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When a petition and summons for a legal separation or divorce is filed in San Diego Superior Court, the standard restraining orders are valid on the Petitioner upon the filing by the San Diego Superior Court Clerk. The standard restraining orders are valid on Respondent upon lawful service of the Petition and Summons. It is very important to read all pleadings, of course, very carefully and this is especially true with the standard restraining orders on the summons. There are many other standard restraining orders, such as not removing the child or children from the State of California without a court order or written agreement of the parties, however this article will only address the estate planning restrictions.
WHAT ARE THE GENERAL EFFECT ON ESTATE PLANNING OF THE STANDARD FAMILY LAW RESTRAINING ORDERS?First, it is important to understand what a non probate transfer means. There are many very experienced and qualified estate planning attorneys in San Diego and it is always advisable to seek expert advice before forming a new estate plan or modifying or revoking your existing estate plan. A "nonprobate transfer" is defined as an instrument, with the exception of a will, that makes a transfer, upon death, of property which includes revocable living trusts, pay on death account in a financial institution, Totten trust, transfer on death registration of personal property, and/or other instruments described in California Probate Code Section 5000. Some examples, but these are not an inclusive list, are changes in pension plan[s] beneficiaries, individual retirement accounts [IRS], employee benefit plans and life insurance whether whole life or term policy.
WHAT ARE YOU RESTRICTED FROM IN ESTATE PLANNING AND WHAT IS PERMITTED?For this article, there are four sections: no restrictions; permissible with prior notice to the other party; permissible but require court order or prior written consent of other party and permissible only with a valid court order. For reference, the applicable California Family Law Code Sections are listed. As the law is ever changing, as with all the articles and blog posts, verify first the current state of the law.
As you can see, this area of estate planning as it relates to family law and the standard restraining orders, as well as other family law codes and other laws, is very complicated. Making a mistake can be extremely costly and subject the offender to sanctions and even contempt of court. The law office of Doppelt and Forney, APLC offers a virtual consultation up to 30 minutes which is no charge and confidential whether you hire the firm or not.