All Family Law, All Around the WorldSM

Michael Manely

Self Care

Covid is on the war-path, wiping out everyone in its wake. I came down with Covid back in early March, 2020 when I was working on a California custody case out in Santa Barbara. I never felt so close to death. Watching the spread and the mounting death toll in the...

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How to Destroy a Family

He’s in a rage. Isn’t he always these days? His face is red and contorted. His fists are clenched. “ I’ll do whatever I want! I know my rights! You can’t tell me what to do! I’ll do whatever I want!” “You can’t run the car in the garage with the children and me locked...

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Christmas Yet To Come

If ever there were a Christmas to dwell upon Dickens’ timeless offering to tradition, this is it. This is it for a host of reasons, “Are there no workhouses?” is one.  But another is the three Ghosts, creating chapters of Scrooge’s life for him to analyze where he has...

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Clandestine

"All is fair in love and war." In divorce, both apply. Most of the time, clandestine actions aren't required, aren't even contemplated in divorce. They just don't apply. Most of the time, the soon-to-be exes are sufficiently straightforward with each other that...

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“What is wrong with you?!”

"I thought we were on the same page. I thought we were working for the same things. But you just keep trying to gaslight me. You require me to follow rules though you are making them up as you go, but then you say those rules don't apply to you. How does that work?...

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A House Divided Against Itself…

They hadn't gotten along in a long while. He was quick at name calling, disparaging everything she tried to do. They were both supposed to be in charge of the family finances but it didn't work that way. If he wanted something, he just went out and bought it. If she...

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