California Family Court

 

May 22, 2010

If we want to make the family court system worthy of our respect, there’s no need for us to re-invent the wheel. The question is, which state legislators in which other states are as willing as California legislators to save time, taxpayer dollars and… oh yeah, save lives too?  From the California Bureau of State Audits:

  2009-109 AUDIT SCOPE AND OBJECTIVES—California Family Court System

The audit by the Bureau of State Audits will provide independently developed and

verified information related to child custody cases in the family court system in

Sacramento and Marin County Family Courts and, to the extent possible, would include,

but not be limited to, the following:

1. Review and evaluate the laws, rules, and regulations significant to the audit

objectives.

2. For the most recent four-year period, identify, assess, and evaluate the processes

the courts use in deciding to use court-appointees, including, but not limited to,

the following:

a. The frequency of use of the court-appointees.

b. The selection process for court-appointees, including the type of cases that

are more likely to have court appointees, the rationale for making

appointments, and the type of appointee assigned to cases, such as a

mediator, investigator, or evaluator.

3. For a sample of contested custody cases, evaluate and assess the following with

respect to the appointment, payment, training, and evaluation of court-appointees

to determine whether they adhere to the established process:

a. The training requirements, if any, for court-appointees and how the courts

ensure those requirements are met.

b. The method for setting court-appointee fees and who is responsible for

allocating and paying them.

c. The process, if any, for parties to object to court-appointees, including any

process to request a replacement.

d. The process, if any, for evaluating the performance of court-appointees,

and whether the courts have any disciplinary authority over court-appointees.

e. The process, if any, for receiving, investigating, and resolving complaints

against court-appointees.

13 thoughts on “California Family Court”

  1. I am in Santa Clara County and a survivor of domestic violence but my abuser has been granted sole custody of my son, violating every law regarding custody and domestic violence. No matter what my ex does, no matter how sound my legal argument, I cannot get the courts to do the right thing. I don’t know what to do anymore.

  2. If anybody wants my pamphlet containing my suggestions for a complete revamp of the california divorce process just give me a address or email…. my email is calyost@aol.com.

    I’m just a teacher but i know something is wrong when if the parents have no children the divorce lasts five years….. what we have is legalized corruption. Calvin

  3. Jeez….I just read the stories and comments here…I think we need to step back, take the divorce system out of its frame and redo it all again.
    I can confirm that the judge in my divorce was unqualified. She was jaded, bored, and in a hurry to rush things through. My first degree was in Psychology so I could see that the judge obviosly didn’t seem to have proper training for divorce. I could see what was going on but I was in no position to coach the judge — she was quite arrogant and always abrasive to me.(all the males are automatically bad?) Apparently in California the judges are moved around from Department to department but they don’t seem to specialize or take continuing education.

  4. I just finished a four your divorce. I saw more conniving, deception, half-truths, outright lying, and self-serving behaviors by my attorneys and the opposition’s attorneys that I had in my entire life prior to divorce court.

  6. Be careful with hiring Sacramento Attorneys and Mediators- I know some that are family related to Judges and Mediators are often suggested by attorneys for referral fees and causes impact on custody evaluations regardless. Select your own mediator after you complete research on your case.

  7. We need a law, immediately, that at proof of first lie, the perjurer must pay 100% of other side’s legal fees. This will mitigate an abuser’s intentional litigation abuse, which he (or she) substitutes as his (or her) new abuse, now that the abuser no longer has direct access to his pending ex spouse / parent of his children). As is typical in the personality profile of abusers, they prefer to pay the lawyers, instead of getting current with child support in arrears, and instead of maintaining the children’s status quo. Also, a parent in arrears on child support, should not be allowed to pay a lawyer. The children should come first, not the lawyer.

    Each time one of his lawyers told him to follow court orders and be fair, my ex fired that lawyer and hired a new one, whom he duped, with his charming lies. In the first 2 years, he had 3 lawyers, I had 1. I was forced to go pro per. Then he and his lawyer upped the perjury and the abuse. With borrowed money, I hired my own lawyer #2. She mocked me for filing with the DCSS to help get the child support in arrears when I was pro per, when I should have filed contempt of court, then when ex promptly was in contempt of new child support orders, she refused to file contempt, and mocked me some more. I hired lawyer #3 who turned out to be even worse, even though he was a nicer human.

    This has forced our children’s beloved home to be sold, all to pay the lawyers, and all because the family law courts do not penalize perjury nor contempt of court.

    (Here, I speak only of failure to pay child support as an illustration of financial abuse. Ex is an egregious abuser on almost all other abuses on the abuse wheel too.)

  8. You’re in good company Tina – with so many other good parents and grandparents and family and friends who – unlike too many judges in our family courts – have the common sense and decency to protect children from abuse. You’re also in the good company of those who see the need for family court reform and those who are working to make our family court system worthy of our respect.

    When family court reform finally does happen and all of our children are safe, we can all take a vacation with our children and with those who helped protect our children. A beautiful island in the Carribean would be a great place to celebrate our success for a week or two. Wouldn’t it?

    We all just have to stay positive and have faith. It’s already happening. It’s just a matter of how long we’ll need to wait for our family courts to protect all children. Until then, let’s start looking for the best hotel rates and the most beautiful beaches where hundreds of thousands of protective parents and children and family court reform advocates will celebrate together… hmmm… let’s see, 58,000 children per year are sent to live with abusive parents… it’s been happening for about the last 30 years… that’s about 1,740,000 children. Many of the children who survived are now adults with children of their own… Of course, we’ll also need space for all of the protective parents, family, friends and advocates who survived this nightmare and helped to make family court reform happen.

    Patagonia’s population is about 1,740,000.

    So, either we’ll need an island about the size of Patagonia, or we can all just celebrate right here. Either way. Family court reform will happen and we will all celebrate when it does happen. 🙂 Let’s just keep looking forward to that day.

  10. We need to reform Alameda County and many others as well! I had a similar experience.

    It is a nightmare that will traumatize you and your children the rest of your lives.

  11. YESTERDAY, IN SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY, A 6-YEAR-OLD BOY WAS FORCED TO RETURN TO THE HOME OF ABUSERS.

    WHEN INTERVIEWED, THE CHILD TOLD LOCAL POLICE IN LODI, CA. THAT THE FATHER BEATS HIM, SAYS HE DOES NOT LOVE HIM, AND PUT HIS MOUTH ON HIS GENITALS.

    THEY ORDERED A FORENSICS INTERVIEW. THE CHILD WAS TRICKED AND FOULED UP HIS STATEMENTS COMPARED TO THAT OF THE LOCAL PD REPORT. THE MOTHER WAS TOLD THAT THE CHILD WOULD NOT BE LEAVING WITH HER AND THE FATHER HAD ALREADY BEEN CALLED.

    THE MOTHER WAS ASKED BY INTERVIEWERS THIS QUESTION: WHAT DOES CHILD’S GRANDFATHER LIVING IN THE HOME DO FOR A LIVING? THE MOTHER REPLY “WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH THIS?”

    SHE WAS THEN TOLD THAT SHE COACHED THE CHILD AND THE FATHER WAS ON HIS WAY TO GET THE CHILD!!!

    THIS CHILD’S LAST STATEMENTS WERE “I AM AFRAID OF WHAT HE WILL DO TO ME MOMMY UNTIL I SEE YOU AGAIN IN THE SPRING!”

    AT THAT POINT THE MOTHER WAS DRAGGED BACK INTO THE INTERVIEW ROOMS. THEY DEMANDED HER TO STOP COMFORTING THE CHILD AND THAT NO FURTHER QUESTIONS WOULD BE ASKED OF THE CHILD.

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