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In Re Marriage of Bardzik (Cal. Ct. App. - July 25, 2008)

By Shaun Martin

Sometimes writing in a fun, informal fashion doesn't work. But my strong sense is that the opposite is true here.

For those of us who don't know all that much about family law -- and I'm clearly in that group -- it's a wonderful opinion. Flowing. Informative. And full of both details, not only doctrinal but also factual, as well as insight. If you want to know what happens to child support orders when one of the parents quits work or retires or just starts "taking it easy", this is a great opinion in which to start learning. If only because it's replete with lines that put a tiny little smile on your face as you're reading. (Like: "Most (all?) judges, after all, would make more money if they returned to private practice, but the phrase ?extraordinary work regime? does not even begin to describe the often typical 2,200 (or is 22,000 these days?) billable hours a year that might be required." Or the discussion of Regis Philbin. Which isn't nearly as random as you might think.)

One more thing. I have a bad habit -- one that I learned from this guy -- of writing complete sentences within parentheticals. It's a habit that I try to break, since I know that it's a English composition horror show, but find myself doing it all the time, at least in my nonacademic work, because it's just so easy and seemingly righteous. I've always felt guilty about it. But now that I notice that Jusice Sills does the same thing (a fair piece, I might add), I'm going to worry about it less. I may well be wrong. But at least I've got precedent.

Anyway, I liked the opinion. It's a very good read.

Full post as published by California Appellate Report on July 31, 2008 (boomark / email).