How to Account for the Value of Appreciating Assets

Community assets must be divided equally between the spouses of a marriage, as per California’s community property rule. This doesn’t mean everything needs to be sold to split the proceeds, but that the overall net value of the assets is equally divided. While many assets can be readily appraised for an accurate value at the time of divorce, like real estate and bank accounts, other assets can be hard to…

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The Benefits of Residential Time

The benefits of spending time with your child are plenty and obvious. Spending time with your child, even if you are not the primary caregiver, can help them develop healthy relationships with you and others in their life, it can help them know how to ask for help when they need it and can teach them that while some relationships aren’t made to last, the parent-child relationship is forever. During…

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How to Ensure Your Support Order is Feasible

Every divorce involving minor children will involve a child support order. Many divorces will also involve an order for spousal support, if one spouse is unable to be self-supporting after the divorce. Financial support orders such as these are important parts of any divorce but are also often highly contested, spousal support in particular. It is important to make sure your support orders are feasible for both parties. Otherwise, adhering…

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Enforcing Child Support Orders When Support Goes Unpaid

Once a child support order is issued, monthly payments are enforceable. Unfortunately, there is no fail safe way to ensure those payments are actually made. Child support not paid, also called arrearage, must be paid back with a 10% interest rate per year. The only way for child support payments to stop are: If the parental rights are signed over to another parental figure willing to take on the financial…

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What is an Uncontested Divorce?

Couples decide to divorce when they simply cannot make things work anymore. However, while divorce is usually brought on by conflict, sometimes a couple can agree in full with the terms of the divorce and all its components. This is called an uncontested divorce. When you serve your spouse with a summons and petition for dissolution of marriage, along with any other forms relevant to your case, they have a…

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The First Steps in Beginning Your Divorce Proceedings

Once you decide that you and your spouse can no longer make it work, you may be wondering what your first steps are. Your first steps will depend on how you will end your marriage. There are three options for ending a marriage or domestic partnership. You will file for one of these options depending on your case facts and the status of your marriage as it stands. Annulment; Annulments…

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How to Keep Your Assets Secure During Divorce

In a divorce, you may feel financially vulnerable. Suddenly, several different parties will have access to information about your assets for the purposes of determining how much you will have to part with. For most people, this is a nerve-wracking experience. You have worked hard for your financial well being and now you may have to fight to keep as much as you can. However in all California divorces, community…

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Working Spouses: Can the Judge Order My Spouse to Work?

After a divorce, you or your spouse may be awarded spousal support for a period of time. The intent of spousal support is to provide temporary financial support for a spouse until they can become self-supporting. In most cases, spousal support will be temporary and may have a set time when it will be terminated. In other cases, there may be no set termination date however it may still be…

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