AB 157 (Ch 260 Campos) Protective orders: credibly impersonating and falsely personating. Currently, Fam C §6320 permits T/CT to issue ex parte order precluding litigant from engaging in specified acts against another litigant. Effective 7/1/14 (sunset date of current Fam C §6320), this bill provides a new version of Fam C §6320 that adds to the list of prohibited actions contained in the former statute by authorizing T/CT to issue ex parte order enjoining a party from credibly impersonating (as described in PC §528.5) or falsely personating (as described in PC §529) another party. PC §528.5 makes it a public offense to engage in a credible impersonation of an actual person on an Internet website or by other electronic means for purpose of harming, intimidating, threatening, or defrauding another person. PC §529 makes it a criminal offense to falsely personate another in his or her private or official capacity and, in that assumed character, engage in any of several enumerated actions.
AB 545 (Ch 294 Mitchell) Dependent children; placement with non-relative extended family member. Current W&I C §362.7 permits J/CT to order dependent children placed in the approved home of a non-relative extended family member, defined as “an adult caregiver who has an established familial or mentoring relationship with the child.” Effective 1/1/14, this bill amends W&I C §362.7 to expand the definition of a non-relative extended family member to include an adult caregiver who has an established familial relationship with a relative of the child or a familial or mentoring relationship with the child. The statute requires the county welfare department to verify the existence of the relationship through interviews with the parent and child or with one or more third parties, which may include the child’s relatives, teachers, medical professionals, clergy, neighbors, and family friends.
AB 490 (Ch 39 Skinner) Intestate succession, children: Current Prob C §6452 provides that a natural parent or relative of that parent is prohibited from inheriting from or through a child born out of wedlock on the basis of that relationship unless the parent or a relative of the parent acknowledged the child and contributed to the child’s care and support. Effective 1/1/14, this bill repeals current Prob C §6452 and adds a new §6452, which provides that a parent does not inherit from or through a child on the basis of the parent-child relationship if any of the following apply: (1) the parent’s parental rights were terminated and the parent-child relationship was not judicially reestablished; (2) the parent did not acknowledge the child; or (3) the parent left the minor child without communicating with or attempting to provide support for him/her, with the intent to abandon the child, for at least seven consecutive years that continued until the end of the child’s minority. The statute states that failure to provide support or to communicate for the prescribed period will be presumptive evidence of an intent to abandon. The statute further provides that a parent who does not inherit from or through the child, as provided above, shall be deemed to have predeceased the child, and the intestate estate shall pass as otherwise required under Prob C §6402.
