Winning in Unusual Way! from 2010, 2015, 2019, 2020 and soon 2021!

Winning in Unusual Ways! from 2010, 2015, 2019 etc.

For whatever it's worth, attorney has encountered quite a number of cases where we were able to prevail despite the odds against us; this includes family law, criminal law, bankruptcy cases and civil cases. Perhaps in part due to attorney having a high interest in very challenging cases?.....this post has been viewed 2056 times...

While most attorneys tend to pride themselves on knowing the law, our job is to either know it or look it up correctly, as laws change all the time. Therefore, spotting issues will require knowing the law but that's just the beginning. If the law is on your side, it shouldn't be that difficult right?
       
It's the cases where maybe the law isn't exactly on your side, or could be, or there are circumstances and other facts or excuses which can create a different outcome? How does attorney know this? Because it's been seen plenty of times! (Listed here are just several examples but we have more than this..)

In another instance of trial (family law), after cross examining the other party, the opposing counsel suddenly called a recess.

       After 7 years of never being able to get a dime out of the ex, who had already filed bankruptcy, my client, having previously used 3 different lawyers, [w/o a good result],  ended up contacting attorney herein --- for trial.
      The opposing attorney stopped the trial after attorney herein--- spotted a bankruptcy fraud during the trial, based upon the husband's testimony;  and husband's attorney offered a combo to wife,  of about $23,000 combined cash/property $100,000, and attorney fees of $6,000. This likely meant that if they had NOT stopped the trial, my client would had gotten spousal, but we would have had to chase him forever across the USA to get it. Client elected to take the offer. Because attorney herein cornered the ex spouse on the stand for what appeared to be potential bankruptcy fraud, the rest is history......

       In another instance, a civil case trial by a former wife against former husband and girlfriend, the husband  had already been convicted in a widely publicized case of homicide in Sacramento (and was on appeal, he lost); the case then went to jury on issue on civil liability as to both husband and girlfriend.
      ...Keeping in mind husband was already convicted of first degree murder, the jury decided that husband was only 60% at fault in the civil case. I represented the husband who was already in prison, (and had not represented him during the criminal trial in Sacramento, where he used a public defender...)

      Normally the civil case has a lower burden of proof, so finding the husband only 60% and not 100% evidently meant, jury wanted to punish the girlfriend because they took 40% and assigned it-- NOT-- to the husband. This verdict was reported in Verdict Search, a national reporting source for large verdicts nationwide. Counsel representing the girlfriend was from insurance defense firm.

Currently, the former wife has not been able to collect much on the verdict [of millions] after paying fees/costs and it is anticipated she will not be able to collect in the future. Very interesting case, which also involved animals (pet dogs) owned by the husband/son. Son was stabbed when father went to check on condition of dogs; father claims son ran into the knife by lunging forward.

     Family law and motion--Mediation Report....  Typically, a parent that has had a Domestic Violence TRO filed against her/or her, will not get custody of a child. Client had the DV lowered to just a no negative conduct order, so there was no DV against him. The mediation report was issued about five months after there was no DV, and amazingly, thanks to the parent (my client) keeping super good notes and data, coupled with the bad evidence of the other parent, my client obtained full physical and legal custody!!! He was also allowed to retake possession of the house.  It was the most amazing report in favor of the client. The person benefiting from this is obviously the child!!!

     In a very unusual scenario, attorney was substituted into a case with a client who did not reside locally;  a hearing on an issue Request for Order (presumed to be law and motion).... was set for a date only several days away, at which time attorney believed the hearing could be continued. It seems the hearing was in fact --- a trial (according to Judge) -- and the client was not present and Judge did not want to continue the case.  Attorney went forward on the issue, with no witness or client.
   
    Using only cross examination, with 4 witnesses, Attorney actually won the trial--much to surprise of  witnesses present and including opposing counsel, who was shocked.......... 

                                  

This is very uncommon, but imagine how your case might work out if attorney can do this, without even having a client or a witness?

