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Welcome, from the Association of Certified Family Law Specialists in California, an independent association of California attorneys who specialize in family law.
To locate an ACFLS member, select Directory Search.
Latest News:
18th Annual Spring Seminar Returns to the Desert March 26-28, 2010 18th Annual ACFLS Spring Seminar: Register Now!
Register online or download the flyer (legal size pdf) and fax or mail.
March 26–28, 2010
Hyatt Grand Champions Resort, Indian Wells, California
Three half-days of CLE
Two Afternoons of Fun in the Sun
Two evenings of wining, dining and collegiality
Titles, Transfers and Transmutations:
When Spouses Change the Character of Assets and Obligations
Moderator: Garrett C. Dailey, CFLS
Judges’ Panel:
Hon. Mitchell Beckloff, Hon. Kenneth Black (ret.),
Hon. Thomas Trent Lewis, Hon. Michael Naughton, Hon. Maren Nelson
Saturday Morning:
Fundamentals of Transmutations
Dawn Gray, CFLS & Stephen J. Wagner, CFLS
Title Presumptions and Burdens of Proof
Stephen Temko, CFLS
Til Death or Divorce Do Us Part: Probate and Family Law Crossover Issues
Hon. Mitchell Beckloff; Diana E. Richmond, CFLS; Avery Cooper, CFLS
Sunday Morning
Title, Transfers and Transmutation Trial Practicum
Peter M. Walzer, CFLS; Christopher Melcher, CFLS
Settlement Practicum: Out of the Box Settlement Tools
Eileen Preville, CFLS
Ask the Judges: “The Last Word”
Hon. Thomas Trent Lewis, Hon. Michael Naughton, Hon. Maren Nelson
Plus a 3-Hour Friday Afternoon Pre-Conference Institute
Advanced Family Law Attorneys Fees Law and Practice
(Why Everything You Think You Know About Attorneys’ Fees Is Wrong, Practical Tips for Attorneys’ Fees Litigation, Hot Issues in Attorneys’ Fees Law and Practice)
Garrett C. Dailey, CFLS; Hon. Kenneth Black (ret.);
Hon. Michael Naughton; Leslie Ellen Shear, CFLS
Wining, Dining, and Collegiality
Friday Night Welcome Buffet Supper (No Host Bar)
Saturday and Sunday Breakfasts
Saturday Night Dinner at the Cliff House Restaurant
(No Host Bar, $75 per person including wine)
On-line registration coming soon at www.acfls.org.
$425 members/$495 non-members
(Includes Friday pre-conference institute, full seminar, two breakfasts and
Friday Welcome Buffet Supper)
Saturday night dinner at the Cliff House -- $75 per person
Friday Pre-Conference Institute alone -- $100
(For those not attending the full weekend, does not include Friday buffet supper)
Price of the Seminar includes resort fee, parking, and 15% discount for hotel spa services. Book early to get the ACFLS Spring Seminar discounted rates at the Hyatt Grand Champions Resort
https://resweb.passkey.com/go/acfl2010. (To enjoy reduced rates, you must reserve your room before the cut-off date of March 3, 2010 and before the room block sells out. The ACFLS block of rooms will be released to the public for general sale on March 3, 2010.) See http://grandchampions.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/index.jsp for hotel amenities.
ACFLS Comments on Elkins Family Law Task Force Draft Recommendations for Family Law Reform
ACFLS’s Board of Directors unanimously adopted the group’s Family Law Reform Committee’s Comments on the Elkins Family Law Task Force Draft Recommendations. The action came on December 5, 2009. at the last meeting of the 2009 Board of Directors, chaired by 2009 President Joseph J. Bell.
The Board also directed that the Comments be published in a Special Edition of the ACFLS newsletter, which is received by the entire membership, and by the family law bench.
