• Mediator

  • Arbitrator

  • Discovery Referee

  • Appellate Consultant

REPRESENTATIVE CASES

Justice Rivera was the supervising judge in the Family Law Department for two years and three months. During that time she oversaw the workload of the entire department and handled every type of show cause order, motion, short cause matter and long cause matter.


Types of Cases Handled:

• Child custody and support
• Spousal support
• Characterization/transmutation of property
• Omitted assets
• Collection of arrears
• Sanctions/attorney’s fees
• Enforcement of Marital Settlement Agreement
• Civil conspiracy

Representative Cases:

  • Dispute between family members regarding funds taken from co-owned property lease payments. Issues included negotiations regarding repayment of funds, management of lease operations going forward, use of residence on property, agreement regarding conservation easement, and rights of first refusal.

  • Justice Rivera was the supervising judge in the Family Law Department for two years and three months. During that time she oversaw the workload of the entire department and handled every type of show cause order, motion, short cause matter and long cause matter.


  • ​Husband founded two companies prior to the marriage that continued to operate during the marriage. Husband gifted ownership shares in the companies to children from a prior marriage. Issue was whether the shares were partially community property, applying the analysis of Van Camp v. Van Camp, (1921) 53 Cal.App 17.

  • Dispute involving whether the division of property in a marital settlement agreement constituted a fraudulent transfer in derogation of a creditor’s rights.

  • Dispute involving whether property purchased by wife during the marriage, and held in wife’s name alone, was nonetheless community property.

Family Law

Hon. Maria P. Rivera  (Ret.)​
First District Court of Appeal