Marsha Raye Baucom | Santa Ana Family Lawyer

Because I have now done child custody litigation both as representing a parent and representing the minor child, the most crucial thing a parent can do is to listen to the expert, whether it be me, the child's therapist or the child custody investigator. So if I tell a client not to discuss in front of the child issues relating to the dissolution of their marriage or problems they may have with the other parent, it is important not only that they hear me but act on my recommendations. By way of an example I represented a man who could not keep his opinion about the mother of his child to himself. He was angry that she left him for someone else and did not "deal" with his anger. By getting him into counseling with a good therapist he not only learned how to "keep a boundary" with his younger child subject to this current case but was able to re-establish a relationship with another child who he was estranged from.

When I went into private practice in 1992 I learned rather quickly that the most important thing I could do for my client was to not only to be professional with other attorneys, court personal and judges but to also just "get to it' and focus on the fixing the problem rather than making more work for myself(and more attorney fees) for my client. So if a custody case was pretty complicated, rather than focusing on blaming one or the other parent, I took the approach of "look: this family needs help and rather than blaming who caused the problem lets focus on a child centered custody evaluation to work out how to fix this family>"

A track record of getting things done in a timely manner. That means getting back to the client within 24 hours via email or text in response to a question. That the attorney is not afraid to tell the client the truth even if the client will not be happy with the attorney's opinion.

There is a saying that an attorney should not go out of their home court(s) to litigate a case for a good reason. Sometimes in court the attorney needs "an edge" when presenting evidence and if the judge knows the attorney, and knows that the attorney is not going to present "B.S." evidence it works out best for the client. By way of an example, here in Orange county there is a "saying" among Los Angeles based attorneys that it is not a good idea to cross the "Orange Curtain". What that means is that local judges in Orange County (and Riverside for that matter) do not take kindly to "out of area attorneys" making statements like "I am sorry your Honor I did not realize that the ______ county rules of court require that I ________ attach a local form to all of my pleadings" or " Judge _______ on LA does not require that all papers be filed five days before a hearing". This is why I don't take cases outside of the areas of Riverside Or Orange Counties because it is just better for the client in the long run not to (1) pay me to sit on the freeway driving to downtown LA and (2) not remember what local forms Los Angeles County has which are different than the local forms for Orange or Riverside Counties.

Generally during the initial phone consultation I can tell a person which court (family or probate) their case needs to be filed in, which county of southern California their case should be filed in and what kind of an estimated for fees (court and attorney's) they are looking at. I can also tell them what kind of deadlines they are looking at for filing their paperwork and even if they need to hire an attorney.

Where all the parties live. If any papers have been filed in court, and what court they were filed in. If they have been served with those papers and do they have a way to get me the papers before they call (email/fax). If they have a current attorney, I also need to know that because what I can say to them about their case is limited by ethical rules of conduct.

I have been practicing family law since 1991. In addition to having a JD degree I have a masters in psychology and completed a clinical rotation in that field. I am also bilingual Spanish.

Resolving a high conflict child custody case so that the parents stay out of court in the future and learn the skills they need to fix their situation.

I like to garden and to take travel photography

• Member - California Bar Association
  
  Member - 9th Circuit Court of Appeals