Report from San Diego Family Law Conference 2018

Attorneys, in San Diego and other cities in California, attend mandatory continuing legal education. Doppelt and Forney, APLC lawyers also attend. Below are attorney notes from the seminar on January 27, 2018 in San Diego at the US Grant Hotel. These notes are not complete or comprehensive and used for the internal law firm purposes for continuing legal education. These are notes taken by attorney during seminar and are not to be relied upon and must be independently verified.

The seminar covered, in part, the below categories:

• Custody
• Visitation
• Child Support
• Spousal Support
• Community Property
• Separate Property
• Domestic Violence
• Interstate Custody
• Employment Benefits
• Military Pay
• Family Residence Enforcement
• Attorney Fees and Sanctions
• Ethical Responsibilities Discovery
• Notice of Lodgment

Experts and their testimony were discussed at the beginning of the seminar.

RULE: Prohibits case specific hearsay unless independently proven by competent evidence of covered by hearsay exceptions [use hearsay objection chart]

Cases:

1. Sanchez
2. Reiseg
3. Jeffrey G.
4. Roa
5. Koper

Some suggestions were to call expert as last witness to lay foundation from prior testimony. Also, depending on the testimony, object to opposing expert on hearsay and foundation Consider proper hypothetical in the direct and cross examination. These requirements apply to direct and cross examination If considering appeal, order reporter for appeal purposes. In San Diego Family Law Courts in 2018, there are no court reporters provided and you must provide your own.

Attorney fees were also discussed. For cumulative motions for attorney fees, consider separate statement and Cuevas declaration. Attorney fee declarations to be authenticated with invoices [redacted for attorney client privilege]. Always use FL 158 for request since includes all mandatory requirements to ask for attorney fees.

Child and Spousal Support were also discussed. File motion for retroactivity for initial order or modification. Definition of bonus income is annual bonus income is paid in the discretion of an employer and without recourse if the employer elected not to pay. Bonus income can include: increased salary; stock options; RSU income; deferred compensation; incentive plans; relocation allowances and others. File motion to extend spousal support before termination date if want extension of date Vocational evaluation requests must be accompanied by request for order to modify child and/or spousal support After 1-1-19, spousal support will be [approximately] 25% less due to the non deductibility After 1-1-19, no further "family support orders"

Community Property was also discussed. Duties of disclosure include providing all information for assets and debts with documents. Can be sanctions for failure to disclose separate property as well as community property for pre separation For post separation disclosure violations, cannot use separate property because they have no impact on the community estate.

Consider alternative valuation dates as appropriate and will need motion for separate trial and bifurcation.

Custody and Visitation was also discussed. No great grandparent visitation or rights in family law. Grandparent rights only under limited conditions and can include Family Law Codes 3102 [death of a child] or 3014. May ask Court under Family Law Code Section 3170 for a mediation prior to filing on an existing family law case.

Notice of Lodgment was also discussed. Include documents from notice of lodgment into declaration for evidentiary foundation.

Employment Benefits were also discussed. Military disability pay is not to be divided per California community property laws. For active duty personnel, use expert for division of the community property retirement interest.

Family Residence was also discussed. For a tracing for separate property under Family Law Code Section 2640, need actual documents.

Discovery was also discussed. Code of Civil Procedure 2016.080 allows the setting of an informal discovery process. If there are discovery disputes, and the parties are unable to resolve at the mandatory meet and confer, then an information discovery process can be instituted by the Court independently or on the request of a party. The Court may toll the discovery deadlines while pending and this is not a bar to discovery motions.

The law office of Doppelt and Forney, APLC has experience with the above issues. Feel free to call for a 30 minute free in-person or virtual consultation at the law office. An attorney will discuss with you the issues in your pending case.