![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GVWire-Ad-Get-our-mobile-app-1280x90-1-1.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cThat mediation is pretty effective,\u201d Crass told the parties.<\/p>\n
![\"Image](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Elizabeth-Arambula-with-Lawyer_Compressed.jpg\")
Elizabeth Arambula, left, and attorney Zeppy Attashian answer media questions, Tuesday, March 17, 2026, outside Fresno County civil court. (GV Wire\/Jahz Tello)
\nElizabeth Arambula Filed for Divorce in January<\/p>\n
Elizabeth Arambula filed for divorce in January. The couple had been married for 11 years and have three minor daughters. Arambula, D-Fresno, missed a month of work in Sacramento. Court filings showed he checked into a rehabilitation facility for 30 days. The Assembly granted Arambula an excused medical absence.<\/p>\n
Both Arambulas appeared in person, sitting on opposite sides of the table, separated by their attorneys. Neither formally spoke at the hearing.<\/p>\n
Arambula did not comment after the hearing, walking back to his office at the adjacent Burns Building. He said he would issue a statement later.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re really happy with the court process today. We\u2019re just happy that the judge is taking this matter seriously. We\u2019re on an expedited schedule, and we\u2019re hoping that this matter resolves respectfully among all parties and that the children are always placed first,\u201d said Zeppy Attashian, Elizabeth Arambula\u2019s attorney.<\/p>\n
Asked how her client is holding up, the Fresno family law attorney said, \u201cShe\u2019s great. She\u2019s fabulous.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joaquin Arambula is represented by longtime Fresno family law attorney Michael J. Margosian.<\/p>\n
Divorce Hearing<\/p>\n
Court filings by Elizabeth Arambula accused her husband of addictions to alcohol, marijuana and online gaming. She also accused Arambula of withdrawing more than $900,000 from the couple\u2019s assets when filing for divorce.<\/p>\n
Attashian expressed concerns about Joaquin Arambula\u2019s spending habits. She cited Arambula spending $25,000 on furniture, allegations first made in court filings. Attashian said her client has been without resources since filing Jan. 21 and has been living with her family.<\/p>\n
She said Arambula left his wife with bills for car insurance and a country club.<\/p>\n
Crass said there is an automatic restraining order on finances once a divorce is filed. It is the parties\u2019 burden to prove violations of that provision. He warned of sanctions for violating the order.<\/p>\n
The judge plans to move at \u201cwarp speed\u201d on the hearings.<\/p>\n
Judge Denies Request to Seal Divorce Filings<\/p>\n
Crass denied Elizabeth Arambula\u2019s request to seal the record but indicated he would restrict media from recording future custody hearings.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a public proceeding, so we\u2019re going to have to get into some aspects that may not be flattering to one or both of the parents moving forward. That\u2019s just the nature of this courtroom, unfortunately,\u201d Crass said.<\/p>\n
Arambula is running for Fresno City Council District 3 \u2014 southwest and downtown Fresno \u2014 in the June 2 primary election.<\/p>\n
The parties will return to court on April 3 to discuss financial issues. A follow-up hearing will take place May 22.<\/p>\n
Joining Arambula in court were his parents, Amy and Juan \u2014 a former Assemblymember himself \u2014 other family members, and office staffers Maria Lemus and Felicia Matlosz.<\/p>\n
Several community members attended, including Sandra Celedon, a Democrat who is running to succeed Arambula in the Assembly and has his endorsement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Assemblymember Joaquin Arambula and his estranged wife made their first appearance in court Tuesday afternoon for a divorce…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":224490,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":{"0":"post-224489","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fresno","8":"tag-fresno","9":"tag-fresno-headlines","10":"tag-fresno-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/224490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}