Los Angeles Superior Court offers a great array of services through its Family Law Self Help desks. The court has been handling much of the self help services remotely during the pandemic by appointment.
The public can request self-help online appointments by calling the court at (213) 830-0845 to schedule a time to be assisted online by court staff. Services include child support, domestic violence, civil, or elder abuse restraining orders, dissolution (divorce) or parentage cases, or modifications to existing judgment and orders.
The mess that is the jumble of eviction moratoriums for non-payment of rent just became slightly less tangled Wednesday May 5, 2021. US District Judge Dabney Friedrich vacated the Center for Disease Control’s moratorium on evictions for non-payment of rent stating that the CDC does not have the authority to put restrictions on property owners and landlords. The court’s decision increases the risk to tenants behind in their rent and is a boon to property owners and landlords seeking to sue for unlawful detainer (eviction) in California.
Up to now, the CDC’s moratorium was one of the layers of protections for tenants intermingled with congressional action, presidential executive orders, California governor’s executive orders, county wide orders, and even some city orders. These moratoriums have not often had the same dates or levels of protections leading some offices, ours included, to refuse to get involved while the mess continues. With the CDC’s authority removed nationally by Judge Friedrich’s orders, the jumble is one thread less.
The (current as of today) moratoriums at the California state level continue until June 30, 2021 by order of the governor, and LA County similarly has aligned their own moratorium to the same date. Orange county has city wide moratoriums in several cities, but they expire on May 31 for the most part. The Biden administration vowed to appeal Judge Friedrich’s orders, and whether the CDC’s moratorium will stay in place during the appeal is yet to be determined.
Renter’s assistance programs can often be found at the California and even the city/county levels, but they require cooperation between the renter and the landlord. While we have received calls about landlords agreeing to take part with renters refusing, we have yet to hear of renters wanting to take part and landlords refusing. This in light of the fact that landlords are the ones who will have to agree to take reduced reimbursement in lieu of holding the renters responsible.
This is a developing issue and for more information, you should research the weekly and daily changes that seem to affect this problem. You should also talk to an attorney willing to take these issues on to get updates as things go along (we’re staying out of it for now).
(Revised and republished 02/21/2017)
During a divorce I am often asked, “Who gets to keep the rings?”
Couples understand that in a divorce their property is going to get divided. Maybe it will be by settlement or it may be by trial. One of the largest pieces of property in many marriages is often the wedding or engagement ring.
Occasionally, one of the parties may want the rings sold simply to keep it from the other. So who do the rings really belong to? Often, it depends on which ring you are asking about.
The Rule on Gifts
The basic Rule on Gifts is: the giver (or gifter) must transfer personal property voluntarily and without expecting something in return. The gifter transfers personal property simply by delivering it to the recipient. A gift is given ‘voluntarily’ if it is fairly certain there is no force or coercion put on the giver and the recipient didn’t take the gift without permission. The trickier part is whether or not ‘consideration’ (a thing or promise in return) is implied when the rings are given.
Engagement Rings
California doesn’t view engagement rings as gifts. Rather engagement rings are given for the other person’s promise of marriage, the consideration (CA Civil Code section 1590). If the couple actually marries, the recipient (normally the bride) has completed her promise. The engagement ring is now hers. When the parties divorce, the engagement ring, having become the bride’s property before marriage, remains her separate property and wouldn’t be divided as part of the divorce.
If the wedding doesn’t happen, then it who gets the ring depends on who broke the engagement off. If the recipient, she has to return the ring. If it was the gifter, the recipient can keep the ring.
Wedding Rings and Anniversaries
Unfortunately wedding bands and rings bought after the wedding day (anniversary rings, upgraded rings, etc.), aren’t as clear cut as engagement rings. The rules of marital property and conversion of property from one type or another (called “transmutation”) have to be taken into account.
Wedding bands purchased before the wedding day and given at the ceremony are the property of the buyer until the wedding. The spouses aren’t married and their money is separate. At the wedding each buying spouse gives (transfers) a wedding band to the other spouse voluntarily. But is there consideration? Are wedding rings given for a promise to stay married?
