Roseville Family Law Blog

Many children in California are born out of wedlock. Oftentimes, this raises issues with regard to paternity. Why does this matter? For a number of reasons. To start, a child will likely want to know the identity of his or her father. Additionally, child support can only be obtained from a father once paternity has been established. Also, a man has no legal right to visitation with or custody of a child without first having established paternity.

Establishing paternity may seem easy enough, based on DNA testing. While DNA testing certainly is one way to establish paternity, it is not the only way. The signing of a paternity affidavit is another common way to establish paternity.

Divorce, while serving as an official way to end what was once a romantic relationship, is also a financial transaction. Splitting couples must find a way to divide their assets and debts, lest they want a judge to have a final say so on the matter. This may sound simple enough, but the issue can actually be quite complex, and for a number of reasons.

One reason is that there is often discrepancies about what constitutes community property and separate property. The distinction is important, as property that is deemed to be separately owned, or property that was not acquired as part of the marriage, cannot be subjected to property division during the divorce process.

Recently on the blog we discussed domestic violence and the effect it can have on children. This is no small issue, as it affects thousands upon thousands of California families. Many of those individuals who find themselves in a situation where domestic violence occurs may be afraid to seek change, but taking action is often necessary to ensure their safety, as well as the safety and well-being of their children.

Even a history of domestic violence without recent incidences can play an important role in child custody and visitation determinations. It is important to remember that when assessing these matters, the court will try to make a decision that furthers the child's best interests. Therefore, if previous domestic violence has had a negative therapeutic effect, and exposure to the environment where the violence occurred or an individual involved in that violence would further damage the child, then a court is likely to restrict that parent's access to the child. At a minimum, there would likely be limitations put on that contact.

Married or unmarried, caring for a child can be costly. Therefore, it is important that these costs are still addressed when parents are no longer in a relationship Child support can play an integral role in ensuring that a child is provided with the financial resources needed to ensure his or her well-being. However, in order to ensure that child support obligations are fair, a court will often conduct a balancing act where a child's needs will be analyze in the context of his or her noncustodial parent's income. After all, a court will not want to impose a child support obligation that leaves a noncustodial parent destitute. This will simply deter a noncustodial parent from meeting his or her obligation.

Since a significant part of the child support determination is based on income, though, there has to be careful consideration with regard to what constitutes income. Most obvious are wages earned through employment as well as income derived from self-employment. However, there are a number of other types of income that may be counted for child support determination purposes. For example, unemployment benefits, Social Security payments and income from rental properties and lottery winnings can all be included in an income determination.