Cheating Spouses Caught due to Syncing of Devices?!! True.....

When clients keep using the "SYNC" capabilities, knowingly (or un-knowingly) whether on their phone, tablets, computers, etc.-- it is just a matter of time that will prove that having everything SYNCED to each other's devices-- IS A SUPER, SUPER BAD, BAD, BAD, IDEA????  We have seen more than several cases  in different counties, where an ex spouse somehow got the former spouse's data (text/photos/etc.) "synced" to a personal tablet or equivalent; and other cases where the "sexting" between phones was also "synced" to a personal device, and then printed out for the COURT????  Possibly by the attorney?  

Unfortunately, this type of case can become very expensive, and difficult due to the forensics, data preservation, correct tracing, and then, if needed, the forensic testimony of an expert?  It would depend on facts of the case, as some judges will not admit evidence unless every single iota of law has been qualified, and in data issues, this can be burdensome due to new discovery rules on data/transmission of data. Further, the time it would take will increase, thus expenses are increased to the client.
 

In  these types of cases, one  spouse or former parter either found out about the other partner's  new  interest, or was able to obtain the personal text between the new interest and former spouse.  This is exactly what you do NOT want to happen?  Whether or not the data was of personal or sexual or other personal data or photos--this is NOT what we want to see in court cases involving divorce? and  purposely PUBLISHING this personal data might be grounds for both a civil or personal cause of action under the law?  Depending on the severity, it is possible this would amount to sancionable conduct? 

Current case law indicates that this is not something you want to get into trouble for??? We know, as we have seen more than several of these things keep happening!!!  In fact, such facts were the basic ground for invasion of privacy in a domestic violence case? [The only reason we dropped the DV was because the client agreed to do it; otherwise, it was a perfectly valid DV case based upon strong facts.] 

Legally, we don't like to see these actions happen, but they are becoming more and more apparent. Such illegal actions can not only ruin one's reputation, it can cause job loss, intimidation, harsh reaction that would never have arisen, creating intimidation and loss of privacy, lost work hours, and much more, including personal injury.

Did You Lose Your Case Because You Didn't Make the Right Arguments?

A common complaint by those representing themselves,

 is that Judge.... "Ignored"  what they said?

                                          (this posting has over 1,518 views...)

                                                                 

DID IT APPEAR TO YOU THAT JUDGE IGNORED WHAT YOU STATED?

To many litigants representing themselves, judges may appear to overlook

what you stated, and then move ahead to not grant you what you wanted?

When we look at self represented documents, some of them are ok and some

are not so "ok"......

The fact is that judges don't have a lot of time and if what you wrote down
is not on point or does not appear to be strong, or correct, or even logical,
you may end up not winning what you wanted to get. Most attorneys know
the same laws but that isn't the real question, because two attorneys that
know the laws don't usually argue the same positions-- right?

Therefore it's how it is argued that counts-- the facts, the logic, whatever it is 
that makes it more beneficial for the kids, or for some other logical reason.
IF in fact you basically have a losing case from the start (which does happen
in some cases) then you will have more work to do. For example let's say
you beat up your own kid and you got a DV TRO filed on you. It's likely you
will not be getting physical custody?  

But eventually if you jumped through
enough hoops you would gain more visitation time, it might take a long time
but it is likely doable. If you give up automatically the you have basically 
lost.  For some parents, they are willing to do that. Others, maybe not.

Still other parents will relentlessly argue over different aspects of legal and
physical custody for years. It is amazing to see that some parents never
stop arguing over this.  Hopefully that isn't your case!!!!  If it is, you might want
to call attorney....lots of experience in that area.

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530.497.0777

DETERMINE SPOUSAL SUPPORT CORRECTLY?

Most clients do NOT realize why it's difficult to determine spousal support in a long marriage, especially if there were private businesses, shared businesses, or basically any type of business that was making some decent income. Especially when one spouse was a stay at home spouse, this can create a huge, huge problem for the other party, as spousal support will not only be huge, it will likely practically break the party that worked, financially. This is an expensive thing to do legally mainly because it will take time to get the 14 factors and the evidence and then to weave it altogether for the argument? The reason we say this is because it's true? There are 14 (yes, fourteen) factors that the court will look at to determine the spousal support--and IF a judge only uses the Dissomaster (computer program) then it's unlikely the dissomaster can implement the 14 factors. Therefore any long term spousal support case should have a trial brief which will go over all of the 14 factors.

