A California assemblyman, embroiled in a contentious divorce, appeared in court alongside his parents as he faced off against his estranged wife, who has accused him of substance addiction.
Joaquin Arambula was accompanied by his mother, Amy, and father, Juan, during the court session where he confronted Elizabeth over matters of child custody and financial support.
During proceedings at the Fresno County Superior Court on Tuesday, Elizabeth’s lawyer, Zeppy Attashian, requested the judge to keep the custody and financial dispute documents confidential.
Elizabeth is seeking joint legal custody and sole physical custody of their three daughters, along with child and spousal support.
Furthermore, she has requested the court to implement “sobriety monitoring and custody orders.”
The divorce filings, which have caused a stir, include Elizabeth’s claims that Joaquin’s issues with drugs, alcohol, and gaming addiction led her to leave him on January 26.
The stay-at-home mother has also accused him of stripping her of “all financial resources.” In court documents, she said their expenses are $28,000 a month, and she claims Joaquin has drained $1 million from their accounts.
Fresno County Superior Court Judge Steven Crass said the court docs would not be sealed on Tuesday and said if this was just limited to child custody, that would be one thing, but with the other issues of financial and sobriety monitoring the court will likely deny those requests.
The ugly divorce battle has blown the lid off Joaquin’s daily life as a Democrat representative of about 500,000 people of California District 31, covering the Fresno area.
During the hearing the judge said the court would not be making any judicial findings on Tuesday, despite numerous attempts by her attorney Attashian for the judge to deal with the financial issues, noting her client has been without support since January.
Meanwhile Elizabeth said in court documents he earned $12,000 a month and collected a $6,000 per diem for the eight months the assembly is in session.
Elizabeth nodded her head as Crass discussed whether or not the documents would be sealed. Sitting just on the other side of the table, the Democratic lawmaker listened to the judge speak about moving quickly to determine the financial issues.
Several times, Arambula, 48, leaned over and whispered something to his attorney Mike Margosian when Zeppy expressed concern the funds were being spent down.
Margosian told the court he was filing in for Joaquin’s attorney Kim Aguirre who was out of town on another case.
Speaking to the Post, Attashian said they were disappointed only that the court did not rule on sealing of the record.
But she added they were “very happy with how the court has indicated it intends to proceed with the rulings on these matters.”
The judge then set a date of April 3 on mediations for financials, which Zeppy claimed was the date they should be getting relief.
She said their hope is just for any type of support. A date in May was set for custody mediation.
“I think this is a level of unfortunately financial abuse that many spouses who are not the high income earners face when they come into the system.
“They don’t expect it. They don’t expect the court won’t be more vigilant to protect them. But it’s not,” Attashian said.
Other shocking allegations revealed in court documents include the creepy way Joaquin’s father allegedly helped him spy on Elizabeth while his son was in rehab.
The stay-at-home mother of three alleges she was being spied on using the family’s home security system and said she threatened to call the cops on her father-in-law unless he stopped harassing her.
The assemblyman said in court documents he has not been allowed to see his children and that he voluntarily entered a rehab program.
He said: “I just felt I needed some help to adjust and to make sure that I didn’t become dependent on alcohol or marijuana.
“I have trust in our court system to reach a fair and impartial resolution based on the facts and not on unreasonable demands, unwarranted fears, and false accusations.”
He added: ”I am prepared to demonstrate my continued sobriety to the court and my willingness to support my family.”
The Post has reached out to Arambula for a comment on Tuesday’s hearing.
