Family Law Lawyer Monterey

If you are facing a divorce-related concern, need a term modification after your divorce has been finalized, are pursuing adoption, or have a paternity action, family law will guide your case. Family law matters are important matters that directly affect your household, and having the professional legal guidance of an experienced family law lawyer in Monterey on your side is well advised.

Family Law Cases

All of the following are common family law concerns:

• The terms of a divorce and term modifications (including move-away requests)
• Domestic partnerships
• Grandparents’ rights
• Legal separations
• Adoptions and guardianship
• Paternity actions
• Restraining orders
• Domestic violence concerns

Divorce Terms and Term Modifications

The terms of divorce include:

• Child custody and parenting time, which establish who will be making the important parenting decisions and the schedule by which the children will split their time between both parents
• Child support, helps to balance the financial support each parent contributes to raising the children (based on a wide range of factors, including the primary matters of the amount of parenting time each parent has and each parent’s income)
• The division of marital property, which – in California – involves dividing the assets that the couple accumulated while married equally between them upon divorce
• Spousal support, which amounts to support payments made by the spouse who has the financial means to help the spouse who divorce leaves unable to support himself or herself

Other than the division of marital property, each of these terms can be modified after the divorce if the relevant circumstances change significantly.

Adoptions

Adoption is the legal action whereby an adult (or a couple) becomes the legal parent of a child who is not his or her biological child – taking on all the rights and responsibilities that come with parenthood. While legal guardians do not become the legal parents of the children whom they care for, they do take on many of the same responsibilities and rights.

Paternity 

When paternity (of the identity of a child’s father) is not established by the fact of his or her parents being married at the time of his or her birth, it must be identified either through a declaration of parentage that is signed by both parents or by court order (generally with DNA testing).

Domestic Violence

Domestic violence is defined as engaging in any of the following (toward a member of one’s household):

• Hitting
• Kicking
• Scaring
• Throwing things
• Pulling hair
• Pushing
• Harassing
• Sexually assaulting

Threatening to engage in any of the above or engaging in actions that make the victim fear for his or her own safety or fear being deprived of life’s necessities, such as food, also qualify as domestic violence.

An Experienced Family Law Lawyer in Monterey Can Help

The veteran family law lawyers at Miranda, Magden & Miranda, LLP, in Monterey are committed to skillfully advocating on behalf of your legal rights – in pursuit of a favorable case resolution that works for you. To learn more about how we can help, please do not hesitate to contact us today.