I am not going to list the 14 factors here [believe me, it can be very involved] but you can easily look them up online. The question on the 14 factors will eventually require a knowledge of quite a few personal facts, so only the spouse or close friends would likely know those facts. If some of the facts are left out, that would be up to you or your attorney, and how best to present the case. Trust me, it's not exactly an easy job if it is done correctly.

Even if both spoues work, it's still not really that simple. In some cases attorney herein will use all 14 factors but in a few cases where spouses are both high income earners, there may not really be a need for spousal support. Obviously a stay at home Mom would likely require support of some type. Also, if there are no children and the spouse has never worked, that is an entirely different issue in spousal support--I don't have time to explain it here.

But it's likely that if the wife was not a homemaker with kids and just didn't work at all, the court *might* make her (or him) look for a job. No guarantee, but since people these days are gender fluid, it's hard to say sometimes who the wife is or what she (or he) is capable of...therefore in Los Angeles for example, I would expect to see a case come out involving same sex partners with one having a much higher income; and that party might not necessarily be the male [if there is a male involved at all]. In fact, since they do not even LIST the GENDER of the children on a divorce petition anymore---it's possible that they may even stop calling the parties husband and wife....Just sayin'.........

"BINANCE" and Whether Your Spouse is Involved...Jurisdiction Issues in Court

BINANCE Holdings Limited (Binance)is apparently the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange platform (by trading volume) and is facing increasing scrutiny, where regulators are attempting to ensure that Binance is not actually providing services in jurisdictions where it is neither licensed registered or regulated, as this could create consumer protection concerns. Trading by residents in jurisdictions where Binance is not actually licensed to operate could create harm to those using the service. THUS.....If one discovers a spouse has engaged in hiding money via cryptocurrency, and one accidentally finds proof of same, but then the spouse that hid the crypto actually loses it somehow, how would a court designate the loss as to the party who never knew the source in the first place? Due to jurisdiction issues of whether a CA court, whether state or federal--would even have jurisdiction at all---

If the spouse that hid the crypto account had instead invested in actual gold or other valuables, typically this would be listed on the Family law worksheets where spouses must declare their property. When property is not declared, oftentimes the court *may*, if egregious enough, award the asset to the other party. This has happened for example, when a CA wife won a big lotto payout, hid the fact (while married) and then soon divorced the husband. When the husband accidentally found out after the divorce, he re-opened the divorce and then proceeded against the ex wife for failure to disclose. The court found that non disclosure was thus illegal because she won the lotto when married and thus it was community property--and the Judge awarded the entire amount TO THE HUSBAND. For that matter, post Camp fire cases may indicate that wrongdoing was done when only one party cashed the fire checks, or received money payouts and failed to disclose to spouse. That is a breach of fiduciary duty and the Court will not tolerate actions like that... There are severe penalties if proven, against the wrongdoer. If you have this issue I (attorney herein) may be able to help you.

Further, there have already been appeals to the CA State Appeals Court on bitcoin cases, including the fact that usually, something like bitcoin would be considered in the realm of a monetary item, even if it is not USA government dollars or coins. The fact that it can be bought and then sold, etc. tends to simply mean it is something that has value and owned by someone, thus it can likely be divided (the valuation is just another factor...)

Attorney herein does not see that much difference between the hidden lotto winning and things like hiding bitcoin? Nearly all computer data on household computers can be traced, and if your spouse buys a new computer and you don't know what happened to the old computer, this could be a problem if the data was on the old computer. Most bitcoin is done on a computer although I suppose one could use a friend's computer? (I have several experts on computers that are very high on the chain and can trace such actions.)

