We haven't had any "unsolicited sham legal opinions"
in a while, so, given the upcoming custody trial, here’s an interesting tidbit.
Every week I have to check the new and amended bills that are being released each week in the California state government for a committee I’m on. Today, one proposed bill was suggesting changes to a certain law in the Family Code, and it included a summary of factors that are considered by the court when determining child custody. Here’s the passage:
“Existing law establishes a
rebuttable presumption that an award of sole or joint physical or legal custody of a child to a person who has
perpetrated domestic violence is
detrimental to the best interest of a child and establishes factors to be considered in rebutting that presumption, including that the perpetrator is
restrained by a domestic violence prevention order and has, or
has not, complied with that order.” (bold text added by me)
In English, this means that, legally, awarding sole or joint legal or physical custody of a child to a perpetrator of domestic violence is presumed to be detrimental to that child, and this is a factor the court will consider when determining custody. However, the parent who has committed domestic violence is able to overcome this presumption in court (this is what is meant by “rebuttable presumption”) by giving evidence regarding certain factors to be considered, which may defeat the presumption. Unfortunately for Alice, two of the factors used to rebut the presumption are: (i) whether she is restrained by a domestic violence prevention order (she is); and (ii) whether she has complied with that domestic violence prevention order (she hasn’t).