California Orange County Divorce Lawyer

Filing for Divorce

Bettina Yanez — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 02:12:19 +0000

1. The requester is the one who begins the divorce petition. You must fill out the following forms:

-Marriage Petition: Used to provide the court with some essential facts about you, your spouse and your marriage. This form can also be used to ask for some court orders.

-Summons: Will hold a lot of crucial information that you can employ throughout your case. It also holds some information about some restraints that will limit what you can do with your assets and property as well as your children.

-Property Declaration Form: is used to list your properties and debts if you’ve run out of space in the above form.

-Declaration Under Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act: will need to be filled out if you and your spouse have any minors (children under the age of 18).

-Child Custody and Visitation Application Attachment: Must be completed if you desire to ask the court for custody and visitation orders. Though the Child Custody and Visitation Application Attachment is optional, it’s best to use this form because it contains more detailed information about schedules etc.

2. Make sure you have all your paperwork looked over by a lawyer or family law facilitator to guarantee that all the facts are present so that there is no holdup in your case.

3. Find out if there are any other local forms that you should complete to move onwards with your case. Inquire the court clerk or your lawyer about any supplementary court forms you may be needing to complete.

4. You need to make extra copies of all the paperwork. One set will be for yourself, one for your spouse and the originals go to the court.

Choosing Mediation: Proper Etiquette

Bettina Yanez — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 15:11:42 +0000

Even though you’ve decided to take your case to mediation rather than to court infront of a judge, you should still behave with respect and consideration. When presenting your opinions, always talk understandably and also take time to take note to the other individual’s views. Remember that if you want to be treated with respect, you must also show respectfulness.

If you can use mediation effectively, both parties will leave with a fair and satisfactory resolution where both voiced with opinions and concerns. Remember that there are two sides to every story and be open enough to listen and process what the other individual is saying. You may not have thought about how the dispute has affected the other person, but mediation is about trying to understand how the incident has impacted both parties and by doing so, you can easily reach a suitable resolution.

Take into consideration the other party’s settle solution and clearly state what you were hoping the dispute would resolve with. Mediation has some positive effects if a closure can be reached. You will feel empowered that you’ve come to a result without the aide of a judge and you will be satisfied in knowing that the settlement attained is agreeable to both parties. That procedure is often time-consuming and expensive. You also have no say on your verdict because it is the judge who makes the decision, not you.

What is Mediation?

Bettina Yanez — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 16:20:00 +0000

Mediation is where a neutral third party attempts to resolve disputes between various individuals. The neutral third party attempts to remain unbiased toward the parties so that a fair outcome can result. Mediation is voluntary and therefore the parties do not have to feel that they are at the mediation session against their will. Divorce can be costly, mediation can potentially keep the costs down when attempting to come to an agreement.

During the mediation session both parties will have an equal amount of time to voice their opinions and attempt to come to a solution. The mediator is not in charge of coming to a solution for the parties they are simply the facilitators in the communication dialogue between the parties.

If you would like further information on mediation or divorce it is helpful to contact a legal professional to find out details of the divorce or mediation process. At times it is a matter of preference if mediation is selected as opposed to going through the traditional divorce proceedings.

Past Due Child Support Payments

Bettina Yanez — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 00:22:53 +0000

Paying child support is done to financially help with the raising of your child. When you fall behind in your payments, the other parent may have to struggle to keep providing all that your child needs to grow up in a safe, healthy and stable environment.

Like other bills you pay, when you call behind on your monthly child support payments, interests will build on the balance which is past due and this interest cannot be stopped or put on hold by a judge. The interest on any child support that was due on or after January 1st, 1983 is 10%. Interest on a past due balance that was due before January 1st, 1983 is 7%.

If your wages are being garnished to extract child support payments and you owe a past balance, there might be an extra amount removed from your wages to start paying off your arrears. This is called liquidation amount and even if your arrears are slowly being paid of, interest is still building on them.

There are very serious consequences to not paying child support and can result in jail time, especially if the person who isn’t paying the court ordered child support but is financially capable of it. This can be considered as ‘in contempt of court’.

Understanding Separate Property

Bettina Yanez — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 02:43:47 +0000

Anything that you’ve owned before your marriage or registered domestic partnership is considered separate property. Also any gifts, inheritances that are given to one spouses or any rents/profits that you make on any of your separate property are also considered separate property.

Anything you purchase with your separate property is also separate property even if it was obtained while you were married. For example, if you purchase a building with an inheritance that was left to you and only you, that building and any profits you make from that building is yours alone. Separate property also refers to any earnings you make after your date of separation which is why the date of your separation is so very important.

Collaborative Divorce

Bettina Yanez — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 02:51:33 +0000

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.

Registering a Domestic Partnership

Bettina Yanez — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 22:58:01 +0000

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.

Child Abuse & Neglect

Bettina Yanez — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 01:20:05 +0000

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.

Determining Parentage

Bettina Yanez — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 22:45:25 +0000

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.

Stopping a Divorce Case After it’s been Filed

Bettina Yanez — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 02:06:00 +0000

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.