CA Family Law Blog

To avoid the uncertainty of court rulings and if you are able to work with your spouse to come to an amiable agreement, then a collaborative divorce may be the divorce/legal separation option you might want. This divorce process involves negotiations between you and your spouse with the help of a professional as well as your own lawyers. During these meetings you can occasionally bring in other people to help with your case such as child custody specialists and accountants.

Once the collaborative divorce process starts,  both spouses/domestic partners and their lawyers sign a contract and agree that they will not bring the case to court. If however, the two parties can not come to an agreement and the settlement must be made in court, the lawyers will need to extract themselves from the case and new lawyers will need to be hired.

To register a domestic partnership, you must fill certain qualifications. You must:

-Fill out a Declaration of Domestic Partnership Form and get it notarized,
-File the form with the California Secretary of State,
-Have one common residence,
-Not be in a domestic partnership of marriage with another person,
-Not be blood related,
-Be at least 18 years or older,
-Both be the same sex OR at least one of the partners must be over the age of 62 and eligible to collect social security.

It’s a very serious matter when someone makes a report about the safety of your child. Therefore a police officer or social worker will always investigate. The courts are always working for the best interest of your children and the will fight to keep your child safe and out of harm’s way. Should it be decided by the police officer or social worker that your child needs to be removed from the household to be kept safe, an investigation will be opened and the social worker will need to get information about you, your living arrangements, and your child.

If your child is removed from your care and but into temporary foster care, it will be because:

-The child was neglected, abused and or molested,
-The child was not well looked after or cared for,
-The child was being watched over by someone who wasn’t giving them the proper care.

The child may be temporarily sent to live:

-With the child’s other legal parent if the two parent’s do not live together,
-With a relative,
-In a shelter of foster home.

You will be required to give important contact information to the social worker for the other parent or all relatives that will be able to take care of your child. They will be be reached by the social worker and arraignments for a safe place for your child will be made.

If it is determined that your child will not be returning to your care, the social worker will file a petition to request that your child become a ‘dependant of the court’. You must attend the court hearing where the judge will issue orders about child custody, your child’s care and their supervision.

Child custody attorney in Orange County

Parentage cases occur when there is a question about who the father of a child might be. These cases can also be called paternity cases. In most cases when the parents of a child are married at the time of birth, the courts will assume that the husband is the father. The same principal now also applies to couples in a registered domestic partnership. If the couple is registered at the time of the child’s birth, the courts will assume that they are the rightful parents. However, this law is still new and applies to cases after January 2005. Because of this, same sex parents should consult a Family Law & Divorce Attorney,

If a child is born and the parents are not married, the parents can sign a Voluntary Declaration of Paternity at the hospital of after they leave. If the couple disagrees on who the father of the child is, the court can have a genetic test ordered which is often free of charge.

Parentage needs to be determined before you can collect child support of make custody and/or visitation orders.

To stop a divorce case after it’s been filed, you can file a Request for Dismissal to terminate your case IF you were the one to file the divorce. If you file this form but later decide to go ahead with the divorce you will be necessary for you to start the whole process again and file another divorce case which will entail  paying the filing fee again. However, if you were NOT the one to file the divorce case, then you are unable to stop the case on your own. You will need your spouse or domestic partner to file a Request for Dismissal.

If you and your spouse or domestic partner filed a Joint Summary Dissolution, either one of you can stop the case by filing a Notice of Revocation of Petition for Summary Dissolution.