Normally, the original wedding bands are treated as an exchange of gifts while the wedding is a separate exchange of promises. This makes sense if we think of couples that can’t afford a wedding ring or the cost of different couples’ rings. If a couple doesn’t have a wedding ring are they not married after the ceremony? That wouldn’t be fair. If one couple can afford a very expensive ring is their promise to stay married stronger than a couple who can only afford an inexpensive band? Also ridiculous.
The treatment of the original wedding bands as gifts isn’t stated that way in the statutes. There is no settled law on the issue. However, if the rings were treated as an exchange for being married that would be a contract that would appear to trade personal servitude or sex for a gift of an asset and would be patently illegal.
Just to muddy the waters further is the exception in the law for gifts between spouses. When jewelry is given as a gift that is meant for the exclusive use of one of the spouses, that is not considered under community property “that is not substantial in value taking into account the circumstances of the marriage”. What this last part means, is that to determine if there is an exception to gifts between spouses, we have to look at the value of the rings in comparison to what the spouses could afford and to their station in life.
Later Purchased Rings
So what about rings that are bought after the wedding day? This often happens at anniversaries or when renewing vows. It can also happen when couples are doing better financially and want to upgrade the original rings.
The purchase of rings or other jewelry during marriage would most likely be from earnings during the marriage. This implies it is community property money. The rings could then be considered community property.
But can the rings be considered a gift from one spouse to the other? California Family law requires that transmutation – the conversion of community property to separate property – requires a writing signed by the gifting spouse. However, we return to that exception which excludes jewelry used solely or principally by the spouse to whom the gift is made and that is not substantial in value.
Therefore, when it comes to rings purchased after the marriage, whether the rings are gifts will be a judgment issue based on if the rings are of “substantial value”, taking into account the rest of the marital circumstances (value and income). The smaller percentage of the total value both at purchase and divorce will be the most likely measuring points.
Seek Help from an Experienced Attorney
Dividing marital property can be a tricky affair. The loss of family heirloom rings and finding a “fair” middle ground can be difficult. Emotions are running high at this time while you are trying to negotiate. A skilled attorney can help work through the issues with you and reduce the contention during this most trying time.
When the modern printing press was invented, a printer spent his days mass producing Bibles. I’m willing to bet he could make a lot of dough kicking out fill-in-the-blank Wills at night.
Your Office-Store Will May Cost Your Family a Small Bucket of Money
The purpose of a store-bought Will is to save money. There’s nothing new about legal forms. Templates are as old as paper. In some pyramid, there’s probably a sheet of papyrus that had a disclaimer in hieroglypics that said “No warranty – use at your own risk”.
Without proper drafting, however, your penny saved could cost your estate and your family a good bucket of dollars.
The Executor’s and Administrator’s Bond
Family members are often the people appointed to handle court probates for their deceased parents or siblings. These family members are regularly required to post a bond, a type of money guarantee, with the Court. A bond is insurance that the Executor or Administrator (we’ll stick with the term Executor here), will properly execute his duties and not mismanage the estate assets.
Executors must qualify financially to get a bond issued. As is often the case, the less financially stable the Executor, the higher the bond’s cost, if it’s approved at all. The cost of the bond comes from the estate and can very easily cost in the thousands each year that the estate is in probate. The Court will permit the Executor to recover the cost of the bond from your estate, but that reduces the money that is meant for your family.
Bond companies often require that the Executor be represented by an attorney. Adding the attorney will most surely mean doubling the probate fees.
Money Well Spent is Money Saved
Hiring an attorney to review and draft your Will costs a bit more than buying it off the shelf. The price may rise from $25 to $200 in some cases. However, for that small additional cost, your attorney can properly draft the necessary clauses to reduce or remove the need for a bond at all. This small expense can save your family thousands in the end.
