Family Law

1st District Court of Appeal, Family Law, Real Estate Law

Marriage of McConnell & Jahnke — Awarding a Home ‘and All Debts Thereon’ Does Not Require Removing Ex-Spouse from Mortgage

automatic / June 5, 2026

The First District holds that a divorce settlement awarding one spouse the marital home 'and all debts thereon' does not implicitly require removing the other spouse from the mortgage, reinforcing that such obligations must be explicitly stated.

4th District Court of Appeal, Family Law, Litigation

In re A.T. — Child Must Be Under Five at Time of Jurisdictional Hearing for Section 300(e) to Apply

automatic / June 5, 2026

In a case of first impression, the Fourth District holds that section 300(e) juvenile dependency jurisdiction requires the child to be under five at the time of the hearing, not when the abuse occurred — reversing findings against a child who turned five before the hearing.

1st District Court of Appeal, Family Law, Personal Injury & Tort

C.F. v. Alternative Family Services — Foster Family Agency Owes Duty to Protect Children from Abuse It Knew or Should Have Known About

automatic / June 4, 2026

The First District affirmed a $24.7 million verdict against a foster family agency, holding that FFAs have a duty to protect foster children from abuse they knew or should have known about, but rejecting both an unlimited protective duty and one requiring actual knowledge.

2nd District Court of Appeal, Family Law

In re K.L. — DCFS Not Required to Track Down Unavailable Relatives for ICWA Inquiry

automatic / May 29, 2026

The Second District holds that DCFS satisfied its ICWA initial inquiry duty despite not reaching the maternal grandmother, who was unreachable and whose contact information a relative declined to share.

3rd District Court of Appeal, Civil Procedure, Family Law

Marriage of Capos — Ex-Husband Cannot Void $768K Child Support Arrearage Order He Opposed on the Merits

automatic / May 29, 2026

The Third District holds that an ex-husband who filed a written opposition to a child support arrearage request cannot later void the resulting $768K order by claiming defective notice based on unchecked Judicial Council form boxes.

4th District Court of Appeal, Collections & Creditor Rights, Family Law, Litigation

Greely v. Greely — Void Bigamous Marriage Defeats Spousal Exception for Bank Account Levies

automatic / May 20, 2026

The Fourth District held that a judgment creditor cannot use the spousal exception to levy a third party’s bank accounts without a court order when the marriage supporting the levy was bigamous and void from its inception.

Appellate Division (Superior Court), Family Law, Real Estate Law

Colonial Manor v. Reyes — Surviving Spouse Protected by Rent Control After Original Tenant’s Death, Costa-Hawkins Does Not Preempt

automatic / May 15, 2026

The Appellate Division of LA Superior Court affirmed judgment for a surviving spouse in an unlawful detainer action, holding she was an implied at-will tenant protected by Santa Monica rent control, and that Costa-Hawkins did not preempt the city’s 425% rent increase prohibition.

1st District Court of Appeal, Family Law

In re O.M. — Appellate Court Reverses Dismissal of Malnutrition-Based Dependency Counts

automatic / May 7, 2026

California's First District Court of Appeal reversed a juvenile court's dismissal of malnutrition-based dependency counts, finding uncontradicted evidence compelled jurisdiction where parents failed to acknowledge or plan for a toddler's severe nutritional deficiencies.

4th District Court of Appeal, Criminal Law, Family Law

In re Parker B. — 4th District Says Unqualified WIC Section 782 Dismissal Encompasses Findings, Allowing Sealing of Section 707(b) Juvenile Records

automatic / May 4, 2026

The Fourth District holds that an unqualified Welfare and Institutions Code section 782 dismissal encompasses the underlying findings, satisfying section 786(d)'s "dismissed" condition for sealing serious juvenile offense records — but the firearm restriction survives.

4th District Court of Appeal, Civil Procedure, Family Law

In re Marriage of Nishida & Kamoda — Civil Lawsuit Alleging Fraud in Marital Stipulation Was Timely and Should Not Have Been Dismissed After Transfer to Family Law Court

automatic / April 30, 2026

Fourth District reverses dismissal of civil fraud lawsuit alleging misrepresentation in connection with marital settlement stipulation, holding that the lawsuit was timely filed and should not have been dismissed under Family Code section 2122 after transfer to family law court.

California Supreme Court, Family Law

In re Z.G. — Juvenile Court Cannot Terminate Parental Rights Based Solely on Adoptability, and Mother’s Lawyer Was Ineffective for Failing to Demand Required Reunification Services

automatic / April 27, 2026

The California Supreme Court holds that juvenile courts cannot terminate a parent's rights based solely on a finding that the children are likely to be adopted, and that the mother's trial counsel here was constitutionally ineffective for failing to assert her statutory right to reunification services.

2nd District Court of Appeal, Family Law, Litigation

In re Marriage of Bowman — Family Court May Apply Family Code Fee Factors Even When MSA Has Prevailing Party Clause

automatic / April 3, 2026

Second District holds that the family law court retains discretion under Family Code sections 2030 and 2032 to consider parties' relative financial circumstances when fixing attorney's fees, even where a marital settlement agreement contains a contractual prevailing party fee clause.

