good amount of time here talking about getting divorced in California, so it seems only fair to turn our attention for a few moments to how to get married in California in the first place.
In order to get married in California, you must first obtain a marriage license. You do not have to be resident of California to obtain a marriage license, but California has a few unique laws and regulations which will require a few decisions on your part before going to get a license.
For example, you may decide that you would like a confidential marriage license. Or, you may decide you would rather a friend or relative perform the marriage ceremony by participating in the Deputy for a Day program. You will also need to decide what names each of you will use are your married names.
Marriage licenses are issued by the Clerk’s office, which will require a picture ID and possibly a certified birth certificate. You will also need to know the city and state where your parents were born and each of their full names, including your mother’s maiden name.
If you were previously married, then you should be prepared to present proof of divorce, death, or annulment when you apply for a marriage license. If you were granted a divorce within the last 90 days before applying for a marriage license, then you will need to provide a copy of your final divorce decree.
These are some of the technical requirements for getting a marriage license. Of course, we will add that premarital counseling with a qualified family law attorney and perhaps an estate planner are always recommended, especially if you have or expect to have assets you want to protect in the event of a future divorce.
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There is more to getting married than just showing up at the church. If you live in California and are thinking about getting married, be sure to check the requirements. Marriage laws vary by state, so don’t wait until the last minute to make sure you are ready.
Many clients ask us what they can expect in mediation and we are careful to explain the ins and outs and the mechanics of the mediation process. Mediation can be a very positive experience for those who are of a mind to compromise and who are fortunate to have the help of a truly unbiased and experienced mediator. Knowing the basics ahead of time often helps alleviate our clients’ anxiety.
The basic idea behind mediation is that the two parties, along with their attorneys, sit down with a neutral third party and attempt to reach an agreement on various issues in a divorce. The discussions that take place during mediation are kept confidential and are prohibited from being used if the matter eventually winds up in court. This arrangement is intended to allow for the worry-free sharing of ideas and offers.
One fact worth taking to heart is that mediators are referred to as neutrals because that is the essence of their role – to maintain complete neutrality regardless of the facts of a case. Maintaining neutrality can be a challenge when facts weigh heavily in favor of one party, but neutrality is absolutely essential. If one spouse perceives a lack of absolute neutrality, the mediation is unlikely to be successful.
Another fact to remember is that mediation can only result in an agreement when both parties engage in mediation with a good faith intent to be open minded and willing to compromise to find the middle ground in every disputed issue.
Being open minded and willing to compromise may sound reasonable enough, but often the problem is that by the time one or both spouses decide to file for divorce, good faith is long gone. A spouse who was the victim of neglect or deceit may not be able to forgive and forget. In our family law practice, we deal with highly contested cases where emotions are frequently too raw for a mediation to be successful.
If you are facing mediation, the 
The stress of being a military member deployed overseas to a hostile environment can be compounded by worrying about children left behind in the care of others. The joy of finally coming home can quickly turn into a nightmare if an ex-spouse refuses to return a child. This subject was the basis for a recent ruling from a California Court of Appeal.
In the case entitled In re Marriage of E.U. and J.E., both of the parents are military members. When they divorced, the court awarded joint legal custody to both parents, with the father having primary physical custody. Anticipating the possibility of deployments for both parents, the court included provisions in the final order that if one parent deployed, then the other parent would assume the role of primary parent. The order further provided that when the deployment ended, custody would revert to pre-deployment status upon return of the deployed member.
As fate would have it, the father deployed and while he was away the mother filed for and was granted a temporary custody order. When the father returned, he commenced a long and arduous legal battle to regain primary custody of his child as originally ordered. Most recently, a California Court of Appeals found in the father’s favor and he regained custody of his child.
Interestingly, during the course of the proceedings, the California Legislature passed a statute requiring the return of a child in a situation such as this to the primary custody holder. Time will tell whether and to what extent this law will be challenged by those claiming a situation has changed and returning the child to a parent recently returned from deployment is contrary to the child’s best interest.
If litigation is necessary to protect a child’s best interest, then it should be commenced immediately.
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