Many companies compensate employees with stock awards, stock option, annual bonuses, and other such items. To the extent these employee benefits, or even a portion of them, are attributable to employment by that company during marriage, then that portion is community property su…

Read more

Divorce and Mortgage
Whichever of you or your spouse is awarded the family residence will almost certainly also be awarded the mortgage against it and ordered to assume all liability for payment on it moving forward. Occasionally, the person receiving the property will also be o…

Read more

There is danger lurking in a joint bank account. Both you and your spouse will be personally liable for any fees, charges, and overdrafts. It is not good enough to open a new account and have your pay directly deposited into your new account. You will remain at risk until the joi…

Read more

The community estate owns all the property acquired through the time, toil and effort of both spouses during marriage. Thus, to the extent you have participated in any retirement plans through your employment during marriage, the resulting interest in the plan is community proper…

Read more

The best ways to protect your separate property are by way of premarital and postmarital contracts, but those require the written agreement of both you and your spouse. There are things you can do on your own which will help keep your separate property financial assets separate.
…

Read more

At time of divorce, all property in existence is presumed to be the community property of the spouses. Each spouse has the right to claim that a portion or even all of the property existing at time of divorce is his or her separate property, but must prove that claim by clear and…

Read more

In a previous post on how to avoid legal problems when engaging in a new counseling relationship, we mentioned that you never know when a client will become involved in a legal dispute, like a divorce or a child custody case, that will require your participation. Because of that,…

Read more

Mental health professionals have to switch hats between different roles when their clients become involved in legal proceedings. While a counselor typically has a patient-focused therapeutic approach in normal counseling sessions, the requirements and expectations are quite diffe…

Read more

We’ve previously covered the differences between lay witnesses and expert witnesses, as well as who is qualified to testify as an expert witness and the limitations on expert testimony. Essentially, a treating provider is limited to providing lay testimony on the observable fac…

Read more

In our last lesson in our ongoing series, Tips for Testifying in Legal Proceedings, we looked at the differences between lay witnesses and expert witnesses, and pointed out that a lay witness on the stand can generally only testify about facts, while an expert witness can testify…

Read more