Family Law/Probate

AB 139 (Gatto) Seeks to establish, until January 1, 2021, a new, non-probate method for conveying real property upon death through a revocable transfer upon death deed (RTDD). An act to amend Sections 2337 and 2040 of the Family Code, to amend Sections 250, 267, 279, 2580, 5000, 5302, 13111, 13206, and 13562 of, to amend and renumber Sections 5600, 5601, 5602, 5603, and 5604 of, to add Section 69 to, to add the heading of Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 5040) to Part 1 of Division 5 of, to add and repeal Part 4 (commencing with Section 5600) of Division 5 of, and to repeal the heading of Part 4 (commencing with Section 5600) of Division 5 of, the Probate Code, relating to nonprobate transfers.

AB 260 (Lopez) Provides support and protections for parenting minor and nonminor dependents.

An act to amend Section 16002.5 of, and to add Sections 361.8 and 825.5 to, the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to foster care.

AB 365 (Cristina Garcia) This bill requires the court to allow a party, whose deportation or detention by the federal Department of Homeland Security materially affects his or her ability to appear at a child custody proceeding, to present testimony and evidence, and participate in mandatory child custody mediation, by electronic means.

An act to add Section 3012 to the Family Code, relating to family law.

AB 380 (Waldron) Limits who may be declared a putative spouse. Specifically, this bill provides that a court, in a proceeding to nullify a void or voidable marriage, may not declare parties to be putative spouses or divide property as if the marriage had not been void or voidable, unless requested to do so by the party or parties who believed in good faith that the marriage was valid.

An act to amend Section 2251 of the Family Code, relating to marriage.

AB 436 (Jones) This bill requires a court, upon granting or denying authority to a conservator for the placement of a conservatee in a secured residential care facility or administration of medications for the care and treatment of dementia, to discharge the court-appointed attorney or order the continuation of the legal representation of the conservatee.

An act to amend Section 2356.5 of the Probate Code, relating to protective proceedings.

AB 439 (Bloom) This bill requires a restrained party, who has been ordered to participate in a batterer?s program, to register for the program by the deadline ordered by the court, or within 30 days if no deadline is indicated. This bill requires that at the time of enrollment, the restrained party sign all necessary program consent forms for the program to release specified documents, including attendance records, to the court and the protected party, and to provide the court and the protected party with specified information regarding the program. This bill additionally requires the Judicial Council, by July 1, 2016, revise or promulgate forms as necessary to effectuate the above provisions.

An act to amend Section 6343 of the Family Code, relating to family law.

AB 468 (Jones) This bill deletes the requirement in existing law for the Director of the Department of State Hospitals to adopt and issue regulations defining the term ?mental health treatment facility? for purposes of involuntarily placing a ward or a conservatee.

An act to amend Section 2356 of the Probate Code, relating to wards and conservatees.

AB 536 (Bloom) This bill prohibits a court from issuing a mutual restraining order unless each party presents written evidence of abuse or domestic violence in an application for relief using a mandatory Judicial Council restraining order application form, as specified. This bill also requires, by July 1, 2016, the Judicial Council to modify forms as necessary to provide notice of this information.

An act to amend Section 6305 of the Family Code, relating to domestic violence.

AB 548 (Cristina Garcia) This bill removes the January 1, 2016, sunset, thus, extending the authorization indefinitely, for a court to have authorization to appoint an administrator nominated by a non-U.S. relative to administer a decedent?s estate.

An act to amend and repeal Section 8465 of the Probate Code, relating to estates and trusts.

AB 610 (Jones-Sawyer) Reinstates, effective immediately as urgency legislation until January 1, 2020, a pilot program to suspend the obligation to pay child support while an obligor is incarcerated or involuntarily institutionalized, except as specified.

An act to repeal and add Section 4007.5 of the Family Code, relating to child support, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.

AB 960 (Chiu) Makes more uniform rules regarding recognition of parentage for children conceived using donated sperm or eggs for intended parents and for donors.

An act to amend Sections 7613 and 7613.5 of the Family Code, relating to parentage.

AB 1049 (Patterson) This bill states that a person?s offer or refusal to sign a voluntary declaration of paternity may be considered as a factor, but shall not be determinative as to the issue of legal parentage in any proceedings regarding the establishment or termination of parental rights. This bill additionally requires a nonattorney donor facilitator to direct his or her client to deposit client funds in an independent, bonded escrow account or a trust account maintained by an attorney.

An act to amend Sections 7612, 7960, and 7961 of, and to amend the heading of Part 7 (commencing with Section 7960) of Division 12 of, the Family Code, relating to children.

