Review the invoices. If the work done was legitimate and necessary to your case, then yes, you should pay the invoices. The fact that your attorney may not have signed the retainer agreement you signed does not mean you are no longer obligated to pay for his/her services. If the fees were... View More

No one will read it. Unless there is a pending hearing, anything you file with the court will get stuck in the case file and no one will see it, read it, or consider it. If you have a hearing pending, the best way to get information to the judge that is relevant to that hearing is by way of... View More

Depends on the court. With some court (such as Los Angeles county), a Substitution of Attorney can be turned around the same day it is efiled. If you need it to hire new counsel, just get the signed (fully executed) copy from your attorney (whether filed or not). That will be sufficient for... View More

Not sure what you mean by "released your rights". You cannot relinquish your parental rights unless your child is being adopted. Your obligation to pay child support/to financially support your child remains enforceable regardless of what agreements you may have reached with the other... View More

If you don't have a court order for support, you won't get support. Once you get your court order for support, you should obtain an "Income Withholding Order" and then serve that on the supporting parent's employer. It may take a couple months to process before support... View More

I don't understand the problem. She doesn't need his cooperation. What paperwork did she send to him that she believes he has to fill out for her to proceed with a divorce. Sounds like a lot of misunderstanding about how the process works. California is a no-fault state. If she wants... View More

It's difficult to prove the existence of a verbal agreement. Further, you have been separated for 10 years. When did the injury occur that gave rise to the lawsuit and later settlement? The settlement may be separate property to which you are not entitled to any share. Reconciliation may... View More

There is no meet and confer requirement when no responses have been served at all. There is a difference between filing a motion to compel and filing a motion to compel further responses. With an initial motion to compel, when no responses have been served at all, there is no meet and confer... View More

Immediately file an objection to the proposed FOAH and specify in your objection, the grounds for the objection. Be very clear. Attach a copy of the minute order to your objection (assuming the minute order is different from the proposed FOAH). Since the FOAH has already been signed by the... View More

"I previously filed for child support and sole custody but I don't believe the filing was ever made official and put into effect" - filing a petition for custody and support, without filing anything else, will not result in you getting any court orders. Your case may still be open.... View More

There is no "device" you can use to monitor the child's sleep. You can get court orders however regarding a 4-year-old's use of a smart phone all together, regarding bedtime, and regarding bedtime routines, and regarding time spent on the smart phone whether playing games or... View More

Technically, yes. The question is, should you? Is this for a vacation with plans to return? Or are you talking about moving out of state with the child? If you are talking about relocating, moving without the other parent's consent and without a court order allowing you to do so, could... View More

If it's been more than 30 days since spouse was served and he/she has not served or filed their response to the Petition, you can proceed with a Request to Enter Default. Once default has been entered you can proceed to the next step (financial disclosures), then to judgment (unless trial is... View More

Whether or not a parent must pay support for an adult child depends entirely on what your court orders say. If there is no court order extending support for the minor past his/her reaching the age of majority and graduating from high school, then there is no legal obligation to pay support

Every case is different. Generally speaking, a marriage of 27 years is considered "long term" and therefore, potentially, alimony, if ordered, will not have an end date. For more information regarding what goes into the court's decisions regarding alimony (whether to award, in what... View More

If the responses are unverified it's as if there were no responses at all, so you should/could keep your motion to compel on calendar. If he/she opposes your motion, you should attach a copy of the unverified objections, only responses as an exhibit to your Reply. You can also err on the... View More

Yes, I'm sure there are plenty of attorneys willing to take a retained foreign body case. The problem with these cases however is that sometimes leaving behind a metal object, such as a surgical clip or staple, is intentional and not the result of negligence. i.e. sometimes leaving in a clip... View More

Get ahead of it. File your Response to the petition and file a Request for Order to get support orders in place and court orders that limit her use of credit cards or enable you to either close out joint cards or keep one open for her use (just by way of example). Allowing unfettered access to... View More

Don't take the law into your own hands. If the current custody orders are not in your child's best interests then file a Request for Order to get them modified. If you think your child is in imminent threat of harm or there is an imminent threat to her health, safety or welfare, you can... View More

If this is for purposes of locating him so you can serve him with a Petition for Dissolution, find out his last known legal address, documents all efforts you have made to find him, and then file a motion with the court to get permission to have him served by publication. Otherwise, hire a PI.