Therefore, if your spouse seems to know a lot about bitcoin and his/her friends do also, you may need to use stealth to discover how much he or she has invested. Bitcoin will likely only go up and not down since in bad financial times, this type of currency will often be volatile.

I recommend reading this link to Ken Reyes' article, an attorney/accountant from Los Angeles: https://www.kenreyeslaw.com/blog/2021/may/do-i-have-to-disclose-my-bitcoin-to-my-spouse-in/

Showing results for california bitcoin cases,appeal, etc.

Archer v. Coinbase, Inc. :: 2020 - California Case Law https://law.justia.com › california › court-of-appeal Aug 10, 2020 — The court of appeal affirmed. Archer failed to establish the existence of an agreement by Coinbase to provide the Bitcoin Gold to him and failed ...

Marriage of DeSouza - California Courts of Appeal - Justia Law https://law.justia.com › cases › court-of-appeal Aug 10, 2020 — Husband's bitcoin transactions, after the automatic restraining order following a petition for disso... Read the full annotations for this case.

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

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

[PLEASE NOTE: This is not legal advice--the specific fact pattern is true as it applied to a client's case, and ALL cases are different. Your own specific case facts may bring different results due to the fact pattern and thus your outcome may result in a different manner--attorney herein does not have a client-attorney relationship with the reader, and no blog posts or articles by attorney create an attorney-client relationship;all of attorney's past cases are fact based and true but reading attorney's blog is not a solicitation by attorney.] 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 2,805 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.

When You're Ready to "Give Up"-- Check Out This Amazing Guy!?!

Attorney realizes that many litigants feel depressed, mad, sad or otherwise not happy about their family law case and sometimes will give up hope of seeing it through....BUT after seeing this guy from Egypt with no arms--actually play ping pong (table tennis) by using his mouth-- I realized that there is very little that cannot be done... when one is determined?

This guy should be a huge inspiration for anyone who has all of his or her limbs! The sheer tenacity of this guy so amazed me that I kept reading all I could find out about him, and it seems this year he actually did retire from playing---but the fact that he could even play table tennis at all was so amazing, I know I won't forget him. There is only one reason I put this post up here, because it means a lot to me--it shows that determination is key in nearly everything. So if you are feeling depressed because of your family law case and not getting what you want or making any gains, do not give up. You may need to take a different approach but most cases can be improved, especially if you are determined. -----------------------------------------------------------------

Paralympian Ibrahim Hamadtou somehow plays ping pong without arms (By Mark W. Sanchez, August 26, 2021) Ibrahim Hamadtou competes in the Paralympic games. He has no arms in a sport that seems to require them. But as is the theme of so many Paralympians, Ibrahim Hamadtou has found a way. The Egyptian, who lost his arms in a train accident at 10, is one of the more inspiring stories found in the Paralympic Games in Tokyo, where he uses a foot and his mouth to compete against some of the world’s best table tennis players. Hamadtou balances the paddle in his mouth and uses his right foot to loft the ball in the air for his serve. Each volley feels like a miracle.

“One of the most important memories that I will never forget was when one of my friends told me to stick to something I could do,” Hamadtou told the Olympic Channel. “That remark was the spark that generated something inside of me. The will and determination. I wanted to prove to him that I could practice a sport.”

He says that he began playing in 1986 in Egypt, his village’s favorite sports being soccer and table tennis – but he wanted a “challenge,” so he preferred the latter. He has risen to the top and is competing in his second Paralympic Games, having finished in ninth in the team event and 11th in the singles in Rio.

Bankruptcy and MSAs, Judgments--BEWARE...You Can Lose Big Time...........

SO..when is spousal support  "exempted"  in Bankruptcy?  How about under CCP 703.140?

..........What if the "MSA was purportedly ambiguous?"

..............What if the court thinks the MSA lists the spousal support--- but it's really not spousal?

................What if the alleged support was not reasonably necessary for such support?

---->  Must the Court look beyond the labels provided for in the MSA?

