Articles Posted in Family Law

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The Law Offices of Doppelt and Forney, APLC is a full-service family law firm located in the Rancho Bernardo Area of San Diego County. We specialize in all aspects of family law including divorce, legal separation, child custody, child support, spousal support, attorney’s fees, residence exclusion orders and more. At the consultation, your lawyer will provide you with legal analysis and offer techniques and strategies to obtain your goals. We can assist with income withholding orders for wage garnishments. We can run guideline child and spousal support calculations so you have realistic expectations. We will perform and conduct legal research as needed. We prepare the petition and summons and all the initial dissolution pleadings for filing with the San Diego Superior Court. We can prepare the marriage settlement agreement and judgment pleadings. Our firm assists with the preparation of all pleadings and court appearances as necessary including the family resolution conferences. We also handle post judgment motions including motions for modification of child and spousal support and the parenting plan as well as motions to set aside the judgment and enforcement of the judgment.

Call today to learn how The Law Offices of Doppelt and Forney, APLC can help you with your family law case in San Diego.

With the holiday season just around the corner, many parents are starting to feel the anxiety that comes with co-parenting during the holiday season. While many larger holidays and breaks are written down and agreed upon in the parenting plan, Halloween is often left out. That doesn’t mean both parents and the kids can’t have a fun Halloween.

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Trust the lawyers at The Law Offices of Doppelt and Forney, APLC to assist you in your divorce, legal separation or paternity case in San Diego County. During the free consultation, we will provide you with legal analysis and potential techniques to help you obtain your legal goals and protect your rights. We represent clients in family law court in all of the court houses in San Diego County including downtown, Vista, Chula Vista and El Cajon. Our firm assists with the preparation of all pleadings and court appearances as necessary including the family resolution conferences. We also handle post judgment motions including motions for modification of child and spousal support and the parenting plan as well as motions to set aside the judgment and enforcement of the judgment, among many other services.

To fully understand our range of services and how we could help you in your San Diego divorce case, call us today to schedule a free consultation.

Once the divorce is final, you and your ex-spouse will have figured out how to handle things such as child custody and visitation, child support and spousal support. But what do you do until then?

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The Law Offices of Doppelt and Forney, APLC are here to help you in your divorce, legal separation or paternity case. We offer legal research, child support and spousal support calculations, preparation of forms and much more. Call us today to schedule a free consultation with one of our experienced attorneys. With over 50 years combined experience, you can count on us to aggressively fight for your best interest and protect your rights as a spouse or parent.

A new law in California just passed that changes how pet custody is handled in divorce cases.

Previously, in the eyes of the court, pets were considered “property” when it comes to splitting up assets in a divorce and the ownership of the pet was argued in this way.

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Do you need legal representation for your family law case in San Diego County? We specialize in divorce, child custody and visitation, child support, legal separation and more. From negotiations to court appearances, we are here to help every step of the way. Call The Law Offices of Doppelt and Forney, APLC today to schedule your free consultation with one of our experienced lawyers. With over 50 years combined experience, you can count on us to protect your rights as a spouse or parent and help you achieve your legal goals.

Millennials have been blamed for killing off a lot of things. From postcards, top sheets, to bar soap, millennial trends have affected how many companies do business. But now, are millennials killing divorce?

According to University of Maryland professor Philip Cohen, from 2008 to 2016, the U.S. divorce rate dropped by 18 percent.

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Don’t go through your divorce, legal separation or paternity case alone. Call the San Diego divorce lawyers at The Law Offices of Doppelt and Forney, APLC. We are here to help you through this difficult time. Contact us today to set up a free consultation with one of our experienced lawyers.

It is not uncommon for people in family court to represent themselves, but there are risks that come with self-representation.

People who divorce without the expertise of an attorney may put themselves at greater risk for mistakes, delays and added stress. The biggest risk would, of course, be losing your case.

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Trust the San Diego divorce lawyers at The Law Office of Doppelt and Forney, APLC to handle your divorce, legal separation or paternity case. At Doppelt and Forney, our lawyers are constantly learning and adapting to stay ahead of the curve and bring you an unmatched level of expertise.

Rushing to get a divorce? That’s the case for many local San Diego residents, working to quickly finalize their divorce by December 31st, 2018 in lieu of the new tax laws affecting spousal support.

Starting January 1st, 2019, new federal tax laws will eliminate the spousal support deduction. By divorcing in 2018, spousal support payers will be able to annually deduct the money from their taxable income, which may mean thousands of dollars in tax savings for high-income earners.

