{"id":230632,"date":"2026-03-22T00:24:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T00:24:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/230632\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T00:24:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T00:24:19","slug":"joaquin-arambula-tells-his-side-in-divorce-allegations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/230632\/","title":{"rendered":"Joaquin Arambula Tells His Side in Divorce Allegations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joaquin Arambula is responding to accusations made by his wife, Elizabeth, in their divorce proceedings.<\/p>\n

The two sides met in court for the first time Tuesday in front of Fresno County Superior Court Judge Steven Crass. He ordered mediation to discuss child custody issues. The couple have three minor daughters.<\/p>\n

Arambula, D-Fresno, is a state assemblymember. He is running for Fresno City Council District 3 in the June 2 primary.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a disappointing day. Elizabeth has refused to allow me to see our girls since Jan. 6, 2026, even though there is no court ruling preventing me from seeing them. It\u2019s Elizabeth\u2019s choice. I have refused to contribute to the media environment she created, but now that she has placed this matter in the public square, I will have more to say as it plays out. Meanwhile, my girls know I love them, and they deserve better than this circus,\u201d Arambula said in a statement sent after the hearing.<\/p>\n

Arambula checked himself into a rehabilitation facility for drugs and alcohol in January. He missed a month of work at the state Capitol on excused medical leave from the state Assembly.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bottom line is this: I needed help. I got help, and I\u2019m on the path to being a better dad, a better public servant, and a better person. I have faith in our courts, and I trust I will see my girls soon,\u201d Arambula said.<\/p>\n

Arambula also shared a court declaration filed Tuesday<\/a> refuting several accusations made by Elizabeth Arambula.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am baffled as to why now Petitioner professes to have \u2018significant concerns about the children\u2019s safety and well-being,’\u201d Arambula wrote.<\/p>\n

In court filings, Elizabeth Arambula expressed concerns about the girls in her husband\u2019s care. He said that in the month before his rehab stay, he had sole responsibility for two weeks, which included several vacations.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Elizabeth Arambula (right) enters the Fresno County Superior Court for a divorce hearing with attorney Zeppy Attashian on March 17, 2026. (GV Wire\/Jahz Tello)
\nArambula Answers Accusations About Finances<\/p>\n

Arambula withdrew $919,000 from the family\u2019s finances, an attorney for Elizabeth Arambula said in court. She has had to rely on family for support \u2014 for a place to live and funds to live on.<\/p>\n

In his statement, Arambula said his wife \u201ceither directly or indirectly received more than $30,000 from me in the last several weeks. She wants more than $27,000 a month. Thousands of Fresno families don\u2019t make this in a year.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his declaration, Arambula called her request for $27,000 in monthly child and spousal support \u201cexcessive and unreasonable.\u201d That amount includes $3,000 for travel, $2,500 for groceries, $2,500 for restaurants, and $1,500 in personal care.<\/p>\n

In a court filing, Arambula said family expenses are $7,950 a month.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe both must learn to tighten our belts and live within our means,\u201d Arambula said.<\/p>\n

Arambula blamed his wife for lavish spending. While in rehab, Arambula wrote, he noticed thousands of dollars in charges for shows and luxury clothes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI therefore transferred what I considered to be my separate property funds into a savings account for safekeeping,\u201d Arambula wrote. He said he made sure their accounts had enough for day-to-day living and closed out some credit card accounts.<\/p>\n

Arambula said he would provide a full accounting to the court of the $919,000 he transferred. In court documents, Arambula said he paid a $10,000 retainer to his attorney, L. Kim Aguirre, who works at $425 an hour.<\/p>\n

Arambula said his wife \u201cchose to move out\u201d of their Fresno home before he completed rehab. He already used the address to run for city council \u2014 a candidate must live in the district \u2014 and said he was willing to share the home.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe left the home a wreck,\u201d Arambula wrote, adding there were no amenities for their girls in the home. He purchased new furniture for $26,000. Her attorney mentioned the furniture spending in court as an example of his lavish spending.<\/p>\n

Willing to Test, but Not to Accept Penalties<\/p>\n

Arambula said he is willing to undergo drug testing and monitoring.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am committed to abstaining from the use of alcohol, marijuana, and all nonprescribed controlled substances at all times, continuously, not just during my custodial periods,\u201d Arambula wrote in his declaration.<\/p>\n

Arambula also challenged Elizabeth Arambula\u2019s proposal for consequences for a positive drug test \u2014 the loss of unsupervised visits. He called for a court motion to decide supervision before a judge.<\/p>\n

He has attended 90 Alcoholics Anonymous meetings over the past 72 days, Arambula said.<\/p>\n

Elizabeth Arambula said her husband also had an online gaming addiction, spending $4,700 just in last December.<\/p>\n

Arambula admitted to \u201chaving gotten sucked in to the Raid: Shadow Legends video game, eventually rising to be one of the top 25 players in the world.\u201d He said he has given that up.<\/p>\n

\u201cI only wish I could spend some of that time with my girls,\u201d Arambula said.<\/p>\n

Elizabeth Arambula also accused her husband of needing rides from her or staff.<\/p>\n

Arambula said life as a publicly elected figure means he is \u201cliving in a fishbowl. If I were inebriated during any of those times, it would be nearly impossible to hide.\u201d He said the CHP regularly transports legislators around Sacramento.<\/p>\n

He also denied accusations made by his wife that he used a vape pen in front of his home after he returned from rehabilitation and requested that she submit video proof she claims to have.<\/p>\n

The divorce case returns to court April 3.<\/p>\n

Elizabeth Arambula Responds<\/p>\n

Zeppy Attashian, attorney for Elizabeth Arambula, sent GV Wire a statement on behalf of Elizabeth Arambula that said she has spent the 15 years of marriage as a stay-at-home mother, \u201cfocused entirely on her family.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHer concerns in this matter are centered on the safety and well-being of the children in light of Dr. Arambula\u2019s acknowledged substance-related struggles. The children have never been withheld from Dr. Arambula. Dr. Arambula has had access to calls, texts, and supervised visitation at all times. Ms. Arambula\u2019s request that Dr. Arambula to demonstrate his sobriety through witnessed testing before having unsupervised visitation time are appropriate.\u00a0 This request is consistent with standard expectations in similar family law matters. The fact that Dr. Arambula is a public official should not alter this standard,\u201d Attashian said.<\/p>\n

Elizabeth Arambula has met privately with her husband to resolve the issues, Attashian said.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, those efforts were not successful. The court subsequently also denied her request for confidentiality.\u00a0 Nevertheless, \u00a0Ms. Arambula remains committed to protecting the children\u2019s privacy and does not believe these deeply personal matters belong in the public arena,\u201d Attashian said. \u201cMs. Arambula is simply asking Dr. Arambula, her spouse for over 15 years and the father of their children, to put their family first, work toward a resolution. She is seeking to ensure that she and the children continue to be supported and cared for in the same manner they have been throughout the marriage.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joaquin Arambula is responding to accusations made by his wife, Elizabeth, in their divorce proceedings. The two sides…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":230633,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-230632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230632","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=230632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230632\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/230633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}