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Law Offices of Ronald E. Champoux
Family LawThis page will provide an overview of various topics regarding divorce and family law. Specific information regarding child support, spousal support, child custody, marital property division, and attorney fees can be obtained by clicking on the buttons on the left side of the screen. Contents Family law generally involves issues surrounding a divorce, such as the termination of marital status; determining child custody, child support and spousal support; and the division of the parties' marital property. Family law issues are not limited to a pending divorce proceeding. For example, one party may ask the court for a modification of child support after the completion of a divorce. You or your spouse must have lived in California for at least six months and in your county of residence for three months before you file for divorce in that county. To commence divorce proceedings, you and your lawyer must file a Petition for Dissolution with the Clerk of the Superior Court. In the Petition you ask for various relief, such as division of community property, spousal support, child custody and child support. Unless you have a very low income, you must pay a fee (currently $192.00) to file these papers. You also must have copies of the Petition and Summons personally delivered to your spouse. The Summons tells your spouse that he or she must respond to the petition for dissolution within 30 days. In the Response, your spouse indicates the areas of disagreement that need to be resolved by the court. For example, your spouse might object to your request for spousal support or sole custody of your children. What are the grounds for divorce in California? California is a "no-fault" divorce state, meaning that you do not have to accuse your spouse of cruelty, adultery or anything else that caused your marriage to break up. Divorces are generally sought on the ground of "irreconcilable differences," meaning that you and your spouse no longer can make your marriage work. The consent of both spouses is not required for a divorce. Even if only one spouse believes that there are irreconcilable differences, the court will dissolve a marriage. What kinds of relief can I get from the court right away? If there are physical threats or violence in your marriage, you may be entitled to an emergency restraining order against your spouse. Your spouse may be temporarily ordered not to contact you or come within a certain distance of you, your residence and/or your workplace. In some cases, a spouse may be ordered removed from the family residence. Similarly, the court might issue an emergency restraining order preventing either of you from removing your children from the state, or from taking or concealing your marital assets. These emergency orders generally last from 20-25 days until there is a hearing on the matter with both parties present in court. It is also possible to seek interim child support, spousal support, custody, and other orders at a hearing 20-25 days from the date that divorce papers are first filed. What happens next after I file for divorce? After the temporary issues are settled, you and your spouse will begin to work on permanently resolving the issues raised in the dissolution. Before you are able to do so, you are required to exchange detailed information with your spouse about your assets, debts, income and expenses. These financial exchanges, called "declarations of disclosure," are designed to ensure that parties enter into fair settlements with full knowledge of the other party's finances. Many people are surprised at how much financial information they are expected to gather as part of a divorce proceeding. This information often includes tax returns, pay stubs, bank statements and the like. In many cases, one of the most expensive aspects of a divorce may be the time that a lawyer must spend collecting financial information from his or her client. Thus, in order to keep legal fees to a minimum, it is important that you are as responsive as possible when your attorney asks you to provide financial information. In some instances, more detailed information may be needed from the other spouse. If one party owns a business, for example, the other party may conduct "discovery" to obtain documentation that will allow him or her to determine the value of the business or the income available from that business. An expert accountant or appraiser may be retained to assist in these issues. In some cases, it may be necessary to subpoena information from third parties, such as banks or financial institutions, in order to acquire financial information about the other party. How long will it take for my divorce to be completed? One of the aspects that people may not realize is that issues in divorce proceedings are often resolved in a piecemeal basis. For example, child custody issues may be resolved through a court mediation process, while property division and spousal support issues may be resolved through negotiation between the lawyers or at trial. Child support is often determined at an initial support hearing. The legal termination of your marital status, which allows you to remarry, cannot occur any earlier than six months from the day that your spouse is served with the Petition and Summons. Thus, the date that your marriage is dissolved may be different from the date that other issues surrounding your divorce are resolved. To the extent that parties are unable to resolve the outstanding property and support issues, a court trial may be necessary. In Marin County, the parties are first required to attend a settlement conference with a panel of experienced family law attorneys in an attempt to come to an agreement. If no settlement is reached, then the case will be set for trial. Trials may be conducted on the few remaining disputed issues after other issues have already been resolved by the parties. However, court trials can be very expensive, so it is best to resolve disputes by settlement if possible. What is a summary dissolution? A summary dissolution is a simplified divorce proceeding for parties with relatively straightforward personal situations. You may qualify for a summary dissolution if you have been married five years or less, have no children, do not own a home or other real estate, do not have assets in excess of $25,000, and do not have debts in excess of $5,000. You must also be willing to waive any right of spousal support from the other party. Like a regular dissolution, a summary dissolution requires court filing fees and takes at least six months. A legal separation is similar in most ways to a divorce except that your marriage is not legally terminated. Property division, child custody, child support and spousal support issues can all be determined in a legal separation proceeding. However, you are not permitted to remarry after having obtained a judgment of legal separation. While parties most often seek legal separation for religious reasons, there may be tax or other reasons to seek a legal separation as well. An annulment is a legal determination that your marriage never existed. However, the grounds for obtaining an annulment are very limited. You may be able to get an annulment if you married at a young age without the consent of your parents or guardian, if either of you were physically incapable of entering into the marriage state, if either of you were of unsound mind, or if certain types of fraud or deceit were involved in the decision to become married. Should I be represented by a lawyer? An experienced family law attorney is used to dealing with issues that arise during divorces and can assist you in the process of filing papers and appearing in court. A lawyer can advise you about how much child or spousal support you should expect to pay or receive. A lawyer can also assist you in working out a custody and visitation arrangement suitable to your personal situation. Since community property laws can be very complicated, a lawyer can help you decide which of your belongings are community property and which are separate property. Finally, your lawyer can assist you in putting your property settlement agreement into writing and getting a divorce judgment approved and finalized by the court. |
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rchampoux@a-1law.com with questions or comments about this web site.
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