Hotly Contested Custody and Domestic Violence Case for Low-Income Mother

​Silicon Valley intellectual property associate Robert Uriarte, supervised by intellectual property partner Matt Poppe, is representing a low-income mother of two young children in a hotly contested domestic violence and custody case. 

The parties lived in California for five years until the father forced an abrupt move to New Mexico.  After spending two months there, the client fled back to California with the children. The father obtained an ex parte temporary custody order in New Mexico without notice and without a hearing.  Police found the client at a hotel but because of domestic violence claims by her, the children were taken into protective custody and placed in foster care and the New Mexico order was not enforced.  The children were released to the client after one month in foster care.  Temporary custody was granted to the mother with weekend visitation to the father (who flies in from New Mexico).  The mother seeks a final restraining order and custody of the children from the Court in California.  The father has significant resources and has hired a law firm that is seeking to bury the client’s lawyers with onerous discovery. 

We are co-counseling the case with an experienced family attorney from Bay Area Legal Aid.