Family Court Judge Carrie Zepeda

The problem is, you all expect some kind of wisdom from the judges. They might even have some, but it is of no help, considering how little they really know, about what really goes on. You would not think of going to the DMV, or the post office, for instructions on how to raise your children, yet you line up, to have these people decide for you. These people are no better, or smarter, than anybody else who works for the government. They just work in a different building, and dress better. All, of course, at your expense!

Michael Curcio wrote:

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The problem is, you all expect some kind of wisdom from the judges. They might even have some, but it is of no help, considering how little they really know, about what really goes on. You would not think of going to the DMV, or the post office, for instructions on how to raise your children, yet you line up, to have these people decide for you. These people are no better, or smarter, than anybody else who works for the government. They just work in a different building, and dress better. All, of course, at your expense!

As for your comments that we line up to have people decide for us, that is total BS!!! Some people have no choice but to show up because their ex-spouses have nothing better to do than fight over every little thing. It is not even in the childs best interest for their parents to be going to court. But with the fact that it happens to be the law to show up, then we should infact have a judge that knows the existing laws in this state. Not a judge who makes up her own laws as she goes along. If you were to do your homework on this judge before making such an open ended comment you would see that there are complaints about her by people who work at family court regarding attitude, judgements, and gross errors on this judges part. This is a judge who makes it okay for a man who has a substance abuse problem have unsupervised custody of a child, as long as he is not using while he is driving the child around. But it is okay while they are at home, not driving around. While every professinal involved in the case says this person should not be alone with this child, because of his addiction. This is not even my case, but I would not want my children in a home where illegal and controlled substances are openly abused. We do not have a choice in our judges, so the state should make sure that they are fit for their job, not kick them off of a criminal law bench because she is not doing her job, and then put her in charge of family law. It is no wonder why you are defending this women, your attitude is just like hers.

fighting mom wrote:

How do you request a new judge?
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It is pretty hard to request a new judge. You only have ten days fromthe time that you are assigned your judge for you or your lawyer to file a motion to request a chnge in judges. After that you are stcuk with this judge until she is moved into another department or your case is closed. But there is a catch. If you puch your case to trial, make sure that you have your lawyer make sure to estimate the time frame for more than two days. Any trial over to days is going to be heard in the other courthouse downtown, near St. James. That way she will not be presiding over your case.

Judge Zepeda is way out of line on so many topics it is hard to count. I question any parents willing to put their issues with their kids in front of a judge with so little compassion or common sense. If she worked in the corporate world she would be fired.
A friend of mine with a very simple divorce, no children has had Judge Zepeda and two idiot attorney's drag her case endlessly on while she goes broke. She denied my friend spousal support when the opposing side offered it?!!! Now she is unable to pay her bills and faces bankruptcy over a simple divorce that can be determined by the law. This judge is favoring the husband so obviously and not focusing on the immediate issues at hand. Throw a couple screwed up and nasty attorneys (Vanessa and Rebecca) on their and you have your self a mess pie that a bit of common sense and the laws would have settled long ago. I am sickened to see not only is she biased toward woman and favors men (apparently even a drug addict) that she is allowed to keep her job. The worst of it is to allow no alternatives for the people she is residing over. They are stuck with her even if her bias is so obvious it is affecting the case to one side.
I pray someone in our system will pull her off the bench and place someone who has some empathy for the people and commom sense to use the law appropriately.

Rockstarkittie wrote:

Carrie Zepeda has ruined my life by unjustly taking a mother and her baby's bond away. She has no experience with Domestic Violence cases, and has literally handed my baby, I tried so hard to protect, over to an abuser. I have never in my life seen so many civil rights, family code, &evidence codes be violated. I am left in awe and no idea what to even due next, still trying to explain to my daughter during my supervised visits what happened? Beyond Bias......just evil

And you know why she took your child away, the same reason your other children were removed from your custody. You are an unfit parent and should know better about posting online about such things. The Judge saw through your lies - and everyone can see you are still using meth. Instead of wasting evertyones time and complaining how unfair the system is - clean yourself up and stop trying to fool people.

fedup wrote:

<quoted text>
It is pretty hard to request a new judge. You only have ten days fromthe time that you are assigned your judge for you or your lawyer to file a motion to request a chnge in judges. After that you are stcuk with this judge until she is moved into another department or your case is closed. But there is a catch. If you puch your case to trial, make sure that you have your lawyer make sure to estimate the time frame for more than two days. Any trial over to days is going to be heard in the other courthouse downtown, near St. James. That way she will not be presiding over your case.

