OC Divorce Blog

Occasionally, a child must be provided with a guardian because their parents are unable to provide the proper care they need to be safe and have their basic needs met. This does not have any indication on how much a parent loves their child, times and situation might just be difficult to have all a child’s needs taken care of. One or both parents might:

-Have to go to rehab,
-Have a serious mental or physical disability or injury,
-Have to go over seas for military service,
-Have to be incarcerated,
-Have a alcohol or dug abuse problem,
-Have an abusive history,
-Not be able to care for the child properly for other reasons.

The courts will always look out for the child’s best interest and this may mean removing the child for the parent’s home to be safe.

A guardian of a person has the same responsibilities as a parent. They need to care and nurture a child while providing all the necessities they need such as food, clothing and safety. The guardian has full physical and legal custody of a child and will be able to make decisions on things like schooling and medical care. Most guardians are chosen from the child’s family, friends of the family, or possibly any other adult that is suitable to raise the child.

Some of the responsibilities that the guardian will have are:

-Providing food, clothing and shelter,
-Providing and safe and loving environment,
-Providing medical care,
-Providing dental care,
-Providing education and if needed, special services.

If you are a person paying spousal support, it is often tax deductible. If you are the person collecting the spousal support, it is usually a taxable income. The same can’t be said for same-sex marriages because of the fact that it’s not  recognized in all states therefore the federal laws are not the same with legal separation as is it with a divorce.

Because it is still so new and isn’t acknowledged in all states, the laws are complicated when concerned with partner support because the federal and state laws haven’t yet been changed to accommodate any domestic partnerships. Because of this fact, it is very important in this situation to get the advice of a lawyer who is well versed in this area of the law.

After your divorce has been finalized, there are several things that you should consider changing/taking care of, such as:

-Alert your employer as to when your marriage or domestic partnership has ended so that you can have your income tax withholding tax changed as well as changing the name of your beneficiary for any employee benefits,
-Change the beneficiary on your will or life insurance,
-Cancel all credit cards listing you and your spouse on the accounts,
-Transfer the ownerships on all vehicles you and your spouse used together if the judge has given it to only one of you.

An adoption if a procedure to legally establish and parent-child status with a child that is not your own at birth. Once an adoption is final, the adoptive parents will have legal rights to the child as a birth parent would to their child. An adoptive parent accepts all responsibilities of caring for the child and this relationship is permanent and exactly the same as with any birth-family. If you have any questions regarding an adoption, please contact the family attorneys in Orange County California.

There are several types of adoption:

-A stepparent/domestic partner adoption:
The couple must be legally married or in a regisstered domestic partnership for the spouse/domestic partner to adopt their partner’s/spouse’s child. This is the simplest and most common type of adoption as one parent remains the child’s parent.

-An agency adoption:
This is when an adoption agency  or the Department of Social Services takes part in the adoption process

-An independent adoption:
This is when no outside agency is used during the adoption process

-An international adoption:
This is when the child that’s adopted was born in another country

If you are currently with an abusive person and there are children involved, you can ask the court for a restraining order to help protect yourself and your children. Also, at the same time, you can ask for other orders such as child support orders, custody and visitation orders etc.

When going to mediation, you can bring a support person with you if you have issues like child support, custody or visitation to discuss with the abuser. You can also have private meetings with the mediator.

If you need help with child custody or domestic violence legal issues please contact a family law attorney.