Attorney thinks it's fair to say, you would be in fairly good hands. Especially if other attorneys have failed in the past on your case.

Note: All of these scenarios are actual cases but by no means are such outcomes considered standard. Each case has different facts and various laws which will apply; each case can vary tremendously, and attorney is not representing that such outcomes are common. However, attorney does have a very high percent of cases that prevail, settle or result in what the client wanted.

Do You Want to Win Your Case? Should You Hire a Litigator? Do You Care?

What Type of Attorney do You Really Need?         Do You Want to Win?       You Don't Care?

*People must care,  because about 2,609- 2,857   2,934-  3,622 people have read this post*

Do you have a case where you want to win, or need to win your case?
Do you have the winning facts?  Do you know what law would or would not support your position? Do you want or need an actual litigator for your case?

Hiring an advocate (attorney litigator) is not the same as hiring collaborative attorneys. Also, mediating* a case with only one attorney means ...The mediator helps people talk the issues through, supposedly helping to "settle" the dispute themselves. In this attorney's opinion, it would not be recommended in most cases, because typically the overbearing spouse simply bulldozes the other spouse.

*[Mediation for visitation is not the same thing as mediation of an entire divorce case. Mediation for visitation/custody is required by law in CA when there is no agreement.]


There are many pitfalls that can arise in divorce; many of them involve financial transactions that one spouse had no knowledge of; assets that one spouse did not know about; children that were conceived outside the marriage and spouse never knew other spouse was paying; secret business dealings that was predicated on all cash; illegal actions by one spouse implicating the other spouse who had no knowledge; large debts racked up by one spouse, without the other spouse even knowing such debt existed; one spouse signing the other spouse's name for a credit card, then ruining the other spouse's credit.... NONE of these things, in this attorney's opinion, should be addressed in either mediation or collaborative law scenario.

That is because there was a huge breach of fiduciary duty that has serious consequences to the guilty spouse. That should be done in court since the guilty spouse should have to pay for wrongdoing. (Of course if you are too afraid because your spouse might try and kill you then you better go get help right away.)
                                           


Especially if you have issues in the 3 lines below, which happened BEFORE the case finalized---- you should never hire anyone except an advocate litigator. Aggressive at that. Plus, there are huge time barriers to trying to set aside any of this!

Fraud, Duress
Mistake, Coercion,
Failure to Exchange Declarations (Assets Debts)-or-
  when exchanged, i.e.--have false, misleading or improper numbers, values, dates..

When clients hire attorneys to get something done, especially in family law, it's often because one SIDE tried to take advantage of the other side.  If you have a family law case where both of you AGREE on everything then you may not need separate attorneys, except perhaps to create a settlement agreement.
However if you actually never knew your legal rights and decided to just move ahead without knowing if what you were doing could harm you, that is dangerous. One caveat--beware the notion to eliminate spousal support in the future, NEVER give up that right. If you do, and you shack up with someone down the line, the other side has ability, potentially, to eliminate your support.... I can't say more re this topic because it is more complicated than it appears. Just BEWARE!! You should consult an attorney before making any key decisions.

HOWEVER, the vast majority of most divorces and break ups, are because the couple cannot agree on a lot of things, including (just an example....) post judgment orders.........

How to raise the kids-- too lenient?  too strict?
How to spend income from employment or inheritance
What to do with spouse that is either dangerous, aggressive, drinks too much
How to get out of supervised visits?? You have an ex spouse also?
Your spouse is bipolar and can't be controlled?

Of all the problems attorney has seen over several decades, the problems around children tend to generate the worst issues, followed by physical harm, financial issues, and alcohol or drug use.

And remarkably, attorney has seen clients REFUSE to take what he/she is entitled to, and then SETTLE a case by using an attorney who is or was a mediator, --- in other words, the attorney is not acting as a litigator for the client?

If you are entitled to something, why would you pay someone to settle a case 

when you could have settled it without help????   

Collaborative law and mediation means if you don't settle the case

 using whomever you hired, those attorneys cannot represent you in court anyway.

