Family Law Office of Jennifer J. Applegate

Being a financial partner in marriage reduces the stress of divorce, says this article from Financial Adviser Magazine! Another tip? Don't "wing it" during the divorce process.

Family law can be heartbreaking. People’s capacity to lie is nearly boundless.

Sometimes, the reason a divorce takes so long is because one party is dragging their feet. We have been trying to get financial disclosures from our client’s wife for a year and a half with no success even though she’s been sanctioned and ordered to comply with discovery rules. So the Family Law Office of Jennifer Applegate filed a motion for evidence sanctions: ‘Judge, she had a chance to weigh in on these matters, and she’s refused, so please make findings based on our evidence.’ Motion granted! Our client gets his house, his truck, and his personal property without having to go to trial. A great result.

An excellent result today. After our client was subjected to multiple false allegations of child sexual abuse by his ex over several years, we got a resounding validation from the court after a one-day trial. Not only does the ruling include a finding that no abuse occurred, but the mother has been warned that one more unfounded CPS report will almost certainly result in her own custodial time being reduced to professionally supervised visits. Here’s hoping that continued counseling will help her work through whatever in her past has caused her to fixate on this belief but in the meantime, the child’s dad doesn’t have to live in fear that every cuddle will be twisted into something ugly and sordid.

Great news, just in time for Christmas! Three years ago, a hardworking Santa Rosa dad hired me as his family law attorney. He had been denied the opportunity to even MEET his daughter, had missed out on the first seven months of her life, and was ordered to pay child support. Over the next two years, I told him that it would take a long time, but that we WOULD show the court that he was a loving and responsible father. And we started making progress. ... By about a year ago, we had gotten to an 80-20 time share. Child support was reduced. And were awarded $3,000 in sanctions for the bad behavior of my client's ex and her attorney. By March of this year, the time share was 80-20. Child support went down even more. My client's daughter was thriving. Today I learned that the parties will have a 50-50 time share. The child support order will be for zero dollars and zero cents. And that tiny screaming bundle that came into the world four years ago? She's happy and thriving; she has a brother and a sister; and she knows her father loves her. And that is why I do what I do.

Chocolate-covered strawberries from a happy client!

I am pleased to announce that effective January 1, 2018, I will be operating as a solo practitioner here in Santa Rosa! The actual office move will happen in the next week or two, and we're working hard to ensure our clients a seamless transition.