Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

I'm not sure I understand the question completely - everyone seems to be asking questions about their freinds' problems there days, and this is certainly not about real estate. Anyway, when married people are divorcing, the divorce decree should deal with who gets what, and if it doesn't, one of the parties (or both) have been remiss in placing his or her case before the judge for decision. The reason we go to court in divorce cases is (largely) to have a judge make orders about who gets what. The lady who wants pictures of her children from a previous marriage probably has a right to them, and a divorce-court judge would probably order them turned over in the property settlement attendant to the divorce, but unless she steps forward (personally or through her attorney) and lists them as property she wants, the judge will be clueless as to their existence and cannot make appropriate orders.

If he really loves the pictures so much, he can have them duplicated and return the originals to his soon-to-be ex-partner/ex-wife.