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Pasadena Family Law Attorney Kayla Horacek Wins Long Trial on Novel Issue

Published on Thursday, April 23, 2009 | 8:13 am
 

Kayla Horacek, an associate attorney with the Law Offices of Donald P. Schweitzer, a Pasadena based divorce and family law firm, takes on a challenging and rare family law issue.

Pasadena divorce and family law attorney, Kayla Horacek, recently concluded an unusual matter dealing with the propriety of disallowing a spouse to claim a marriage was null and void as a matter of law, regardless of the fact that said marriage was bigamous.

In this particular proceeding, the Court found that the party arguing the marriage was invalid should be estopped from claiming this to the Court. The Court reasoned that a spouse cannot shirk his or her martial responsibilities if he or she knew of the bigamous nature of the marriage from the onset, and continued to hold out a partner as a legal spouse, or later learned of the bigamous nature of the marriage, and subsequently held out a partner as a legal spouse.

The Court also found that the party claiming the marriage was valid should be deemed a legal spouse pursuant to California property law and be entitled to all of the benefits associated with this legal description, including, but not limited to, permanent spousal support, attorney’s fees, and even community property rights. The court cited In Re Marriage of Recknor (1982) 138 Cal.App.3d. 539, as authority for this ruling.

The award of community property rights is novel because there is no California dissolution case precedent that has specifically awarded a party with his or her share of community property in like circumstances.

“The case required that we ask the Court to take the next logical step from the case law that existed, and go out on a bit of a limb to grant community property rights to our client. We were able to argue that the spirit of the case law suggested this result, but could not rely on any specific case to bolster our position. It really required the Court to extend the principles in Recknor in the name of equity. Thankfully, the Court saw the need for this decision,” said Horacek.

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