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Damon B. Forney is a Certified Family Law Specialist with the State Bar of California. This is the highest designation for specialization which the State Bar offer. He practices in San Diego County in the areas of divorce, paternity, child custody, child visitation and other family law areas. Mr. Forney was born in Ohio and went to undergraduate at the University of California. He then went back to Ohio for his law degree at Case Western Reserve University which he obtained in 1997. Since that time, Attorney Forney has been a San Diego County Deputy District Attorney and an Assistant United States Attorney in San Diego. He has worked in the family law field for over a decade. In January of 2017, Mr. Forney and Mr. Doppelt formed a new law firm: Doppelt and Forney, APLC, APLC. Mr. Forney has committed his life to protecting the rights of his clients and also trying to obtain their goals.

Lawyer Damon B. Forney practices in all of the San Diego Family Law Courthouses including San Diego Main Family Law as well as in North County at the Vista Courthouse. He also represents clients in South Bay at the Chula Vista Courthouse and in North County at the Vista Courthouse. His practice is limited to family law which can be a very complicated area. Attorney Damon B. Forney is an experienced litigator due to his many years as a Prosecutor and has been lead attorney on many cases which went to jury trial. In family law, there are no jury trials so many family law attorneys have never actually done a jury trial. This experience assists his clients who have to litigate their case before a Judge. Mr. Forney has also had many non jury [bench] trials. Bench trials are the only trials for family law cases except for a paternity case in which there is a right to a jury trial and also court appointed counsel. Mr. Forney brings his years of experience to try and settle cases if at all possible. He is able to negotiate many settlements on complex and non complex cases however, if the case cannot be settled, then he will go to court with the client and argue their case to the best of his ability.

Family law is a very complicated area and consists of many different subsections. To begin with, there are three main areas of family law: divorce; paternity and legal separation. It becomes more complicated as some of these have the same issues and some do not. For example, both legal separation and divorce have issues of division of debt and assets as well as [if there are a child or children] child support and also may have spousal support among other issues. In a paternity case, there are no issues of alimony or division of assets and debts. An experienced family law attorney, such as Mr. Forney, knows the intricacies of all of these issues and can help you.

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There are state laws applicable to every aspect of a family law case. The California Family Code governs actions for divorce, spousal support, child custody, and many of the attendant issues to be resolved. Courts interpret such laws in light of the facts and evidence presented in each case. For this reason alone, it is important to understand how these myriad legal provisions may affect your family’s rights now and in the future. An experienced family law lawyer from the local San Diego area would be able to guide you through the California divorce process as seamlessly as possible.

One of the highly regulated areas of family law concerns the physical and legal custody of children. Courts are guided by the following principle:  which arrangement promotes the best interests of the child. Under the law, custody orders may be modified if the parent seeking the modification can show that there has been a “change in circumstances” sufficient to warrant the modification. In a recent custody case, the father lived in California, and the mother lived in Virginia. The court entered a permanent custody order giving the father (a Bay Area resident) physical custody of the child during the school year and the mother physical custody during the summer.

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In most divorce cases involving children, the family court will order the amount of monthly child support to be paid to the supported spouse. That amount will remain in effect for as long as the court decides, or until one party can show a “change of circumstances” sufficient to modify the order. Under California law, there are no official guidelines governing when circumstances have changed enough to warrant a modification. The determination is typically made on a case-by-case basis and often rests on one’s ability to pay or one’s financial status. Child support is an extremely important issue in any divorce or separation case. An experienced San Diego family law attorney would be able to analyze your situation and determine the financial options for your family and you.

Courts often step in when a parent fails to make support payments or alleges that he or she is unable to meet the obligation. The California Family Code authorizes a court to require a parent who alleges that the parent’s default in a child or family support order is due to the parent’s unemployment to submit a list of at least five different places the parent has applied for employment. This is known as a “seek-work” order. In a recent California case, the ex-husband and father claimed that the court should not have issued a seek-work order and that the actual form was arbitrary. He also alleged that the family court abused its discretion by denying his request to modify the child support order.

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A court order for child support in a divorce case or child custody dispute between two parents is a serious matter. The parent who is obligated to make the child support payments will be expected to adhere to the court order or else face possible legal action. When the support payment is not made, the amount due is considered “in arrears,” and courts may apply interest to the amount outstanding. California family law governs a parent’s obligation to pay and sets forth legal requirements for collection. If you are facing a divorce or another family law dispute involving children, it is extremely important to protect your rights. The best course of action is to reach out to an experienced San Diego family law lawyer as soon as possible.

Child support cases can vary a great deal from one family to the next, and in some situations, they can become quite complicated. In a recent California case, the parents were in a dispute over whether the father’s derivative Social Security benefits could be applied to the amount of child support payments that he failed to pay for several years. Here, the mother and the father had one child together. In 2003, a court ordered the father to pay $507 in monthly child support payments to the mother. Over the succeeding years, the payments were incrementally reduced. By 2011, the family court held a hearing and reduced the amount of monthly support to $8.50.

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