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Martha Bronson

The Attorney you will swear by, not at.

36 years of experience
California

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Jurisdictions Admitted to Practice

California
Since 1988

Education

Empire Coll School of Law: Law Degree

Professional Associations

California State Bar # 133396: Member; 1988 - Current

Legal Answers

64 Questions Answered

Q. I’m in contra costa county and I haven’t been served paper work but the court date is the 13 can I still show up: November 10, 2024; A: With so little information about your case it is challenging to respond with anything more than some generalities about procedure... If you have not been served with papers, we will presume that you do not know what they say and accordingly you do know the details about what is being alleged and what the issues are that are scheduled on the 13th to be heard. If you have not been served then we must also presume that there is no proof of service filed with the Court to prove to the Court that you have been served with the papers. If there is no proof of service on file with the Court, the Court does not have jurisdiction to hear the matter in your absence or enter any orders. If you show up to tell the Court your "side" without properly raising an objecion to jurisdiction based upon lack of due process because you were not served with the papers (otherwise known as not being given constitutional notice and opportunity to be heard ) and without properly making a special appearance preserving your right to pursue your objection at a later date, you could be deemed, by the Court, to have waived those rights and the Court could proceed to hear the matter and render orders against you, despite the fact you were not served with the papers. It would be my recommendation that you contact the other party to arrange to get a copy of the papers immediately and agree to continue the matter to a mutually convenient date. I would further recommend that you consult with a local experienced attorney to obtain legal advice on what your best position / defense is depending on the particular facts of your case, as well as on what you should and should not include in your written Responsive Declaration (FL 320), which should be filed and served on the other party (by someone other than yourself that is at least 18 years old and not a party to the action) on or before 9 court days before the re-scheduled hearing date.

Out of an abundance of caution, if I were you, I would also go online to the Superior court online case index in the County where your case was filed and look up your case events/filings to see what has been filed in your case. In particuar, I would look for whether or not there has been a proof of service filed evidencing that the moving papers were served on you. If there is a proof of service filed, then I would recommend filing and serving a declaration stating you have not been served and need a continuance of the hearing to you the give the opportunity to review the papers, consult with (or retain) legal counsel, prepare and file a response and prepare for the hearing. Best of luck. ... Read More

Q. I signed a retainer agreement and paid the retainer fee. The attorney never signed the retainer: October 24, 2024; A: Signing the client's copy of the retainer agreement is not required to bind you to the contract. The attorney may well have signed his/her original or a copy and that would suffice. In any event, assuming there was no written agreement signed by both parties, the attorney would be entitled to payment for the reasonable value of services rendered. If the work was done and the invoices reflect the work done, you should pay the invoice.

Q. Am I able to serve the divorce petition and summons with the financial documents all together?: October 23, 2024; A: Yes, the financial disclosure documents and declaration can be served at same time as the summons and petition. Please see Family Code Section 2104(f), which states in pertinent part: "The petitioner shall serve the other party with the preliminary declaration of disclosure either concurrently with the petition for dissolution or legal separation, or within 60 days of filing the petition." The opposing party then has 60 days from service to prepare and serve their preliminary disclosures on you.

Page three of the income and expense declaration (I &E), item 12, asks you to list who is living with you. If, as you state, you moved back in with your parents, then you would certainly appear to be living with your parents and your parents living with you. Accordingly, your parents should be named. The more sensitive question is whether or not their income must be disclosed and that would seem to be a matter of relevance to the issue of child and spousal support. If relevant it would need to be disclosed to the Court and other party. If listed on the I & E, anyone who happens to be looking at the court case file and in particular the filed I & E form, would have access the information on the form. If your parents are concerned about having such private matters disclosed to the public via the information being shown on I & E which is filed with the Court and accordingly a public document, they could apply to the Court for an order deeming the I & E section 12 information about your parents' income redacted on the basis of privacy so that only the Court and the other party know their income. However, this assumes their income is relevant in your case and the facts do not necessarily reveal that to be the case. If they are not paying you money every month out of their earnings to support you or in return for work you are performing for them, and even if they are gifting you money every month to temporarily help you out , that alone does not necessarily make their income relevant to your support issues, because presumably your parents have no continuing obligation to gift you money next month or any of the other months that come and go in the future. Further, if your parents are allowing you to live there rent free, there is case law that supports the position that the Court can consider the fact that providing shelter rent free presumably lowers your expenses needed to survive each month, but the Court cannot consider the fair market rental value of living there rent free as income to you for purposes of calculating support. In sum, if it is important to your parents to maintain financial privacy and not disclose it in item 12, then you could object to disclosing their income on the filed I & E on the basis of relevancy and privacy, but if found to be relevant, that you would willingly provide the information in a separate writing, to the Court and other party to be kept confidential, while the filed writing would have the amounts redacted on privacy grounds. I would recommend that you consult with and/or retain an experienced family law litigator to help guide you in the process. Best of Luck. ... Read More