Welcome our Third Attorney

We are happy to welcome attorney Mujdah Rahim to our team of attorneys. We now have three attorneys based out of the Castro Valley to serve your legal needs.

2 years serving the Bay Area

July 1st marked the two year anniversary for All for the Family Legal Clinic, Inc.
In that time, we have performed about 600 client intakes and provided representation in about 200 cases.
We started with one attorney, Pamela Ross. Lisi Munayco started as our second attorney in June 2013, and this year we will be hiring a third attorney. As we continue to grow as a clinic we are grateful for the support of the community.

Free resources for Legal Assistance in the Bay Area

Even though we charge significantly less for our services ($10-$150/hr depending on income and family size), some people still cannot come up with money for our services or they would qualify for free assistance. Either way we let them know their options. In the Bay Area:

1. Self Help Center - Every court house has a self help center (although they have limited hours so call or look online first). The center offers classes, has packets, and can do one-on-one meetings to help with paperwork. They do NOT give legal advice. They DO tell you what paperwork you need to do it yourself, review the documents you filled out for procedural errors, and will give you legal definitions. They will not give you legal advice about your specific case.

2. Call your local bar association. Some of the bar associations - such as the Alameda County Bar Association www.acbanet.org have volunteer attorney programs. This is different than an "Attorney referral program". Volunteer attorneys will handle your case for free if you qualify. Contact the bar association for the county where your case is being heard.

3. Nonprofits- for family law the big ones are:

All Counties:
 Bay Area Legal Aid - This is a nonprofit that works in each Bay Area county www.baylegal.org. They help in many areas including family law.

San Mateo County:
Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County - Just like it sounds, they only work in San Mateo County. http://www.legalaidsmc.org/

CORA - (San Mateo County) - assistance with restraining orders and associated family law issues. http://www.corasupport.org/our-services/legal-services/

Santa Clara County:
Legal Aid Society of Santa Clara County - http://www.legalaidsociety.org/
Pro Bono Project (Santa Clara County) http://www.probonoproject.org/services-provided/

Alameda County:
Family Violence Law Center http://fvlc.org/ and Alameda County Family Justice Center ( both for assistance with restraining orders) http://www.acfjc.org/

Centro Legal de la Raza http://centrolegal.org/

There are others, but when it comes to Family Law issues, these are the big names out there to assist people in the Bay Area.

5. Contact the local law schools - they may have clinic programs for law students to handle your case for free.

We exist to fill in the gap - we exist to help those that either do not qualify for the above services or cannot get assistance quickly enough because these serves are at capacity. Contact us today if you need legal assistance and cannot get pro bono (free) assistance.

Congratulations - Woman of the Year in Law 2014

All for the Family Legal Clinic, is proud to announce that our founder, Pamela Ross, has received an award for Women of the Year in Law 2014, from Assemblyman Bill Quirk's office. The award ceremony was in March and Pamela Ross, along with winners in other Women of the Year categories were honored for their work in the Bay Area, especially District 20, which is represented by Bill Quirk.

Announcement

All for the Family Legal Clinic, Inc. is very proud to announce that we are officially a tax-exempt 501c3 organization. We are very hopeful that this will lead to better and great things for our organizations. We hope that in the next year we will receive grants and donations that will allow us to offer additional services. Stay Tuned!

Annulments

For some reason the topic of getting an annulment instead of a divorce has been coming up quite a bit recently. In California, in order to get a judgment for a nullity of marriage, you have to meet one of the following requirements:

1. Have been unable to consent to the marriage (ex: underage or incapacitated and even then if you continued to live as husband and wife after you became 18 or had capacity this may not apply).

2. One of you was already currently legally married to someone else (bigamy. Again there are even some exceptions to this.

3. Fraud (they lied about their identity, immigration status, etc).

4. Mental incapacity.

Even if you meet one of these requirements, you still need to file within therequired time period to get an annulment instead of a dissolution (divorce).In most cases, this time period is within 4 years of marriage.
If you meet the requirements, then the judge is like a magician and *poof* your marriage never happened.

Estate Planning

We also do estate planning. For many in California it is cheaper to get a living trust done, then the standard cost of probating an estate after you die simply because you own a home. Although we are willing to charge hourly on a sliding scale, most probate attorney's charge based upon the probate statutes, which allow a percentage of the gross estate amount. A person owning a $500,000 home, would likely pay about $12,000 just in attorney's fees. The administrator of the estate could also ask for about $10,000. Eating significantly into the assets that you are leaving your family. Due to this, for those that own property in California, I recommend that they have a living trust.

Here is an article from an estate attorney in Colorado discussing the importance of choosing the right administrator of your estate.

http://www.postindependent.com/news/obituaries/8854798-113/principal-fiduciary-estate-planning?fb_action_ids=10100153357747085&fb_action_types=og.recommends&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map=%7B%2210100153357747085%22%3A320353878107489%7D&action_type_map=%7B%2210100153357747085%22%3A%22og.recommends%22%7D&action_ref_map=%5B%5D