San Diego Divorce Attorney Blog

As a San Diego Certified Family Law Specialist attorney, I've had thousands of child custody and custody move away cases handled in my family law office. I've had to research the Charlie Sheen custody story from many different reports. Charlie Sheen is the father of twin boys with mother Brooke Mueller. They lived together until reportedly Charlie pulled a knife on Brooke in 2009. The parents lived separately and raised their two, young children, until 3/21/11 when Brooke filed for a restraining order claiming that Charlie had threatened her. (Bob and Max were 23 months old at the time of the March 1, Domestic Violence Restraining Order request.) Mail Online published a detailed story as to the restraining order and you can see the first page of the restraining order, and the story summary, here.

Brooke was successful in obtaining the temporary restraining order on 3/1/2011. However, Domestic Violence Restraining Orders, granted on a temporary basis, must be heard in court 21 days later and, at this second restraining order hearing, the court will decide whether to grant a permanent restraining order. Domestic Violence Restraining Orders grant orders intended to offer protection to the victim (for example, by a stay away order, an order to "kick out" the perpetrator from the family residence, an order that the perpetrator turn over all of his/her guns to law enforcement, etc. And the Domestic Violence Restraining Order may include a child custody and visitation order. The restraining order served on Charlie Sheen did contain a custody order as Charlie had to turn over the twins to Brooke's custody.

Almost immediately after the restraining order was filed, granted and served, Charlie's lawyers, according to a news report, vigorously pursued and obtained a child custody agreement between Charlie and Brooke. This maneuver is frequently overlooked by those less experienced in child custody litigation. Instead of waiting to litigate the child custody case in court (with witnesses, evidence, mediators, etc...) Charlie and Brooke reach an out of court agreement.

Continue reading "Charlie Sheen Child Custody Case Explained" »

Recently I had lunch with a client who is a very successful businessman who develops innovative businesses, starts them up, then sells them for a very nice profit. We talked about divorces where the Husband and the Wife battle each other to the point that their marital estate is devastated. We discussed why do people allow emotional decisions to cause economic destruction.

As a San Diego Certified Family Law Specialist attorney I've seen divorces where will quickly compromise and settle, or, in the alternative, act out of emotion and hurt themselves regarding their property and children. Typically I hear that the family law lawyers are to blame; however this is not always, or even mostly, the case.

Two news stories come to mind. One involved a very bitter, angry and devastating divorce as reported in detail by journalist Lisa Kroll for Forbes. She summarizes the story of Mr. Blixseth, who was worth 1.3 billion in 2007 then became engaged in a 2008 divorce that became a battle royal over money and businesses. This battle set off a chain reaction of bankruptcy, investigations and other problems which all had their Genesis with the divorce. Then there was another story of Eva Longoria's divorce (which was covered by this Blog), which was wrapped up in a timely fashion with little, if any, economic damage. Ms. Longoria (Desperate Housewives) filed for a divorce and claimed that her professional basketball Husband was having an affair.

Continue reading "Reports of Two Divorces" »