It is not that hard to challenge a judge BEFORE she or he has heard any part of your case. California Code of Civil Procedure section 170.6 states:
"If directed to the trial of a cause that has been assigned to a judge for all purposes, the motion shall be made to the assigned judge or to the presiding judge by a party within 10 days after notice of the all purpose assignment, or if the party has not yet appeared in the action, then within 10 days after the appearance. "

Challenging a judge under this statute is fairly simple because you don't actually have to PROVE that the judge is biased, you just have to say that you do not believe you can get a fair trial in front of her or him. That challenge needs to be made as soon as possible after getting the notice of assignment for all purposes. All you do is file the affadavit and the order to be signed. Your case gets reassigned to a different judge and the hearing gets reset. The court notifies you by mail.

Once a judge has presided over a hearing, it becomes much more difficult. It is true that if you request a trial of more than two days, your case will be bumped over to the regular civil calendar.

You cannot use this process to judge shop. You only get one bite at the apple under 170.6.

I like the idea of contacting the Mercury to see if they are interested in covering family court. Writing letters to the editor is not as effective as articles like the series on dependency court.

I just had a case with this judge and found her to be fair and objective. She provided incredible insight into the case, after reviewing within 24 a lengthy series of court docs. Judge Zepeda probably comes across as pro-dad, only because our society and legal system is so anti-father that any hint of "objectivity" may come across as a pro-male bias. She strikes me as an incredibly intuitive woman, who is able to discern things fairly quickly. In all honesty, 50% of the moms out there are just as incompetent and neglectful as the terrible dads. In the family court system we should never assess people based on gender, but on how they behave and act—especially when it concerns the best interests of children. Haven't we all seen amoral and lying moms who file phony restraining orders and manipulate the legal system as a way of getting what they want, whether it be custody, money or retribution against the former husband. California courts are moving in the right direction. We need to continue in the anglo-saxon tradition of the law—equal justice for all regardless of race, gender, age or sexual orientation. Bravo for Judge Zepeda! I can bet that she supports Barak Obama and not Hillary Clinton...

I have been in Zepeda's courtroom almost 50 times in the past two years.
She doesn't care about children. She favors "good looking" men. She favors English speaking men.
Every lawyer is town is now using "pre-emptory" challenge to change Judges (wish I had done the same).
I would like us to organize some sort of campaign against her. SJ Mercury, Oprah, Judge Lucas (her boss).

Very toxic mix - I have the same thing except the other side has unlimited funds to keep up the fight.

LLCooper wrote:

Judge Zepeda is way out of line on so many topics it is hard to count. I question any parents willing to put their issues with their kids in front of a judge with so little compassion or common sense. If she worked in the corporate world she would be fired.
A friend of mine with a very simple divorce, no children has had Judge Zepeda and two idiot attorney's drag her case endlessly on while she goes broke. She denied my friend spousal support when the opposing side offered it?!!! Now she is unable to pay her bills and faces bankruptcy over a simple divorce that can be determined by the law. This judge is favoring the husband so obviously and not focusing on the immediate issues at hand. Throw a couple screwed up and nasty attorneys (Vanessa and Rebecca) on their and you have your self a mess pie that a bit of common sense and the laws would have settled long ago. I am sickened to see not only is she biased toward woman and favors men (apparently even a drug addict) that she is allowed to keep her job. The worst of it is to allow no alternatives for the people she is residing over. They are stuck with her even if her bias is so obvious it is affecting the case to one side.
I pray someone in our system will pull her off the bench and place someone who has some empathy for the people and commom sense to use the law appropriately.

http://www.paladium.net/usa-farcaliforniasant...

Bobby wrote:

I just had a case with this judge and found her to be fair and objective. She provided incredible insight into the case, after reviewing within 24 a lengthy series of court docs. Judge Zepeda probably comes across as pro-dad, only because our society and legal system is so anti-father that any hint of "objectivity" may come across as a pro-male bias. She strikes me as an incredibly intuitive woman, who is able to discern things fairly quickly. In all honesty, 50% of the moms out there are just as incompetent and neglectful as the terrible dads. In the family court system we should never assess people based on gender, but on how they behave and act—especially when it concerns the best interests of children. Haven't we all seen amoral and lying moms who file phony restraining orders and manipulate the legal system as a way of getting what they want, whether it be custody, money or retribution against the former husband. California courts are moving in the right direction. We need to continue in the anglo-saxon tradition of the law—equal justice for all regardless of race, gender, age or sexual orientation. Bravo for Judge Zepeda! I can bet that she supports Barak Obama and not Hillary Clinton...

