Is Winning Everything in Family Law? It is If You Lost.....

To start with, one does not go to family law court to have fun as a client.


There is an issue or issues, that need to be fixed or rectified, and in some cases such issues are huge. In other cases the problem may not be a life or death matter, but could involve the ability to maintain a living upon the separation of the parties.  Or, it could mean your health isn't that great and you need to maintain health benefits, or it could mean you have been tossed from your residence on some false/fake accusation?      
       

In many cases, to FAIL to win your hearing could be a catastrophic nightmare; or, if you have already LOST your hearing, you may not even have any further chances on that issue unless you can afford a trial?  



Very few lost motions have grounds for actual "reconsideration" under the code.  It would have to really be something legally addressable to even be reconsidered properly.


Thus, winning can be everything in many cases because Family Law participants are often at the edge of homelessness, or have lost jobs, or their kids have been removed because one party lied, or CPS believed there was danger to the kids when there was no danger, or the kids were actually in harm's way and CPS found it unsubstantiated?  In fact Family Law Court is one of the types of situations where a Judge acts as the jury, so not only is everything up to the Judge, you are often only allowed a hearing of 15-20min total for both sides.

If a recommendation from mediation comes out, typically about 75% of such decisions are rubber stamped by Judges. Your remedy is to seek a trial on the issue, and if your trial Judge is the one that rubber stamped the recommendation, you better have your case facts set up if you plan to win.

Attorney's view is that many other attorneys don't necessarily argue the cases persuasively at law and motion hearings, in part because they may have been in Court so many years, they have familiarity with the Court already, whereas an attorney who has not appeared in that court quite as much, has not been tested (as to how the attorney will argue the case...)  In litigation, if argued correctly and persuasively, it will increase the client's chances of winning.

In a dog/pony show court (meaning a Court that is somewhat rigged and one can seldom win there) then it's likely best to have an attorney that appears there regularly and for many years.  Often very small towns present that problem, but Butte County is not likely like that, as the Court in Family Law is different than it was even 5 years ago. It has gotten better due to the changing of Judges, so that makes for more fairness to parties.  So winning can almost mean everything for most clients.  They didn't go to court to lose?

Bankruptcy and Divorce..should You File Now??

Being in Bankruptcy while in a divorce can potentially complicate things. attorney herein doesn't usually recommend it as a general rule.  However in some challenging cases, some issues may crop up that can complicate the case:
https://www.thebalance.com/four-reasons-to-delay-filing-your-bankruptcy-case-316336

An Ex-Spouse's Bankruptcy Could Affect You

Your ex-spouse or even current spouse could possibly file BK on debts, but let's say you didn't file. While liability for the joint debt (assuming it was a joint debt) may be discharged as to the ex, the creditors may still pursue YOU if you had not filed.  In many cases, creditors don't do this, but if certain debts have already been resold to another collector, that new collector may try to file a lawsuit to collect. The filing fees are not free to file a lawsuit, so creditors usually only file against those they believe may be able to pay down the line.

 Failure to answer such lawsuit will result in a default judgment against you, which will continue to rack up interest.  This will definitely ruin your credit.  If you're not worried about having your credit ruined at the time, possibly filing BK later can still be an option.  BK is not near as devastating now since in CA following the 2007 real estate collapse, so many people had ruined credit that a BK filing does some damage all right, but it isn't the same as it used to be. Most clients with jobs upon getting a BK discharge are candidates for a new car loan.  Reason for that is because one has no debt, and one has a job, one may be able to then handle the secured debt loan?  

Potential issues that could crop up and make your life a living hell:

• Unsettled large tax debts, possibly old enough for discharge, but arguably not because Trustee or creditor has some plausible legal argument for not discharging
• 
  
• Unknown community debt only taken out by one spouse without other spouse's knowledge but other spouse used both names for credit, and racked up $105,000 in debt 
• 
  
• Unpaid spousal support and the ex is hiding out, hiding assets, and claims he has no assets
• 
  
• Large inheritance, unknown how long it will pay out, the ex won't disclose it, and may hide it in the bankruptcy
• 
  
• Ex spouse already filed bankruptcy, failed to disclose certain assets, lied on his paperwork, and
• submitted that data (the false data) into his trial papers
• 
  
• Recent debts incurred using credit cards for luxury items, vacation or gambling
• 
  
• Joint debts of both parties are disputed and unpaid, creditors already ruined credit rating, the house was illegally foreclosed, but the eviction was masked so it doesn't show up on credit reports, now some creditors claim that some of the joint debts are not dischargeable for various reasons under the BK code

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As can be seen, this is just a very small example of problems that can happen in Bankruptcy.
To have a contested hearing in BK, normally you have to set an adversary hearing.  The Trustee does not normally take the view of the Debtors since he/she represents creditors.

In real property cases, these issues can become very complicated, and if Receivership is involved, that also makes it subject to the same, if not worse.  Litigation on real property tends to get strung out, possibly for years.

Call attorney today if you have problems such as the above.  You may want to structure your
dissolution differently before deciding to file the bankruptcy.