Talia Fellah Meuleau v. Nicolas Meuleau

1 SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA 2 COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO 3 UNIFIED FAMILY COURT 4

5) 6 TALIA FELLAH MEULEAU,) Case Number: FDI-21-795693) 7 Petitioner) Hearing Date: September 1, 2026) 8 VS.) Hearing Time: 9:00 AM) 9 NICOLAS MEULEAU,) Department: 404) 10 Respondent) Presiding: AI MORI) 11) 12 REQUEST FOR ORDER FOR CHANGE OF CHANGE OF CHILD CUSTODY, VISITATION 13 (PARENTING TIME), SERVE BY EMAIL 14 TENTATIVE RULING 15 Having read and considered the pleadings, declarations, and other evidence submitted in this matter, the 16 Court makes the following findings and orders: 17 A.

Procedural History 18 1) Petitioner Talia Fellah (Mother) and Respondent Nicolas Meuleau (Father) have one minor child 19 together, A.M. (DOB 7/27/2014, age 12), and an older child who reached the age of majority in 20 April 2026. 21 2) Father moved to France in 2024, and the parties entered into a custody and parenting time 22 agreement in June 2024. (See Findings and Order After Hearing filed 10/3/2024.) 23 3) On for hearing is Mother’s 4/2/2026 request for modification of the custody and parenting time 24 order.

She requests: (1) equal time to both parties during summer break (Mother states A.M. has 25 repeatedly expressed her wish for this); (2) forfeiture of Father’s parenting time unless he 26 provides parenting time and travel arrangements to her in writing at least 45 days before his 27 parenting time (Mother states Father has failed to exercise his parenting time for 10 days out of 3 28 weeks in February 2025 as well as in October 2025 and February 2026, requiring her to arrange 29 for childcare); (3) reimbursement from Father of childcare costs that are the direct result of his

1 failure to exercise his confirmed parenting time; and (4) permission to serve Father by email 2 because she does not have a confirmed physical address for him and the parties have been using 3 email to communicate regarding all custody and parenting time issues. 4 4) Father has filed a response in which she opposes Mother’s request regarding summer breaks and 5 notice and potential forfeiture of his October and February parenting time. He states he has not 6 been able to exercise his parenting time in San Francisco due to work, financial, and health 7 issues, but he has exercised all summer parenting time and values the time he is able to spend 8 with the child(ren).

He states there are times that weeks go by without contact from the children 9 and that he does not hear from them on his birthday or Father’s Day. He asks that Mother better 10 facilitate his communication with A.M. Finally, Father agrees that the parties should be permitted 11 to serve each other via email; he asks that email service be considered personal service so long as 12 the party being served is served via email on or before 4pm on the last day for personal service 13 (local time for the recipient). 14 5) The parties attended mediation and were unable to reach an agreement.

At mediation, Mother 15 asked for (1) 5 weeks for each party during the summer; (2) Father to pay the cost of childcare in 16 October and February if he does not exercise his scheduled 3-week parenting time during those 17 months; (3) Father to provide 45 days’ notice if he intends to exercise parenting time in October 18 and February, with flight and lodging information; (4) visits to be canceled if Father fails to 19 provide 45 days’ notice. At mediation, Father asked for (1) 7 weeks of summer for Father and 3 20 weeks for Mother; (2) Father to provide 30 days’ notice about his October and February visits; 21 and (3) childcare costs to be equally shared by the parties if he is unable to exercise his October 22 and February visits. 23 B.

Findings and Orders 24 1) This Court has jurisdiction to make child custody orders in this case under the Uniform Child 25 Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act. A violation of this order may subject the party in 26 violation to civil or criminal penalties, or both. The country of habitual residence of the minor 27 child is the United States. 28

1 2) The Court finds it is in A.M.’s best interest to maintain the current order regarding summer 2 breaks. The Court denies Mother’s request for equal parenting time during the summer, without 3 prejudice to revisiting this issue in future years. 4 3) Beginning in 2027, Father shall provide written notice to Mother of his intended February 5 parenting time by emailing her with his dates of travel and flight and lodging information on or 6 before January 1. Beginning in 2027, Father shall provide written notice to Mother of his 7 intended October parenting time by emailing her with his dates of travel and flight and lodging 8 information on or before September 1.

Once this email is sent and received, Father’s parenting 9 time is confirmed. (Until 2027, i.e., for any October 2026 parenting time, the current order 10 remains in full force and effect.) 11 4) If Father does not provide written notice to Mother by email of his February or October parenting 12 time by the dates set forth above (in #3), his parenting time is deemed forfeited for those months. 13 If Mother incurs any childcare costs due to Father’s forfeited parenting time during those months, 14 she shall be solely responsible for any such costs incurred. 15 5) If Father cancels a confirmed visit in either February or October (i.e., after he has already 16 provided written notice to Mother by email of his February or October parenting time), and 17 Mother incurs any childcare costs due to Father’s cancelation of a confirmed visit, Father shall be 18 solely responsible for any such costs incurred. 19 6) Mother shall ensure that Father and A.M. are able to contact each other via email or phone or 20 video call through a device such as a smart phone or iPad. 21 7) The parties have agreed to serve each other by email.

Going forward, the parties shall serve each 22 other via email, and email service will constitute personal service so long as the person being 23 served is served via email on or before 4pm on the last day for personal service (4pm local time 24 for the recipient). 25 8) The Court will prepare the Findings and Order After Hearing. 26

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