Orange County, CA Metro Family Law Blog

In a move that has wrought both praise and criticism, a federal judge in San Francisco struck down Prop 8, or the California Marriage Protection Act, a law passed in 2008 that added a new provision to the California Constitution defining legal marriage as only between a man and a woman.

The decision continues the back-and-forth parry between avid supporters of gay marriage and those vehemently opposed --- whether same-sex couples should enjoy the same rights and responsibilities as heterosexual married couples, including those legal rights available in divorce, business valuation and paternity.

According to a new report released May 12, 2010, the most common reason that youth run away is because of problems in the family. The report was based on calls to the National Runaway Switchboard, a hotline that offers runaway youth help and advice. The Switchboard receives more than 100,000 calls every year and operates out of both public and private funds.

29 percent of youth reported family dynamics as the main reason they left home. One in five children will run away from home before they turn 18 years old, for a total of 1.7 million each year.

Of children included in the Switchboard's report, 48 percent of youth claim to have been thrown out of their homes. 30 percent claimed they left home voluntarily. 22 percent claimed it was a mutual decision to leave home.

A new bill in California seeks to simplify and reduce the cost of legal terminations of domestic partnerships and marriages for same-sex couples. The Separation Equity Act, or AB 2700, was introduced by Democrat Assemblywoman Fiona Ma and was passed by the state Assembly on May 6, 2010. The bill has yet to pass the Senate before it becomes law.

California Law Prior to the Separation Equity Act

Same-sex marriage was first legalized in California in 2008. Later that year Proposition 8 was passed, amending the California Constitution to outlaw any marriage other than that between a man and a woman. Existing marriages would remain legally recognized.

A study released in late May 2010 debunks a myth that married couples with autistic children are more likely to divorce than parents of non-autistic children. The findings state that 64% of autistic children have married parents as opposed to 65% of children without the condition.

The study was conducted by the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, Pennsylvania. The findings were based on the 2007 National Survey of Children's Health with a survey group of 78,000 children.

Another myth is that men are more likely to want to divorce than women. The 2006-2008 United States Census Survey states that the most likely age group to be divorced in females is 55 - 64 years old, of which 19.4% are divorced. Of the male population, the age group most likely to be divorced is 45 - 54 years old, of which only 15.7% are divorced.