You THEN have to hire new attorneys!!

While mediation and collaborative may be good for some cases (which means you are settling case by paying people to settle it without court)-- it is essentially negotiation. Judges are not involved. If you work something out and then don't like it later--- what you have -- is a problem.

              Some of the down sides of  collaborative law (which includes hiring people like accountants and other experts) and which makes it costly:

The Expense; Impact of termination and cost of new counsel; No advocacy for one or both parties; directed conversation between parties, power imbalances, difficult issues might remain secret (such as domestic violence, addictions, drugs, gambling, infidelities,etc.); Possible inadequate information collection, potentially less support for views of children.

Basically, in mediation there is no advocate for YOU.
In collaborative law, BOTH sides work on issues, but NO ONE is an advocate for YOUR side.
The collaborative view is to work out issues, not really take sides as an advocate----a true advocate is there to represent YOU, not the spouse.

This is part of the reason that most people in a divorce WANT an advocate, and need a litigator --- because they are being taken advantage of, steamrolled, or being misled or manipulated.

You don't have to believe attorney, look at one of my other sites for example, where it is stated in plain English, by the mediator--  that making the decisions with a mediator is not the fault of the mediator, and the mediator is quoted... (and quite frankly,the mediator does state the truth)

                        "The role of the mediator is to assist the participants reach an agreement. 

 It is not the mediator's role to give legal advice or to assure

 that the agreement is fair or equitable to either party.  

There may well be unintended consequences resulting in one or more

 of the participants suffering "buyers remorse", but they made the decision

  to accept the terms  and entered into the agreement, not the mediator..."

 Note--again, the "mediation" we are speaking of, is NOT the family law mediation process that the COURTS do, for contested custody.

       Private mediation means both parties choose to use one mediator to arrive at some agreement, and because a mediator does not dispense legal advice the way a legal advocate would do--as in actual litigation--where each party is represented by their own separate attorney-- the "mediator" himself or herself--- is only assisting both parties to REACH an agreement.
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***  Carefully NOTE-- the mediator does not need to assure   either party that the agreement is fair or equitable to either party. 

(Supposedly because that isn't the mediator's "role".....)

 LOL-- that's fine if you don't care what you are getting,
 or you don't know your rights and you don't care about
about that either??

 Unfortunately---if you do this and  "then" realize you lost out on something
 because you did NOT know your rights at all---then guess what???

 You are in trouble, most likely.

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*** I  can almost guarantee that this  blog has more information in Northern CA on issues that arise, than the majority of  family law websites. Some attorneys do explain the laws, yes.   Attorney herein,  typically will write, argue, and inform... and help people, the purpose of the writing is to hopefully enlighten--so that you can make better decisions. Many attorneys are afraid to talk about winning and losing cases because some type of opinion could be involved, however, every client always has their own opinions, and those usually need to be understood first?

                      

NOTE: all of our content is original, if we have mentioned a subject from another site, research info or similar, we will include a link. We have no need to use other people's content and claim it is ours. In animal law we may occasionally quote, due to the specificity of the data,but there will usually be a link also.
There is one family law attorney site down in So Cal which is fantastic, and according to their site, they usually win their cases. However. what I noted from the site, previously, is that they do not take certain types of cases, including Domestic violence or Restraining Orders. They may have changed that presently though.....They appear to represent well to do clients with cases that end up winning, and they are not afraid to give the summary of why, how, when?

    Another very well known family law site down in the CA desert area, is excellent, and the attorney has or had a great amount of information which is useful. (His last name is Arnold...)  What is cool about his site, is that he is not afraid to throw his opinion out there on cases, especially when it comes to what went wrong, and what not to do? Sometimes it actually is pretty entertaining to read!!  And the attorney is super, super intelligent as well, obviously.

    All people reading and browsing should use their own diligence to obtain correct information and for checking laws, we would use findlaw.com.  If you do not have money to spend for an attorney and have been married a long time, or over 10 years, or have special needs kids, or have been abused, do NOT simply ignore the law and give your other half whatever he/she says to do. Consult an attorney to make sure you are not being screwed over and taken advantage of !!            