I respect your opinion of Judge Zepeda. As everyone has a right to thier own opinion. But, I think that you are not understanding what the complaita are. I am a mom. And I FULLY admit there are unfit parents in both genders. I the same as you think their should not be any bias to either side. Regardless of race, gender, religion, etc... BUt wanting that, and getting that are two different things. I have been infront of a series of other judges over the past eight years. And I may not have agreed with everything that they say, but they were trying to call it down the middle. Zepeda does not do that. If this were just a vengeful female issue then the people there working at the court house would not be posting their own opinions on other legal websites about her inability to do her job. I do not know the gender of everyone posting opinions on this site or any others. But they probably are mostly female. I think that goes to prove a point though. Because if Judge Zepeda were a fair judge then there would be posting from both genders complaining about her work. There seems to be very little from men who have deep pockets, white, decent looking, and more educated than some of the other population in the valley. I find that judge Zepeda looks down at women of both ends of the stick. She finds against women that are heavier, less financially endowed, and less educated, and less caucasian. On the other hand it is very clear that she is down right hateful to women that are earning their own living, well dressed, attractive. Almost a "mean girl" thing. She also looks down on minority men who can not afford to pay huge child support, while a causasian man that I know only pays a dollar a day for each child he has, and he makes a really good living. That is not being pro father, that is bias. Do not forget that she has a history of misconduct behind her. This is not the first time that she has had major complaints against her. She was kicked off of the criminal court bench for her behavior. As for Barack Obama... He was raised soley by a single mother, after his father split and went back to Kenya. Please go back and listen to Obama's comments about single women rasing children in the US. HE is PRO MOTHER, and believes that women should have equal rights in all aspects of life. And has stated that Hillary has changed things for the better for his daughters, and their future. I do not think that Obama would want his mother and her case, or his daughters to have to one day be in front of a totally incompetent judge. Let alone have someone speak for him on the behaviors of a judge such as Judge Zepeda.

I wish someone would do this. I have had an unbelieveably terrible experience with Zepeda. I am due to go back before her in August and I am suffering severe anxiety about the whole thing. I retained a lawyer who almost refused to take my case because Zepeda is residing. I realize that some people on this site may just be venting about a bad call in their case, but I know first hand that there is a real reason to be concerned about this judge and her rulings. My ex has become so confident that he CAN'T lose against this judge that he is terrorizing me with OSC's which jeopardize my custody. Clearly, we are all afraid to do anything that will put our name out there for fear of retaliation, but there has to be some type of checks and balances here. The price we risk paying is our children and I am sure many feel, as I do, that that is far too great a risk. I wish there was some type of investigation into the practices of this judge...

Quietly terrified wrote:

I wish someone would do this. I have had an unbelieveably terrible experience with Zepeda. I am due to go back before her in August and I am suffering severe anxiety about the whole thing. I retained a lawyer who almost refused to take my case because Zepeda is residing. I realize that some people on this site may just be venting about a bad call in their case, but I know first hand that there is a real reason to be concerned about this judge and her rulings. My ex has become so confident that he CAN'T lose against this judge that he is terrorizing me with OSC's which jeopardize my custody. Clearly, we are all afraid to do anything that will put our name out there for fear of retaliation, but there has to be some type of checks and balances here. The price we risk paying is our children and I am sure many feel, as I do, that that is far too great a risk. I wish there was some type of investigation into the practices of this judge...

Trust me I know what you are going through. I too have to go infront of her this summer. I was so frustrated with everything that I thought it was my lawyer not doing the job. Then to find out form every other lawyer that I spoke to that it was the judge. And the same thing them telling me that I up a creek with judge Zepeda. There truly has to be something that can be done. The mayor and states capitals office has responded by saying that this is a problem for the states attorney's office. But it is the same thing. People are afraid to to do this beacuse it could mess up their case more that she already does. I also have the same problem with the ex abusing the system because she lets him. I have called the Mercury News, and have heard nothing back from them. Maybe it is time that the attorney's that dislike her and do not want to go infront of her stand up for their clients, and the law and do something about her being on the bench. Speak to your attorney's and see what they have to say about it. Have them look into this website, and others that you know of. See if they have an opinion on the postings. Lawyers fight and argue, but they do have their own circle of lawyer friends. I'll talk to my attorney about it.

If one learns what their rights truly are and learn about remedy you can have victory in the courts WITHOUT hiring an attorney.

Study commercial redemption and notary protest;

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Commercial_Rede...

This link leads to some great info. The links on the page are a little out of order but I'm sure one can find Chapter 1 and go from there;
http://www.truthsetsusfree.com/files/NP/Manua...

Before one signs ANYTHING they should read this;
http://godissovereignfast.com/contents.html

It's a sad commentary on our community when the self-appointed victims of the court system who have been in a custody hearing with Judge Zepeda feel so antagonistic, that they want to attack her and even post where she lives. This ridiculous and incredibly immature behavior reminds me of some of the dim-witted individuals I attended high school with...why not organize a group to visit Judge Zepeda's home so you can hurl rolls of toilet paper in her trees? It's clear to me why so many of you were the recipients of a ruling that didn't go in your favor. Many of you come across as petty, vindictive and amazingly immature. No wonder the system has opted to limit your influence in the child rearing process. What an absolute disgrace...

