If you are a landlord and you are serving a 3 day notice to pay or quit it is imperative that the notice includes specific details. Hiring an attorney to help you with this process instead of just using a form you found online is essentially to making sure that you are meeting the up to date requirements. If you take your case all the way to court to do the eviction and your notice was incorrect, the case will be dismissed by the judge and you will have to start all over again. This gives the tenant extra time to live in your house without paying rent, and all the court costs, service fees, and possibly attorney's fees that you paid go right out the window.
Do yourself a favor and pay an attorney to help you draft the 3 day notice. Our service charges $150.00 for a 3 day notice. Additional Service fees may apply.
*THIS BLOG IS BOTH INFORMATIONAL AND AN ADVERTISEMENT FOR OUR SERVICES www.allforthefamilylegalclinic.org 510-999-7732 Nonprofit Legal clinic in Castro Valley handling Divorce/Custody, Estate/Probate, Restraining orders, and Landlord-Tenant disputes
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Why it is often worth it to settle
While I understand the desire to either have your day in court or stick it to that cheater, etc it often is not in your best interest. Time and time again we see people pay more in attorney's fees than the asset that they are fighting over. This is all well and good if the object is sentimental, however more often than not it is money that we are talking about.
Sometimes to argue over the value of an asset people will hire specialists to come in an appraise the item (house, jewelry, etc). While sometime this is 100% necessary, it is always important to sit down and evaluate whether it is in your best interest to argue over the difference.
Although we try to educate our clients as much as possible, I often see the other side happily collecting $2000 in attorney's fees to argue over $900. Sometimes it is in your best interest to keep the money in the family and split the asset, or agree on a middle number, etc.
This sometimes is true when it comes to child support and spousal support numbers. Although very formulaic in most cases, when you have to prove how much money someone makes the fees you pay an attorney to dig through discovery documents of taxes, bank account statements, credit card statements, etc. can add up very fast.
Always talk to your attorney about the cost-benefit analysis.
Sometimes to argue over the value of an asset people will hire specialists to come in an appraise the item (house, jewelry, etc). While sometime this is 100% necessary, it is always important to sit down and evaluate whether it is in your best interest to argue over the difference.
Although we try to educate our clients as much as possible, I often see the other side happily collecting $2000 in attorney's fees to argue over $900. Sometimes it is in your best interest to keep the money in the family and split the asset, or agree on a middle number, etc.
This sometimes is true when it comes to child support and spousal support numbers. Although very formulaic in most cases, when you have to prove how much money someone makes the fees you pay an attorney to dig through discovery documents of taxes, bank account statements, credit card statements, etc. can add up very fast.
Always talk to your attorney about the cost-benefit analysis.
Friday, January 4, 2013
Why you hire a Family Law Attorney
First off when looking for an attorney to hire your family law case, it is imperative that you hire one that practices family law regularly (hopefully primarily). There is a misnomer around attorneys and others that any attorney can handle a family law case because the best interest of the child standard is a little bit less black and white than other areas. However, family law attorneys not only know the statutes, cases, and the general law of the family court system in California, but they also know how the particular judge - or judges in general are likely to react to an issue.
You hire us for this expertise and our overall advice. However there are many clients who then want to focus on one issue in the case, very important to them, but sometimes inapplicable legally to the issue before the judge. They ignore the fact that we are there to get you to be realistic about what a Judge will order and they end up a much worse deal than if they had listened to their attorney's advice.
In California, all parties in family law are required to go to mediation and in Alameda County, Contra Costa county, and some other Bay Area counties as well they are Recommending Counselors - meaning that if the parties do not come to an agreement that they will suggest to the Judge what they feel is the best interest of the parties and the child. Guess what! Almost 100% of the time, the Judge will order what the mediator suggests.
Due to this, you hire your attorney to 1) help with the ton of paperwork required to get a divorce or custody matter, etc resolved and 2) to prepare you for the mediation so that you know what you are willing to agree to in advance and you know what the Judge is likely to rule (or mediator suggest) if you do not come to an agreement. That way you are prepared to be reasonable and may get the other side to agree to something more in your favor than a Judge likely would have ordered.
You hire us for this expertise and our overall advice. However there are many clients who then want to focus on one issue in the case, very important to them, but sometimes inapplicable legally to the issue before the judge. They ignore the fact that we are there to get you to be realistic about what a Judge will order and they end up a much worse deal than if they had listened to their attorney's advice.
In California, all parties in family law are required to go to mediation and in Alameda County, Contra Costa county, and some other Bay Area counties as well they are Recommending Counselors - meaning that if the parties do not come to an agreement that they will suggest to the Judge what they feel is the best interest of the parties and the child. Guess what! Almost 100% of the time, the Judge will order what the mediator suggests.
Due to this, you hire your attorney to 1) help with the ton of paperwork required to get a divorce or custody matter, etc resolved and 2) to prepare you for the mediation so that you know what you are willing to agree to in advance and you know what the Judge is likely to rule (or mediator suggest) if you do not come to an agreement. That way you are prepared to be reasonable and may get the other side to agree to something more in your favor than a Judge likely would have ordered.
Friday, December 28, 2012
I found out my ex is making more money...now what?
When it comes to child support (and often also spousal support) it is inevitable that at some point after you receive an order from the judge that the income of one of the parties will change. When this happens you are under a fiduciary duty to notify the other side of your income change (and them to tell you about their income changes). After notification either party can move for a modification. The amount will then go up or down based on the financial situation (and custody time if child support) that the parties currently have.