AB 1081 (Quirk) Extends a specified temporary restraining order until the end of a continued hearing if a party with good cause obtains a continuance.

An act to amend Sections 527.6, 527.8, and 527.85 of the Code of Civil Procedure, to amend Sections 242, 243, and 245 of the Family Code, and to amend Sections 213.5 and 15657.03 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to civil actions.

AB 1085 (Gatto) This bill authorizes the court to issue an order that specifically grants a conservator the power to enforce the conservatee?s rights to receive visitors, telephone calls, and personal mail, or that directs the conservator to allow those visitors, telephone calls, and personal mail, and requires a conservator to provide notice of a conservatee?s death by mailing a copy of the notice to all persons entitled to notice, as specified, and by filing a proof of service with the court, unless otherwise ordered by the court. This bill also requires an attorney-in-fact, who is named by a person (principal) to handle the principal?s health matters, upon the death of the principal, to inform those individuals, whose names are provided by the principal to the attorney-in-fact, of the principal?s death.

An act to amend Section 2351 of, and to add Sections 2361 and 4691 to, the Probate Code, relating to personal representatives.

AB 1407 (Atkins) Effective July 1, 2016, allows a court in a domestic violence proceeding, to direct a wireless telephone service provider (wireless provider) to transfer wireless phone numbers and devices.

An act to add Section 6347 to the Family Code, relating to family law.

AB 1519 (Committee on Judiciary) Seeks to improve the handling of family and juvenile law cases in our courts.

An act to amend Sections 2104, 17325, and 17400 of the Family Code, and to add Section 69619 to the Government Code, relating to family law.

SB 19 (Wolk) This bill establishes a Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment (POLST) eRegistry Pilot operated by the California Emergency Medical Services Authority for the purpose of collecting a POLST form received from a physician, or his or her designee, and disseminating the information in the form to authorized persons.

An act to add and repeal Section 4788 of the Probate Code, relating to resuscitative measures.

SB 28 (Wieckowski) Provides that a plea of nolo contendere to a domestic violence offense constitutes documented evidence of domestic violence that a court must consider when deciding whether to order spousal support. Specifically, this bill provides that a plea of nolo contendere is included in the documented evidence of any history of domestic violence between the parties or perpetrated by either party against either party?s child, as provided, that a court must consider when deciding whether to award spousal support.

An act to amend Section 4320 of the Family Code, relating to spousal support.

SB 340 (Anderson) This bill provides that a preliminary declaration of disclosure is not required by a petitioner if the petitioner served the summons and petition by publication or posting pursuant to court order and the respondent has defaulted. This bill requires, when a petitioner has served the summons and petition by publication or posting pursuant to court order and the respondent files a response prior to default judgment being entered, the petitioner to serve the respondent with a preliminary declaration of disclosure within 30 days of the response being filed. This bill makes other related, conforming changes.

An act to amend Sections 2103, 2104, 2107, and 2110 of the Family Code, relating to dissolution.

SB 594 (Wieckowski) This bill specifies that a child custody evaluation, investigation, or assessment, and any resulting report, may only be considered by the court if the evaluation, investigation, or assessment, and any resulting report, is conducted in accordance with the minimum requirements.

An act to amend Section 3111 of the Family Code, relating to child custody.

SB 646 (Jackson) This bill revises and recasts the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA) to provide guidelines for the registration, recognition, enforcement, and modification of foreign support orders from countries that are parties to the Hague Convention on the International Recovery of Child Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance (2007 Hague Convention). This bill identifies the Department of Child Support Services as the agency designated by the United States central authority, as defined, to perform specific functions under the Convention. This bill makes other technical, clarifying, and conforming changes.

An act to amend Section 1731 of the Code of Civil Procedure, to amend Sections 5260, 5601, 17212, 17406, and 17505 of, to add Part 6 (commencing with Section 5700.101) to Division 9 of, to add Sections 17404.1, 17404.2, 17404.3, 17404.4, and 17407.5 to, to repeal Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 4900) of Part 5 of Division 9 of, and to repeal Section 6322.5 of, the Family Code, to amend Section 11478.1 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, and to repeal Chapter 349 of the Statutes of 2002, relating to family support.

SB 785 (Morrell) This bill clarifies the definitions of ?probate estate? and ?trust estate? for purposes of filing a petition by a trustee for the payments of claims, debts, and expenses from a revocable trust of the deceased settlor.

An act to amend Sections 19000, 19001, 19003, 19006, 19008, 19024, 19025, 19320, 19323, and 19400 of the Probate Code, relating to trusts.