Angela Martin’s Legal Blog

There are a few states in the US that recognize a “common law marriage.”  This is a situation in which a couple has lived together for so long (and meets other requirements) that the state just give in and treats them as a married couple.  What does this get you? Some property rights, a form of […]

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If you have scrolled through any of the other blog entries from my colleagues you would have eventually come accross warnings and statements regarding the importance of mediation and the value of either keeping clam, or handing over the talking to your lawyer during a family law matter.
Although redundant, I have to agree . . […]

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Yesurday at 5:01pm, California county and city offices were permitted, by Supreme Court Order to begin issuing gender neutral marriage applications and licenses to enable same-sex couples to officially marry in California.
 Couples have been applying for their marriage licenses beginning almost immediately after the May 15, 2008 California Supreme Court decision that held that under […]

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Ok, many times people think of divorce as this horrible and vengeful process.  During the course of a dispute between the supposed “adults” in the situation, people tend to forget that in matters of child custody and visitation the legal standard is: the best interest of the child!
It can be aggravating to deal with a […]

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This morning the California Supreme Court issued its written opinion in the In re Marriage Cases, Case No. S147999.  According to the Supreme Court, the California Constitution does not permit a statute to limit marriage to only between a man and a woman.

 The ruling was in response to a challenge to the 2000 initiative, Proposition 22.   The […]

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 “I never did very well in math - I could never seem to persuade the teacher that I hadn’t meant my answers literally.”         ~Calvin  Trillin  
 
I think that one solid thing that led me to practice law, was not any difficulty with math or science, rather it was an annoyance that there could only be […]

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Many people know that you do not have to have been married in a particular state in order to get a divorce there.  However, with recent developments in the law, the new the question is whether another state will handle the divorce of a same sex marriage, partnership or civil union - depending on the […]

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