Legal Question in Family Law in California

California is a "no fault" state. California has been a no fault state since 1975. Evidence of extra-marital affairs is irrelevant. The only thing a party needs to tell the court is that they don't want to be married anymore - that there has been an irremediable breakdown of the marriage. I'm not sure what state he is in, but the cheating may be relevant if that state is a fault state. If he has never been to this state, you are going to have problems establishing jurisdiction. I suggest saving the money to hire a decent family law attorney.

If you and the child have resided in California for six months or more, Mr. Roach is just wrong that you will have any trouble establishing jurisdiction. If he doesn't know basic family law jurisdiction, he should stop answering family law questions. He is correct, however, that cheating is meaningless in California divorce cases. In fact, you can be fined by the judge for trying to bring it up in a divorce case. So the only reason to get a PI, is if you want to base your decision whether to divorce him or not on whether he is cheating or not.

The jurisdiction that I refer to is personal jurisdiction. If you husband has never resided in California, you are going to have problems with personal jurisdiction. The case that is on point is Burnham v. Superior Court (1990) 495 U.S. 604.