Víctor Franco

Victor Franco represents fathers who are fighting to protect their time with their children and their financial future. He handles divorce, child custody and visitation, child support, spousal support, property division, and domestic violence restraining orders throughout Orange County and Los Angeles County.

Much of his recent work involves high conflict custody cases, including cases where the court has appointed minor’s counsel and a parent has raised serious allegations about a child’s safety. He also litigates move away requests and requests to change custody, where a father’s relationship with his children can turn on a single hearing. His support work includes cases where the child or the paying parent lives outside California or outside the United States.

A California attorney since 2013, Victor has more than a decade of trial experience, and he prepares each family law case as though the client’s freedom depends on it. That intensity comes from where he started: the criminal courtroom.

FROM CRIMINAL TRIALS TO FAMILY COURT

Victor opened his own law practice in 2013 and ran it for more than ten years. That practice centered on family law and also included criminal defense and personal injury work. His criminal defense cases took him through every stage of a prosecution, from arraignment and preliminary hearings to motions to suppress evidence, jury selection, and jury trial.

That trial experience carries directly into family court, where evidentiary hearings and cross examination often decide custody and restraining order cases. In 2024, Victor joined Reel Fathers Rights as a Senior Trial Attorney in the Irvine office, where he handles discovery, depositions, request for order hearings, evidentiary hearings, trials, post trial motions, and contempt.

WHY FATHERS’ RIGHTS

Many of the fathers Victor represented in criminal domestic violence cases were also involved in related family law proceedings. Even after Victor obtained favorable results in the criminal case, he watched those same fathers lose custody or significant parenting time in the family court proceedings that followed.

Victor recognized that the family law case could carry consequences just as serious as — or more personally devastating than — the criminal case, particularly when custody and parenting time were at issue. He was also troubled by the quality of representation some fathers were receiving in family court, especially in cases involving allegations of domestic violence or child abuse. That experience led him to devote his practice to representing fathers in high conflict cases where aggressive, experienced trial advocacy can make a critical difference.

HIGH-CONFLICT CUSTODY AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE LITIGATION

Victor regularly handles high conflict custody matters involving emergency requests, supervised visitation, changes in custody, move away requests, and interstate and cross-border jurisdictional disputes. He has successfully obtained changes of custody from mothers to fathers, including cases in which the father was permitted to relocate with the child.

Domestic violence cases are a significant part of Victor’s practice. He has defeated requests for domestic violence restraining orders by identifying inconsistencies in the evidence, examining law enforcement officers and other percipient witnesses, analyzing 911 calls and police reports, and relentlessly cross examining alleged victims. His criminal trial background allows him to approach these cases differently: he looks beyond the allegations themselves and focuses on whether the evidence actually supports them.

A TRIAL LAWYER WHO KNOWS WHEN TO SETTLE

Victor is known as a forceful litigator, but he does not believe every case should go to trial. When a favorable result can be achieved through settlement, he works to resolve the case without unnecessary litigation. His courtroom reputation and willingness to try difficult cases often provide leverage in negotiations, because opposing counsel know he is prepared to litigate if a reasonable resolution cannot be reached. When settlement efforts fail, Victor takes the case to court.

PREPARING FOR THE COURTROOM

Victor prepares not only for the legal issue being presented, but for the courtroom in which it will be decided. Different judges focus on different aspects of a case — some place greater emphasis on documentary evidence, while others focus more heavily on credibility, testimony, parenting history, financial records, or the practical effect of a requested order. Understanding those differences allows Victor to tailor each case to the issues most likely to matter in that particular courtroom, always keeping the focus on what the court must decide: the best interest of the children, and a record that shows the judge what a father brings to his children’s lives.