An evidentiary hearing in Bankruptcy Court is very interesting. (See ftp://38.98.2.146/DKupetzArticle.pdf )
..............."While there are significant differences between adversary proceedings and contested matters, the similarities between them are greater than appellant assumes. 
In a contested matter, there is no summons and complaint, pleading rules are relaxed, counterclaims and third-parties practice does not apply, and most pre-trial procedure is either foreshortened or dispensed with in the interest of time and simplicity.

 Nevertheless, . . . discovery is available, testimony regarding contested material factual disputes must be taken in the same manner as in an adversary proceeding, and the court must make findings of fact and conclusions of law before entering an order that has the status of a judgment." ]

And in this particular case, the Trustee objected to the purported spousal support exemption under the CCP code cited above.  Also noted, Trustee mentioned that the item was purportedly concealed before but that was not  made very clear.

Both parties had attorneys, both parties had attorneys during the MSA process, and the wife had expert. Wife stood to lose about $200,000. and yes,
she did lose it.

...[T]he court initially noted that nearly all cases regarding whether an award is in the nature of spousal support are in the context of nondischargeability under § 523(a)(5), as opposed to an exemption, which was "a different situation." Hr'g Tr. (Jan. 20, 2012) 88:2.      Nevertheless, the court proceeded to discuss In re Combs, a nondischargeability case, and the factors a court can consider in determining whether an award in a divorce decree is in the nature of spousal support or a property settlement. 
     In considering the Combs factors, the court concluded that the Met Life Account was not spousal support; it was a division of property, and therefore not exempt under CCP § 703.140(b)(10)(D). The court further noted that the MSA's express provision for spousal support which, under Stout, could be considered in determining whether an award in a divorce decree is support or property division, was an important factor in its decision to disallow the exemption.
The bankruptcy court entered an order sustaining Trustee's objection and disallowing Diener's exemption of the Met Life Account as spousal support under CCP § 703.140(b)(10)(D) on February 10, 2012. Diener timely appealed.
http://www.leagle.com/decision/In%20BCO%2020121128926.xml/IN%20RE%20DIENER  (read case at this link)

http://www.leagle.com/decision/In%20BCO%2020121128926.xml/IN%20RE%20DIENER

You will likely need to be an attorney to understand it, but then again, maybe not.The bottom line is-- if your client may end up in bankruptcy court to salvage assets, you better be sure that the MSA will work under bankruptcy rules and state exemptions, otherwise, as can be seen here, it can open a brand new issue never decided by a bankruptcy court before, and your client is the guinea pig.

Had the wife accepted payments of support without the need for later claiming that the award was an intended buy out for spousal (which was not apparently stated) in the MSA, perhaps she could have left that provision subject to open jurisdiction to enforce; but by taking the money all at once, and since it was not deemed spousal (which would make it taxable to wife) it appears that the Trustee realized this, because the debtor kept amending the Schedule C Exemptions. 
                                 Which is likely a red flag in our opinion....Oops...Originally posted in 2016......

MOVE AWAYS AND CHANGING JURISDICTIONS

Most move away cases will involve one parent moving to a different county, state, or country. This requires the current court that has jurisdiction, to release the case to another court in another jurisdiction. Usually to accomplish this, the current court must give permission for the change of venue. In most cases this will require a hearing and if the case is contested it may require a trial.

This is not exactly the most inexpensive type of motion as it will require both factual data and other information which will be contested. Its is preferable to have as many pertinent and key witnesses as possible to ensure that one has not left any evidence out. If you believe you have a case which requires a jurisdictional issue feel free to contact attorney. Even if you are one who wants to challenge a move away, or you are trying to maintain the status quo, attorney can do either side. While attorney cannot promise an outcome, most of attorney's cases have resulted in satisfied results. Any doubts about your case will be discussed upfront so that we know what we are facing in total.In this manner, the client will know that we have covered the facts and if anything needs to be changed or worked on. My track record of desired results is evident due to the time involved over many years; I am here for only one thing; and that is normally to win the case. If I believe there are impediments to winning what you desire I make that very clear. when it comes to kids and parents, each parent and each child is entitled to get what is fair... and for that reason, I work hard to see that it is done.

