Family Law

Divorce, custody, visitation, support, complex property issues, conflicts of law and jurisdiction.

Real Estate Law

Unlawful Detainers, landlord tenant disputes, quiet title actions (title/ownership disputes), buying a home, selling a home, and commercial real estate.

Divorce

Divorce, custody, visitation, support, complex property issues, conflicts of law and jurisdiction.

CA, Dec 1995
Bar Number: 177960

Certified Specialist in Family Law by the State Bar Board of Legal Specialization

Contra Costa County

Contra Costa County Bar Association, Family Law Section, Member, Board of Directors
State Bar of California

I teach continuing legal education seminars on Family Law; I attend continuing legal education seminars on the topics of Family Law, Litigation, and Real Estate law; I always exceed the required number of continuing education hours.

• "Commercial Laws of East Asia" (Contributing Author), 1997 (Book), "Immigration Essentials for the Family Law Practitioner", Contra Costa Lawyer, Vol.13, No.5, May, 2000

• "DCSS Liaison Report: An Overview of the New Automated Child Support System for Family Law Practitioners", Contra Costa Lawyer, February, 2007

• Program Materials for NBI Seminar: What Family Law Judges Want You to Know

• NBI Seminar: Handling Your Divorce from Start to Finish; and other articles

• All information regarding our clients, including their identities is strictly confidential. An illustrative case (changing the names of the parties) is a divorce between Harvey and Wilma (H and W hereafter). W wants to move to Nova Scotia to live with her family and H lives in the Bay Area working for a software company. W files a Domestic Violence Restraining Order against H. W accuses H of spousal battery and child abuse. I represented H. When H came to see me, he denied any acts of violence or abuse. W provided no physical evidence of abuse, no police report and no medical records supporting any domestic violence. It was my opinion that W's claims were false and designed to get a leg up in the divorce process (should the Court find that H perpetrated an act of domestic violence, he would have been precluded from having sole or joint custody of his children and W would have had an easier time getting the court's permission to move with the children). We defeated the domestic violence allegations at trial and H was ultimately given primary custody of the children.

• Another typical case is the situation where I was hired by one side of a divorce and the other side was represented by an attorney. As soon as I was retained, I contacted the other attorney and immediately put that case into settlement conference mode. At an initial meeting we were able to identify the problems and with the other attorney develop a plan to exchange additional information. We agreed to meet several weeks later where we were able to put together a complete and mutually beneficial settlement agreement related to dividing the parties several homes, stock options, and retirement plans. We also developed a long-term custodial plan for the parties 2 middle-school aged children, and settled both child and spousal support.

• A renter was two months late in paying rent. We filed an unlawful detainer, which was granted and were able to have the sheriff escort the non-paying tenant out of the premises.

2

California

The Law Offices of David M. Lederman provides legal solutions for clients facing divorce and other challenging family law problems such as child custody, property division and domestic violence.

Clients value the honest advice we provide and our ability to produce results in a timely and cost-effective manner. Our goal is to guide each client to a better future. The Law Offices of David M. Lederman provides effective and efficient services in the areas of family and real estate law.

The Law Offices of David M. Lederman were established in 1998 in Walnut Creek, CA. In 2006, it expanded to a second office in Antioch, CA. I have successfully handled numerous child custody cases involving disputed interstate jurisdictions, as well as the Hague Convention cases. I am a Certified Specialist in Family, certified by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization and am one of only a few attorneys in Contra Costa County to have earned that distinction. I also speak Mandarin Chinese. I am a member of the Board of Directors of the Contra Costa County Bar Association's Family Law Section and served as section president in 2008.

Before starting The Law Offices of David M. Lederman in 1998, I worked as an associate in the Taipei office of San Francisco based law firm of Wang and Wang.

I am a member of the Traynor Honor Society. The Law Offices of David M. Lederman sponsors a bimonthly pro per family law clinic for the Contra Costa Bar Association; I am a member of the Contra Costa Bar Association, Family Law Section Board of Directors, and I have taught numerous classes and seminars to attorneys through the Contra Costa Bar Association and the National Business Institute.

Bridget Conner

Monday through Friday
9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Yes

Spanish and Mandarin Chinese

Antioch Office
3432 Hillcrest Avenue
Suite 100
Antioch, CA 94531
(925) 522-8889

Walnut Creek Office
309 Lennon Lane
Suite 102
Walnut Creek, CA 94598
(925) 522-8889

No.

Our attorney rates vary from between $275 for my associate and $350 for me.

Our initial consultation is $250 for about an hour and we apply that $250 towards the deposit against future services (essentially creating a free initial consultation).

For family law matters a typical retainer would be $4,000 to $8,000, but it could be significantly more or less based on the complexity of the case.