McDonalds is touted as an example of what every small business should strive for. Every action, every activity, every day is based on documented and tested policies and procedures that turn the business into a well oiled machine. But how do you get there?
New employees need to be trained. Existing employees need to perform tasks with the same level of quality each time. Updating business practices to comply with changed laws need to be communicated and all employees need to be trained on the changes. All this comes from a working set of policies enshrined in your procedures manual.
Every business is made up of processes. Every task in a service oriented or product based businesses can be broken down into various steps. Receiving mail, responding to client or customer inquiries, paying bills, even taking phone messages are all procedures. These tasks may need to be done every day or only when required. But whenever needed, the process can be performed repeatedly and can be measured.
What is a Policy and What is a Procedure?
A Procedure is the list of steps necessary to accomplish a task. The Policy is the collection of principals and reasoning behind the steps in the Procedure. Why a certain set of procedures is chosen is based on the business needs and decisions of your practice or shop. The policies need to be based on your operating choices and the legal, regulatory, or administrative requirements of your field. A complete listing or analysis of policies is beyond the scope of this article but evolves in your own business like a second skin.
What Makes a Good Procedure?
Plain and simple, a good procedure is just a list of repeatable steps that drive consistent quality with very short explanation.
In my experience, the best step is one that you can explain in one breath. The step should be an action not an explanation. Separating the policy from the procedure allows you to explain the reasoning of the policy apart from the actionable steps needed to accomplish the task at hand.
A good example of a step for receiving mail would be “1. Enter the sender name, address, and date of receipt into the mail log for today’s date.” The policy might be “all incoming mail should be tracked and an index reviewable.” If the step is clear and unambiguous, then it can withstand the test of training. A clear policy allows you to measure if the steps accomplish the goal of the policy.
Creating Your First Procedure
In my previous career I was a software engineer and architect. In that role I spent countless cycles turning business needs into software.
The process is often a translation of the business practice into a repetitive function that can be performed and tested. The method was always the same: find the best person to perform the task, watch them do it, and determine how to repeat it correctly. Break down their tasks into discreet steps and documenting each one is the key to the method.
The person to observe is called a subject matter expert (“SME”) – someone who is the most skilled and knowledgeable to perform the task and explain it to someone else.
Testing Your Procedure Out
The only way to test the procedure is to execute it against test data. In the case of a business procedure, that means repeating the steps with a non-expert, the Tester. The SME and the Tester each becomes quality control. The job of the Tester is to insure that the procedure is clear and comprehensible. The SME insures the accuracy of the procedure itself.
If the procedure is unclear, have the SME redefine the task so that the Tester can clearly understand it. If the result is inaccurate, determine the failing and have the SME retrace the steps with the Tester to locate the defect. Finally, re-execute the procedure and repeat until accurate.
Do remember that no one and no procedure is perfect. It may be that the SME themselves needs to improve.
Refining the Policies and Procedures
Business practices that do not evolve can be the slow death of a business. A practice that is not efficient drains the company resources. A practice that fails to comply with the legal, regulatory, or administrative requirements can result in costly fines, lawsuits, or termination of the business itself.
Once documented, a policy and procedure is ripe for refinement. The SME, business owner and legal counsel can review the policy as it changes over time or the business needs evolve. Once the policy is in place, the SME can retrace the procedure to achieve the policy’s goal.
Draft, retest, repeat.
A Template for Documenting Policies and Procedures
Policy/Procedure Number:
Policy: [Descriptive explanation of the particular policy behind this procedure. This should include the who, what, when and why of the policy, and save the how for the Procedures section below.]
SME Name: [List the person to contact for questions regarding implementation of the procedures.]
Definitions: [If there are specific definitions that are unique to the procedures, or if everyday words are defined in a specific way, they should be listed before the procedural steps are expressed.]
Procedures:
[List each step in a way that can be stated in short, actionable steps. If there are potential splits based on different conditions, you can use a “jump” such as “3. If the piece of mail is a bill for payment goto step 7”.]