In the Comments, ACFLS observes,
"Today California’s courts cannot honor the basic promises made to family law litigants in our constitution, statutes, rules of court, and case law. The disconnect between the due-process mandates set forth in cases like Elkins v. Super. Ct. (Elkins) (2007) 41 Cal.4th 1337 and In re Marriage of Seagondollar (2006) 139 Cal.App.4th 1116 and the realities experienced by most represented and unrepresented parties to California family law proceedings is dramatic."
The ACFLS Comments urge the Task Force to focus on three critical priorities for meaningful family court reform in the face of the funding crisis:
Reallocate Resources.Reallocating existing court funds to family law courts in proportion to the true caseload, complexity and social importance of family law.
Expertise Essential. Staffing courtrooms and other courthouse programs with judges and professionals who have substantial family law expertise.
Not All Parties Must Be Litigants. Completing the Family Law Act’s No Fault revolution by recognizing that not all parties to family court proceedings need be litigants. We must expand and professionalize courthouse CDR (Consensual Dispute Resolution) programs to equal stature with adjudications so that they provide meaningful and effective services and significantly reduce demand for courtrooms.
Click here for the full ACFLS Comments, the Judicial Council's Elkins Family Law Task Force web page, and the first ACFLS report to the task force.
Walnut Creek Attorney R. Ann Fallon Accepts Hall of Fame Award at Annual ACFLS Holiday Party
Director-at-Large North Vivian Holley presents the 2009 Hall of Fame Award to R. Ann Fallon at the Annual Holiday Party (photo courtesy of Bob Anthony)
R. Ann Fallon, CFLS, AAML, and partner in Whiting, Fallon. Ross & Abel, LLP, is the 2009 recipient of ACFLS's Hall of Fame Award.
Ann, who is a founding member of the QDRONES, a national association of professionals concerned with the state and federal implications of the division of benefits on divorce, was instrumental in amending Family Code section 2337 to strengthen the protection afforded the nonparticipant spouse on bifurcation of marital status, in an effort to safeguard the community share of pension and other community employment-related benefits.
Stay tuned to our blog, where photos and a recap of the highlights of the party, award ceremony, and the swearing in of ACFLS's new officers will appear soon.
ACFLS Board of Directors 2010 Meeting Schedule:
January 30, 2010: Sacramento
March 26, 2010: Indian Wells
June 12, 2010: Los Angeles
September 26, 2010: Monterey
December 4, 2010: San Francisco
ACFLS DVD library expanded!
See all available titles here, and earn your continuing education hours in the comfort of your own home or office.
Just print out the order form and fax or mail your order today.
New titles include Sacramento presentations on Domestic Violence and Tassi Tracing. Among our most popular titles is the January 2008 presentation on Marriage of Feldman: Get all three hours of this ground-breaking program, A Systematic Method of Enforcing Fiduciary Duties: Analysis and Discussion of Marriage of Feldman, including printed materials, for only $175 (including tax and two-day priority shipping).
You can also order this thee-hour program via 123Signup; we have entered the item as an "event" (arbitrarily dated 3/15/09) to facilitate ordering for our members and others. Other programs that are accessible through our Online Lecture Series are also available as DVDs that can be purchased by downloading and faxing an order form to Lynn, our executive director.
The Online Lecture Series programs can be viewed live on your computer or downloaded in audio form to transfer to your iPod or MP3 player. Just click on the "Lecture Series" link on the left of this page.
Los Angeles Court Child Custody Brochures
Courtesy of the Hon. Robert Alan Schnider, 2009 recipient of the ACFLS Hall of Fame award, we have some excellent child custody brochures on our website. The brochures are in Adobe pdf format and can be printed two-sided to create trifold pamphlets. Click to access the brochures.
Our thanks to Judge Schnider, who before his retirement was the Supervising Judge of the Los Angeles County family law courts.
For information about custody, support and other legal issues, or about mediation, collaborative law and other legal alternatives, select For the Public.
To learn more about ACFLS or the certified legal specialty of Family Law, select For Attorneys.
To join ACFLS as a new member Click Here.
To renew my membership in ACFLS Click Here.
* Certified Specialist in Family Law, State Bar of California, Board of Legal Specialization