1st District Court of Appeal, Criminal Law, Family Law

In re J.H. — Juvenile court may consider victim impact statement at six-month baseline review hearing if limited to rehabilitation-relevant material

automatic / March 27, 2026

First District holds that a juvenile court may consider a victim impact statement at a six-month baseline review hearing if it limits its consideration to material relevant to the juvenile's rehabilitation.

4th District Court of Appeal, Family Law

Steven N. v. Priscilla C. — Voluntary declaration of parentage is void where birth mother had attempted marriage to another man at the time of the child’s birth

automatic / March 26, 2026

Fourth District holds that a voluntary declaration of parentage is void where the birth mother had attempted to marry another man in apparent compliance with the law, making him a presumed parent under Family Code section 7611(b).

1st District Court of Appeal, Family Law, Litigation

Sheerer v. Panas — Self-represented litigants face the same duty to verify AI-generated citations as attorneys; child support order reversed for failing to include bonus and RSU income

automatic / March 19, 2026

First District extends its warning about AI-generated fake citations to self-represented litigants and reverses a child support order for failing to include the obligor's bonus and restricted stock unit income.

1st District Court of Appeal, Family Law

Marriage of Jenkins — Default judgment vacated where dissolution petition listed assets only as ‘to be determined’; Code of Civil Procedure section 580 limits relief in default to what was actually pleaded

automatic / March 18, 2026

First District holds that a default dissolution judgment must be vacated under Code of Civil Procedure section 580 when the petition listed assets only as 'to be determined' and the responding spouse lacked notice of the actual property division being sought.

1st District Court of Appeal, Criminal Law, Family Law

In re O.F. — Juvenile transfer order to adult court reversed for failure to apply heightened standards under AB 2361 and SB 545

automatic / March 13, 2026

First District reverses a juvenile court order transferring a 16-year-old murder defendant to adult court because the court did not apply the heightened amenability standards required by AB 2361 and SB 545.

4th District Court of Appeal, Family Law

Marriage of Hoch — Spouse cannot be sanctioned for refusing to stipulate to convert legal separation into dissolution; mutual DVROs require independent finding of primary aggressor

automatic / March 12, 2026

Fourth District reverses Family Code section 271 sanctions for refusing to convert legal separation into dissolution and reverses a mutual DVRO that lacked substantial evidence of the wife as primary aggressor.

1st District Court of Appeal, Family Law

In re L.G. — Juvenile court must show reasonable efforts to prevent removal of a child from a mentally ill parent’s care

automatic / March 6, 2026

First District affirms juvenile court jurisdiction but reverses removal of an infant from a mother with serious mental illness because the agency did not show reasonable efforts to prevent removal.

4th District Court of Appeal, Family Law, Litigation

Domestic Partnership of Campos & Munoz — $5,000 in sanctions imposed for citing AI-generated fake cases in pet custody dispute

automatic / March 5, 2026

Fourth District affirms a pet custody order but imposes $5,000 in sanctions on counsel for repeatedly citing AI-generated fake cases and reports the conduct to the State Bar of California.

4th District Court of Appeal, Criminal Law, Family Law, Litigation

J.S. v. D.A. — Trial Court Again Erred by Issuing DVRO Without Addressing Incarcerated Respondent’s Request to Appear by Phone

automatic / February 25, 2026

Fourth District reverses a five-year DVRO for the second time, holding the trial court again denied the incarcerated respondent meaningful access to the courts by issuing the order without addressing his request to appear telephonically.

4th District Court of Appeal, Criminal Law, Family Law

In re Christian V. — Amended Juvenile Restitution Statute Did Not Apply Retroactively Where Minor’s Case Became Final Before the Effective Date

automatic / February 24, 2026

Fourth District affirms a juvenile court's joint-and-several restitution order, holding the January 2025 amendment to Welfare and Institutions Code section 730.6 — which replaced joint-and-several liability with several liability based on percentage of fault — does not apply retroactively to a case that became final before the amendment took effect.

2nd District Court of Appeal, Family Law, Litigation

In re Reyna R. — Juvenile Court Must Consider Father’s Ability to Pay Before Requiring Professional Visitation Monitor at His Expense

automatic / February 9, 2026

Second District holds that a juvenile court ordering monitored visitation by a paid professional must first consider the parent's ability to pay and the availability of reasonable alternatives, where the parent has timely raised an inability-to-pay objection.

2nd District Court of Appeal, Family Law

Marriage of Allen — Parents Cannot Contractually Waive Child-Support Arrearages, Even After the Children Reach the Age of Majority

automatic / February 6, 2026

Second District holds that California's prohibition on parental contractual waiver of child-support arrearages applies even after the children have reached the age of majority and there is no current support order in place.

1st District Court of Appeal, Civil Procedure, Family Law

Marriage of Starr — Date-of-Separation Allegation in Amended Petition Was Not a Binding Judicial Admission

automatic / January 22, 2026

First District reverses a trial-court order that bound a wife to the date of separation alleged in her amended dissolution petition, holding that allegation was not a judicial admission where the parties had treated a different date as in dispute throughout the litigation.