Family Law

• Dissolution
• Child Custody & Visitation 
• Child Support 
• Domestic Violence 
• Modification of Family Court Orders 
• Move-Away & Re-locations 
• Paternity 
• Prenuptial & Post-nuptial Agreements 

California is a no-fault state, meaning they do not seek to escalate the adversarial proceedings, but seek to limit the conflict by not focusing on each other's transgressions. Here at Collins Law Firm, we seek to minimize the conflict and assist our client's through the process.

There are two issues involving custody and visitation that will need to be addressed, that of Legal Custody, and Physical Custody.

Legal Custody: is who decides in making medical, education, and religious decisions for the minor children. The court's preference is having both parents involved and would like to have a joint custody order for the children, absent circumstances that would make it detrimental to the children's best interest. 

Physical Custody: is the visitation schedule with the parents. Again, the Court would like to see an equal time-share between the parents, as it is advantageous for the children to have both parents actively involved in their lives. 

Child Support: Is based upon a calculation, that includes among other things, the tax filing status of each parent, the income of the respective parties. The time that each parent spends with the children. Health insurance premiums, retirement, and work-related expenses.

Spousal Support: is broken into two categories, temporary support and permanent Support. 

Family Code § 4320 sets forth the criteria for considering the request for an award of support and usually requires an experienced attorney to make the arguments for such an award.  

The duration of support is dependent upon the length of the marriage. If the parties are married for less than 10 years, it is considered a marriage of short duration, and spousal support will terminate after a period of time.  

If the parties were married for more than 10 years, then it is considered a marriage of long-duration, and spousal support may be ordered until the receiving party, remarries, or dies.

Domestic violence is a very unfortunate issue that sometimes arise in cases. If there is a history of domestic violence, a party may need an order for protection. There are significant legal consequences for an individual that has a domestic violence restraining order granted against them.