Legal Question in Family Law in California

Re: Change of Venue

The procedure referred to by Ms Mercer will result in your case being assigned to another judge. If you reside in a small county which has only one judge, which is unlikely now that municipal and superior courts have been combined, challenging the judge would require that a judge from another county be assigned to hear the case. You would have no control over which judge would be assigned to your case.

A motion for change of venue requires some evidence that you would not receive a fair trial. News reports in the newspaper and television coverage can be good sources of this bias. such motion are seldom successful and may poison the judge against you.

You should hire an attorney to prepare and present the motion.

Re: Change of Venue

Pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure 170.6, you can file a "peremptory challenge" indicating that you feel a particular judge would not be appropriate, and seeking a change to another judge.

I don't know of a specific provision to change counties, but one may exist.

As a practical matter, if you file a peremptory challenge and there's no other family law judge in your courthouse, you may be assigned to another courthouse simply for lack of other available judges.

One thing to consider, however, is that your credibility and appearance of "reasonablness" is an important part of your case. Your trial court judge will be evaluating these criteria as you testify, or submit declarations. It's important that you consider these factors when/if you file a peremptory challenge. By filing a peremptory challenge you may appear to be a "troublesome" litigant if your grounds for filing the challenge are unsubstantiated. Your file will be transferred to the next judge, who will see the history in the file..... and I think you get the picture.