Family Law

Significant family law legislation enacted this year included: SB 678 (Ducheny) revising and recasting the portions of the Family Code that addresses Indian Child Custody proceedings by codifying into state law various provisions of the federal Indian Child Welfare Act, The Bureau of Indian Affairs Guideline for State Courts, and state Rules of Court; SB 1325 (Scott) revising numerous aspects of adoption law including those related to assisted reproduction, felony convictions of parents, appearance by prospective adoptive parents and presumed father proceedings; SB 1393 (Florez) creating a streamlined adoption process for state residents who finalize an adoption in a foreign country whose adoption standards meet or exceed those of California; SB 1758 (Figueroa) strengthening regulations concerning adoption facilitators; AB 402 (Dymally) enacting the Collaborative Family Law Act; AB 1102 (Hancock) revising and recasting provisions relating to the issuance of marriage licenses; AB 2440 (Klehs) imposing liability upon any person or business entity that knowingly, or should have known of a child support obligation, assists a child support obligor who has an unpaid court-ordered child support obligation to avoid, escape, or evade paying the obligation; AB 2488 (Leno) lowering the age of consent to disclosure of contact information between adoptees and their siblings from 21 years to 18 years of age; AB 2517 (Tran) allowing a grandparent to petition the court for visitation with their grandchild when the natural or adoptive parents are married, and the grandchild has been adopted by a stepparent; AB 2781 (Leno) requiring private child support collectors to comply with some basic consumer protections to ensure that child support obliges have clear information about the contract they are entering into; and AB 2853 (Salinas) codifying a current rule of court that require initial and continuing domestic violence education for court counselors, evaluators, investigators and mediators involved in child custody matters.