Sacramento Divorce Law Blog

A divorce is a difficult process to go through not only for each spouse, but also for any children involved. Many important decisions regarding a child must be made including custody, visitation rights and child support. By meeting with an attorney and entering into pre-hearing discussions, the parties can often come to an agreement about these issues. But when an agreement is not reached and, for example, a court determines the amount of child support to be paid, that obligation must be met.

When a child support obligation is not met serious consequences may become a reality. For example, a man was recently arrested for owing more than $50,000 in child support and he may face jail time. When one is convicted of a crime for not paying child support it may negatively affect his life in the future. Also, the child is left without his financial needs being met. Thus, it is of the utmost importance that parents develop a plan that makes child support payments reasonable.

Charlie Sheen and Denise Richards, a former couple whom Californians know for their professional acting, have agreed that Sheen will not have to pay additional child support to Richards even though Richards is now watching two of Sheen's children that he had in a subsequent relationship. Currently, Sheen pays $55,000 a month in child support to Richards for the children he had with her. Richards, who maintains a friendly relationship with Sheen, agreed to take on the care of Sheen's other two children now that those children's mother is spending some time in rehabilitation.

While Sheen has stated that he would gladly pay an additional $55,000 in child support to Richards for her help in raising his children, Richards has declined the money. She says she has enough resources to satisfy both her financial needs and those of all of the children in her care. Sheen is currently under a child support order to pay $55,000 for these children and, presumably, had been paying the children's mother before she entered rehab.

Later this year, the United States Supreme Court will decide a case that could impact servicemembers, as well as other federal employees, who choose to take advantage of a federal life insurance program. Although the federal courts typically stay out of matters involving family law, this particular case may indirectly shape the future of military divorce both in California and in other states.

The case involves a federal employee who enrolled himself for federal life insurance benefits. He designated his first wife as the beneficiary of these benefits. The trouble started, however, when he and his first wife divorced and the man remarried. The man neglected to update the named beneficiary on his life insurance policy, and he died without doing so.

In California, courts will award child custody to a child's grandparents only in rare circumstances. For example, when parents prove themselves incapable or unwilling to raise their own children properly, then authorities may award the custody of those children to their biological grandparents.

While it may be hard to get court-ordered grandparent custody in the first place, California grandparents fortunately can expect the courts and, in more extreme cases, law enforcement to uphold their grandparent rights under a valid custody order should the children's parents attempt to interfere.