Attorney's Tiger Team Approach, Yes -- Even in Family Law

A tiger team is a known professional method of breaking down a problem into smaller segments to isolate all possible issues; for example, in software engineering, it is common to use tiger teams. In scientific issues and spacecraft (where it kind of originated) it is par for the course.

When difficult family law issues arise, it is basically the same method except science kind of goes to the mental issues, and the remaining problems can be a mix.  We don't expect clients to handle the legal issues obviously. Past mistakes or errors in cases are more common in cases where the parties have never solved anything, but continue to battle year after year. After viewing many cases where nothing has seemingly changed over the years for the better, sometimes clients will refuse to do things differently for various reasons.

However, it has been attorney's experience that in breaking down the issues, most attorneys focus only on the legal problems. While that certainly is the course of action for the attorney, many other elements of the case will come into play. Having a wide background of experience in dealing with many types of individuals, attorney has found that certain types of people will focus on certain issues only, while ignoring other problems completely. It has also been noted that ignoring some issues can cut off solutions that may actually exist.  This is somewhat difficult to diagnose until one has enough experience in the field, but like a car mechanic, we basically know what to look for. [Attorney is not originally from Butte County, and has been to at least 28 different court houses throughtout California, and Northern, Eastern and Southern Districts, including Federal Courts for Bankruptcy. In animal law cases, we often see issues which deal with federal law, and not just state law.]

A root cause of failure is often due to the parties making decisions
 based upon improper assumptions or beliefs.

Particularly because attorney has much experience as defense counsel (and social work experience), this brings an additional element into the case which is often helpful. Many family law attorneys have never been practicing defense attorneys or worked with families who have issues..  There is a difference. And there is a difference in setting up a defense as well.

Clients that have been wrongfully accused of anything will benefit in hiring an attorney who has done defense work, criminal defense and similar situations. It would be similar to hiring an insurance defense attorney, many of whom can be difficult to work with.. LOL and that was the point here?

https://www.futureofenergyinitiative.org/Pubs/MTT.pdf (in the past, attorney linked an MIT piece on the space expedition; that was fairly old, and so put this newer selection. Attorney also subscribes to MIT subscriptions which are often very helpful.)

Facebook Warning Again Just in Case...

I cannot overemphasize the potential damage that Facebook provides and where most people simply buy right into the crap mainly because they aren't very bright, or could be just plain dumb? Hopefully if you are actually trying to litigate a family law case, you have managed to shut down your Facebook to almost nothing. The preferred tactic is to not be on Facebook at all. IF you absolutely must have it to begin with,there should not be personal data that could be used against you on there if you are smart, since obviously it will be used against you and judges don't care that you were that dumb? For that matter, FB is in court all the time now and it's just a matter of time before they find something legally on FB and then they will start to lose some money (not that it would bankrupt them, that will never happen because there's too many dumb people out there who can't live without FB?! Not to mention the advertising!) Below is problematic because even the government can't stop FB from what it looks like--- at least not in the way they attempted to do it.......

The FTC and a big group of states filed separate lawsuits last year that accused Facebook of breaking antitrust law to keep smaller competitors at bay by snapping up rivals, such as Instagram for $1 billion and WhatsApp for $19 billion. JUDGE FINDS FLAWS IN MARKET SHARE CLAIM The federal government and states filed a total of five lawsuits against Facebook and Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) Google last year following bipartisan outrage over their social media clout in the economy and the political sphere. The judge said that the FTC did not adequately support its assertion that Facebook has more than 60% of the market. But Boasberg said the agency could potentially fix the issue in a refiling. The judge also criticized portions of the FTC's case regarding its refusal to allow interoperability permissions with competing apps. Republican Senator Josh Hawley criticized the court's decision on the FTC lawsuit as "deeply disappointing." Reporting by Diane Bartz

What You Might Want-- Might Not Work for Your Case+ How COVID MIGHT IMPACT YOUR CASE...

There is no typical family law case, even if  some cases have typical issues, because each individual litigant brings both negative and positive to the table in nearly all cases. My job is to ascertain the type of individual I am dealing with so as to do the best job possible for that person, as not all people will have the same preferences in very individual situations.