According to Fed Up: "Maybe it is time that the attorney's that dislike her and do not want to go infront of her stand up for their clients, and the law and do something about her being on the bench. Speak to your attorney's and see what they have to say about it. Have them look into this website, and others that you know of. See if they have an opinion on the postings. Lawyers fight and argue, but they do have their own circle of lawyer friends. I'll talk to my attorney about it."
Part of the problem with the entire Family Court System is that attorneys invariably become the advocates for their clients, regardless of the integrity or honesty of that individual. Attorneys are paid to get results. When they are unable to achieve their client's objectives, it will be foolhardy to blame the client and simply state: "Oh yes, the ruling did not go in your favor because (a) you're a pathological liar and the judge sees right through you, or (b) I'm reasonably sure that I botched your case due to my own lack of commitment or understanding of the law." Attorneys are paid to argue the truth as presented to them by their clients. Some attorneys are simply better at bending reality to conform with your world view. At the end of the day, it's an exercise in futility to simply blame the judge for your unfavorable outcome. Judges are paid to sift through the BS and decipher the truth, and yes, what's in the best interests of the children. It seems to me that a woman judge is simply better at understanding the innumerable manipulations and ploys that are presented by women in court. Males are so much easier to read, given their crude and less than competent verbal agility when confronted with litigation. It seems to me that this judge is probably doing a better job at getting to the truth—and that's always difficult for those of you who prefer to live in a perpetual state of denial.

I have not personally met Judge Zepeda and I have not read all of the blogs on this page, but I can tell you that my life has been directly affected by a decision she made.
My mother is a single mother of 50 and has three wonderful children. When I was 4, she and my father split. When I was 7, she remarried her high school sweetheart, my now ex-stepfather. The first four years of our lives went alright with only a few minor bumps. However, he has a history of mental disorder in his family and by the middle of the 4th year, it had become apparent that he too was ill.
The next 5 years were the worst of my life for various heinous reasons, enough said.
During their marriage, he was layed off multiple times. Each time it was a struggle getting him back into the workforce, although he was completely capable of working. But we got by on my mothers salary just fine. His illness only progressed, but we all stuck it out. Eventually, it became no longer a matter of dealing with him as much as it was just avoiding him all together. He was a ticking bomb and everything, especially I, set him off.
The marriage came to a screeching halt after a final confrontation between him and I. The divorce papers are dated my sweet 16 (it's ok though, none of us felt like celebrating that year). Afterwards, he threatened our lives, so my mother got a restraining order.
They were married for 9 years. In the state of CA, a 10 year marriage is considered a "lengthy marriage." A judge may approve a longer period of alimony for a lengthy marriage and may reserve the right to change the amount of alimony for several years after the divorce as well.
Ms. Zeleda decided today that on top of the 2,000 a month my mother has been paying him since their separation, she must also cover his legal expenses of 75,000, pay him an additional 4,000 a month, and 340,000 dollars by the end of the year. Although they were not married for ten years, my mother must support him until the day he dies. 7,000 a month, until the day he dies. This is absolutely unheard in the state of CA, but the judge’s decision prevails over the states recommendation. Ms. Zepeda’s comments on our documented restraining order was that it didn’t factor in because he hadn’t made any more threats since the year previous.
He is currently unemployed, yet living comfortably in Monterey.
I just can’t believe that when we finally thought we were free of him, the state of CA bound him to us. After everything that man put my family through, Judge Zepeda awarded him my college fund.

You said "Zepeda decided today" but your case is not listed on her calendar from Aug 4-8.

screwed by justice wrote:

They were married for 9 years. In the state of CA, a 10 year marriage is considered a "lengthy marriage." A judge may approve a longer period of alimony for a lengthy marriage and may reserve the right to change the amount of alimony for several years after the divorce as well.
Ms. Zeleda decided today that on top of the 2,000 a month my mother has been paying him since their separation, she must also cover his legal expenses of 75,000, pay him an additional 4,000 a month, and 340,000 dollars by the end of the year. Although they were not married for ten years, my mother must support him until the day he dies. 7,000 a month, until the day he dies. This is absolutely unheard in the state of CA, but the judge’s decision prevails over the states recommendation. Ms. Zepeda’s comments on our documented restraining order was that it didn’t factor in because he hadn’t made any more threats since the year previous....

There are exceptions to the "long-term" marriage rule when awarding spousal support. That said, if what you say is true, perhaps your mother should seek the advice and assistance of an appellate attorney. Judge Zepeda is appealed more than the other judges and when she is appealed, she is usually overturned.

I have several complaits about this judge. She has never ruled in my favor. I have had to deal with her in two different cases. Its a mess. She is reckless. She does not care about the children. Her ego is more important. Nothing will get done by us complaining about it. I am ready to take action. Let find out what we can do to get her off the bench.