Actual Reviews from Past....... I don't Just talk, I Do What It Takes to Either Win, Fix or Solve Your Problems

Just some of prior Reviews:

Attorney Chan has been very responsive to our calls and provides excellent service and advice. Her fees are great and she is very easy to work with. Thanks Carolyn Review Left On 02/27/2020 RORY HICKS

I'm a mama bear and grandma and appreciate having Carolyn working with my son to protect his rights as a father. She is down to earth and a regular person who doesnt tangle you up with legalease. Review Left On 05/27/2020 Kathleen Oman

Her fees are the best I have found along with great reviews she cant be beat. Review Left On 05/29/2020Bradley Nugent

Are you looking for a dynamite attorney that actually cares about their client and actually wants to win? Then retain Ms. Chan. She is relentless in making sure her case wins. She is very reasonable in her fees, she is worth every penny! She has been awesome with my case. She is extremely knowledgeable of family law, domestic violence and criminality. All things that my case is riddled with. She is a tough cookie, but she definitely knows what she's talking about and will go to hell and back to make sure she wins for you. Go with Chan, you won't regret it. Review Left On 02/27/2020 Lacey Turner

Fair prices and straight talk. Often times you get a lot of run around from attorneys spouting legal jargon that the everyday man or woman can't understand...Miss Chan puts it in layman's terms and talks with intelligence but not as though she is above anyone...as an equal. We were treated fair and though I wasn't involved in the legalities, she listened to my perspective as an outsider looking in on a difficult situation. Highly recommend her. Review Left On 04/17/2020Robert Snow

She has provided me with excellent service in dealing with my case. Miss Chan knows her stuff. She has been a life saver. I would recommend her services to everone. Review Left On 02/27/2019 Nicki Bennett

Carolyn was super amazing in helping me navigate an extremely stressful and emotional legal issue. Her knowlegde of the law is excellent as she responds to communication very quickly, and is very forth right about possible outcomes. I would absolutely use her again and highly recommend her to anyone navigating a pet or family issue (in my case it was both). Review Left On 01/27/2020Deekay David

Ms Chan has been my attorney for over 25 yrs. She has handled my divorce from how to resolve my case and helping me keep my children in a professional manner at a very reasonable cost. I can't even imagine what would've happened if I didn't retain her services.

Review Left On 08/19/2020sigrid wroolie Wonderful. I have very complicated situation and Carolyn was the only attorney I spoke with that understood and offered solutions. She is confident and professional. After hiring her I could sleep nights knowing she was there to help resolve what seemed overwhelming. Even the judge straightened up when she spoke firmly and pleasantly. She cuts to the chase to get things done not wasting billable time. I trust her to protect the issues I most value. Review Left On 05/27/2019Duckie Maggetti

Thank you for everything and all the help with my case definitely recommending you if i know anyone who needz an attorney Review Left On 08/07/2020dave parks

We hired attorney based on a friend's recommendation and after looking at various legal sites because we needed a stand up type of person who is not afraid to speak up [after having suffered from using a very weak lawyer in the past, it didn't work for us....]anyway we found the attorney's insight on people to be very keen, and she was more than willing to go the extra steps we needed to get the result we were working on , plus she even talked to us after hours several times. Talk can be cheap sometimes but for me personally, I am more than happy with the attorney's service to us. Review Left On 12/27/2019Dale Hanson

Though I have not personally talked with Ms Chan, I can say she has given great counsel to my daughter at fair prices throughout her difficult process of her divorce. Review Left On 06/27/2020 Michael Alexander

Carolyn was a great choice! Her prices are the best I've seen and she truly cares about her clients. Carolyn was by my side throughout the entire process with great advice and support in and out of the courtroom Review Left On 11/13/2019

Review Left On 06/27/2019Remy Martin I appreciate her honesty and the fact that she's blunt. There is no guessing what she means which is very rare to find; especially in an attorney. She has given me hope and there is a light at the end of this custody battle.