You do this by filing a Request for a Modification Order. Along with this will come filing a revised Income and Expense declaration and providing the other party with copies of your paystubs, and also possibly taxes. The court will then put these equations into the magic calculator (also known as dissomaster) and come out with the new support payment amounts.
You do this by filing a Request for a Modification Order. Along with this will come filing a revised Income and Expense declaration and providing the other party with copies of your paystubs, and also possibly taxes. The court will then put these equations into the magic calculator (also known as dissomaster) and come out with the new support payment amounts.
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Don't get hung up on the label
Often people get hung up on the label of who gets physical custody.
Legal Custody = who gets to make the big decisions in life - health, education, religion, etc. Most of the time parents will share joint legal custody.
Physical Custody = who the child lives with the majority of the time.
Often it makes the most sense to label someone as having "sole physical custody" however what you really should pay attention to is the amount of visitation that the other party has. If you are getting 40% visitation then honestly your ex having the label of sole physical custody does not make too much of a difference legally.
The main thing to pay attention to is the amount of visitation time you get as well as making sure that you address the holiday time, school vacation time, and tax ramifications of custody time. Tax wise, unless you agree otherwise in your court order, the person who has 50.01% of the custody is the person that gets to claim the child EVERY SINGLE YEAR. So make sure that you also address taxes in your agreement. Typically parents who share custody (60/40, 50/50, or a similar split) will agree that parent #1 claims the children on even years (2012, 2014, etc) and parent #2 claims the children on odd years (2013, 2015, etc). Also if there are 2 children sometime parents will agree that every year each parent claims one child.
Legal Custody = who gets to make the big decisions in life - health, education, religion, etc. Most of the time parents will share joint legal custody.
Physical Custody = who the child lives with the majority of the time.
Often it makes the most sense to label someone as having "sole physical custody" however what you really should pay attention to is the amount of visitation that the other party has. If you are getting 40% visitation then honestly your ex having the label of sole physical custody does not make too much of a difference legally.
The main thing to pay attention to is the amount of visitation time you get as well as making sure that you address the holiday time, school vacation time, and tax ramifications of custody time. Tax wise, unless you agree otherwise in your court order, the person who has 50.01% of the custody is the person that gets to claim the child EVERY SINGLE YEAR. So make sure that you also address taxes in your agreement. Typically parents who share custody (60/40, 50/50, or a similar split) will agree that parent #1 claims the children on even years (2012, 2014, etc) and parent #2 claims the children on odd years (2013, 2015, etc). Also if there are 2 children sometime parents will agree that every year each parent claims one child.
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Holidays and Custody
It is essential that when going through a parentage action or divorce, that you account for holiday custody arrangements to avoid problems down the line.
Typically people will alternate who has Thanksgiving and Christmas (for example mom gets Thanksgiving on even years (2012, 2014 etc) and Dad gets Thanksgiving on odd years (2013, 2015, etc). The same is done with Christmas, except the parent who gets Thanksgiving is usually not the person who gets Christmas that year. Parents often also give Christmas Eve to the person who does not have the child on Christmas days.
Of course there are different schedules for each family. If you live far apart, cultural/religious schedules, etc are all important factors that play a part on the schedule that your family will agree to.
No matter what schedule works for you, make sure it is part of your court order so that there is no confusion and so it can be enforced later.
Typically people will alternate who has Thanksgiving and Christmas (for example mom gets Thanksgiving on even years (2012, 2014 etc) and Dad gets Thanksgiving on odd years (2013, 2015, etc). The same is done with Christmas, except the parent who gets Thanksgiving is usually not the person who gets Christmas that year. Parents often also give Christmas Eve to the person who does not have the child on Christmas days.
Of course there are different schedules for each family. If you live far apart, cultural/religious schedules, etc are all important factors that play a part on the schedule that your family will agree to.
No matter what schedule works for you, make sure it is part of your court order so that there is no confusion and so it can be enforced later.
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Retirement Accounts
One of the biggest mistakes people make when they do their own divorces or use a paralegal/legal document assistant to help them, is not dividing the retirement account properly.
Certain types of accounts need to have the company joined to the suit as a "party" so that they are on proper notice of the final division and can therefore properly pay out to each party once they reach retirement age.
There are attorney's that are specialists that handle these types of accounts. They are called QDRO specialists and they are quite pricey - but cost less then trying to go after the 401k/pension company 40 years from now when you retire. Generally when I have clients with small amounts in their account at the time of divorce, I have them exchange it for another asset or see if they can roll it over into an IRA in their own name immediately. If those options are available they will be far cheaper than a QDRO specialist and there is usually not a point in paying 5-10k to restructure retirement accounts that are only worth 10k themselves.
Certain types of accounts need to have the company joined to the suit as a "party" so that they are on proper notice of the final division and can therefore properly pay out to each party once they reach retirement age.
There are attorney's that are specialists that handle these types of accounts. They are called QDRO specialists and they are quite pricey - but cost less then trying to go after the 401k/pension company 40 years from now when you retire. Generally when I have clients with small amounts in their account at the time of divorce, I have them exchange it for another asset or see if they can roll it over into an IRA in their own name immediately. If those options are available they will be far cheaper than a QDRO specialist and there is usually not a point in paying 5-10k to restructure retirement accounts that are only worth 10k themselves.
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