Christopher C. Melcher

About

I understand the need to keep sensitive family matters private, having represented noteworthy clients in the largest divorce cases in California. My clients include A-list celebrities, executives, and tech company founders. Frequently, I am hired by other family lawyers as a consultant, expert, or co-counsel on significant divorce cases in California. My passion is helping others and I love the law. My father was a trial lawyer and I learned not only how to be a lawyer from him, but what it means to be a lawyer.

Accolades

I hold the rating of AV® Preeminent™ by Martindale-Hubbell* and a rating of 10.0 (Superb) by Avvo.com. I have been recognized by Super Lawyers since 2011, Best Lawyers since 2013, and named to Chambers & Partners Tier 2 for their individually ranked attorneys, for 2019-2020.

My Legal Services

I navigate all the financial aspects of divorce, including:

• Tax consequences of property division and alimony.
• Corporate laws dealing with the division of a family business.
• The definition of income for purposes of setting spousal and child support.
• Appeals of family law judgments and writ proceedings from family law orders, with two California Supreme Court appearances and multiple published decisions.

Webinars and Continuing Education

I have presented about 200 continuing legal education programs to other attorneys on complex family law issues. I am a published author in California premarital agreements and financial issues in divorce. I wrote the only treatise on California premarital agreement law, published by LexisNexis. 

I am an adjunct professor of family law at Pepperdine University School of Law in Malibu. Before entering family law exclusively, I practiced criminal defense and civil personal injury litigation.