Review Left On 06/24/2019Denny Patinoz For what I was charged especially, and the research done, I would recommend her because she tries much harder than other attorneys I have seen in past, knows what she is doing in strategy, and can own the truth, regardless. Hard to ask for more, no joke. Especially these days!

Mediator vs an Attorney..

 This should be quite easy to describe because basically both of these words are not usually interchangeable... Most actual mediators who are attorneys, prefer to do settlement workouts and will often operate a mediation practice whereby those wanting to work out things mutually may sometimes actually do that? 

While it is true that some cases can easily be mediated IF both parties understand what is actually going on and fully agree-- attorney herein has seen many cases where parties thought they knew what they were getting but in fact they didn't understand what they got? This is not that surprising.

Mediation for divorce can be very difficult when there are huge problems in any given area, such as psychological,mental,emotional or difficult issues involving drinking, drugs, criminal charges or civil law issues with lawsuits, inheritances, bankruptcy, faulty IRS filings,  taxes and liens, tracing of separate property, sales of property, unknown hidden assets, domestic violence restraining orders, civil lawsuits, reimbursements known and unknown, hidden assets to family and online accounts unknown; illegitimate children,and more.

Nearly all of these potential issues will typically not be mediated away for the most part.

Once domestic violence enters the picture it is possible that this will come back to haunt the one accused; Most domestic violence cases should be carefully checked for errant, wrongful or outright lies. Some parents will get children to lie or give false statements. Or it could be lying friends.

Those will be the most difficult cases in attorney's opinion. Nearly all cases in this boat will likely require litigation, if only to salvage the truth.

If you have any doubt about giving up your rights, preserving your rights, understanding your rights, it is likely a mediator may not be the best choice for you. Trying to salvage a case by agreeing to things that should not be done or required is silly. No one should force clients to do something that may not be appropriate; when it comes to litigation, sometimes we do have to make difficult decisions. But mediation does not work when both parties don't agree. And in most difficult cases, mediation is simply inappropriate. For high stake cases involving large sums of finances, and much property, it is best to normally hire attorneys that work mostly on high stake cases involving a lot of financial dealings, as they are best suited for tax purposes, and in working with tax accountants. Much of the processing is accountant related, tax related, etc.  

DATE OF SEPARATION.....IT MAY NOT JUST BE THE DATE ONE PERSON LEFT?

CA Supreme Court Rule on "Date of Separation" Fixed by Legislature In 2015, the CA Supreme Court had ruled that "date of separation" means that there must be physical separation of the parties (meaning someone moved out...) With the economy and other factors, spouses (often women) --- do not always move out because they may not be able to afford to do so. Thus the financial aspects were not considered so much in the Supreme Court.

The Legislature was apparently bombarded with huge backlash from women's groups and other advocates, including the Family Law Bar; so upon this backlash, the Legislature enacted a new Code Section which pretty much eliminated the Supreme Court ruling. Family Code Section 70, when adopted, January 1 2017--- will provide as follows: (a) “Date of separation” means the date that a complete and final break in the marital relationship has occurred, as evidenced by both of the following: (1) The spouse has expressed his or her intent to end the marriage to the other spouse. (2) The conduct of the spouse is consistent with his or her intent to end the marriage. (b) In determining the date of separation, the court shall take into consideration all relevant evidence.(c) It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this section to abrogate the decisions in In re Marriage of Davis (2015) 61 Cal.4th 846 and In re Marriage of Norviel (2002) 102 Cal.App.4th 1152. As you can see, this makes everything about the parties' supposed intent and their conduct up for grabs, and indeed "the court shall take into consideration all relevant evidence." Although California is supposedly a "no-fault" jurisdiction, this amendment will CAUSE nearly all behaviors and activities by spouses to be fair game in establishing their intentions about continuing or ending the marriage.

Due to financial constraints, and now, COVID, and unemployment, many couples may actually be living separate lives but still physically living in the same household out of necessity. This has always been common, particularly where one spouse did not work.