The dependency case ends. The custody order doesn't.
When a juvenile case closes, family court picks up where it left off — exit orders, visitation schedules, and support numbers you will live with for years. We handle that handoff, and we handle the family law matters that bring parents to court in the first place.
- Divorce & legal separation
- Custody & parenting plans
- Child and spousal support
- Restraining orders
What we handle
Family law in California is one courthouse with several doors. Most parents walk through more than one of them over the life of a case.
Divorce & Legal Separation
Dissolution with or without children, property and debt division, and settlement negotiations. If the case has to be tried, we try it.
Custody & Parenting Plans
Legal and physical custody, holiday and summer schedules, school choice, and move-away requests — written around your actual shift pattern, not an office schedule.
Child & Spousal Support
Guideline calculations, imputed income for overtime and per-diem, and the documentation that moves the number in the right direction.
Restraining Orders
Requests and responses to domestic violence restraining orders, including the custody and stay-away terms that come attached to them.
Parentage & Paternity
Establishing parentage so custody, visitation, and support can be ordered — for married and unmarried parents alike.
Modification & Enforcement
A new job, a relocation, a missed payment: either the order changes or it gets enforced. We file the motion and calendar the hearing.
Where dependency and family law meet
This is the part most firms cannot do, because they only practice on one side of the hallway.
Exit orders carry the whole case with them
When juvenile jurisdiction ends, the court can issue custody and visitation orders that follow you into family court. Those orders are drafted in the last weeks of the dependency case, while everyone is tired and nobody is preparing for the next one.
The record already exists
Reports, findings, and testimony from the dependency case do not disappear. They get read by a family court judge, opposing counsel, and sometimes a custody evaluator. We know what is in that record because we built it.
Guardianship, adoption, and step-parent issues
Probate guardianships of a relative's child, step-parent adoption, and the termination questions that follow a failed reunification are family law problems wearing a dependency label.
One file instead of two
Dependency counsel and family counsel who never speak is how parents end up with a custody order that contradicts their case plan. One attorney, one strategy, one calendar.
How a family law case starts here
- 1. Complimentary consultation. We hear the facts, the county, and the deadline — and tell you whether you need an attorney at all.
- 2. Written flat fee. You get the scope and the number in writing before anything is filed. No hourly billing.
- 3. Filed and calendared. You get a copy of every filing and a calendar of every date, and we answer the emails in between.
Questions parents ask first
Tell us what is already on file
A petition, a proposed parenting plan, a support order, a restraining order request — send what you have and we will tell you what it means, what the next filing is, and what it costs before you commit to anything.
This page is general information about California family law procedure, not legal advice, and procedures and deadlines change. Sending a message does not create an attorney-client relationship, which begins only under a signed written agreement. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.