Most clients of our law firm are first-generation immigrants from China. In China, couples go to the same office for marriage certificates as well as divorce papers. However, that is not the case in the United States. A bewildered client once asked me: “To get married here, I need to go to the county’s office, but I cannot get a divorce at the same office?” In the U.S., if a couple wants a divorce, they must go to the court pursuant to the Family Code of each state.
While the passage of Proposition 36 in 2000 marked the beginning of the “so called” end of the war on drugs in California as to cases involving the personal use of drugs, the California criminal justice system continues to treat quite harshly persons convicted of crimes involving drug trafficking, possession for sale of drugs, and drug sales.
Prostitution is an agreement between consenting people to provide any sexual activity in exchange for money , and any act in furtherance of such agreement. The act in furtherance can be any step taken toward a sexual act. Whether sex occurs or not, is not essential to establish the crime.
A restraining order (also called a “protective order”) is a court order that can protect someone from being physically or sexually abused, threatened, stalked, or harassed. A restraining order can include personal conduct orders, stay-away orders, and/or residence exclusion (“kick-out” or “move-out”) orders. The person getting the restraining order is called the “protected person.” The…
If you are in the United States on a visa that was granted based on your spouse’s application, a divorce or separation may affect your lawful status and ability to stay in the United States. If you are a conditional resident, divorce may affect your immigration status. A conditional resident is when the person used…
No one needs to be a victim of Domestic Violence. Domestic Violence can be either physical abuse or emotional abuse and usually result from one partner to a relationship feeling the need to control the other. The parties can be married, but it also includes parties that are living together, or even parties who are…
Divorce is an emotional time in any one’s life. Two of the major issues to consider in the divorce process are the issues of child visitation and child support. Child Support, in California, is based on a set “schedule” and the courts attempt to make it entirely based on the income of both parties, but…
The Silicon Valley is a very special community, which poses special problems with regards to divorce and property division. It has become a common practice for tech companies to offer compensation to employees through Restricted Stock Units (“RSUs”). An RSU is a way to compensate an employee through equity, but unlike stock options, RSUs do…