3 Questions to Ask When Thinking About a Divorce
To call divorce a “game changer” is an understatement. Divorce can upend your emotional and financial life, not to mention the day-to-day life of where you live and who you live with, and can mean big changes for relating to your children going forward. And yet many...
Does Common Law Marriage Exist in California?
The concept of a “common law marriage” is one you might have heard brought up in TV shows and films, and often in reference to people living in isolated areas or in historical times, such as in the 19th century. Basically, a common law marriage is a marriage where...
How to Determine Date of Separation (DoS) in a California Divorce
No matter how much you may be independent of a spouse - or how much the thought of still being married to a spouse saddens, annoys, or generally feels in the past to you - you are still legally married until the date of a dissolution order signed by a California...
How Long Do You Have to Pay Alimony After a California Divorce?
Alimony is a commonly-used term for payments that one spouse must make to another spouse after a divorce ends in order to help the receiving spouse adjust to life on their own following divorce. In California, alimony is technically referred to as spousal support or...
Why You Should Keep a Detailed Custody Journal With Your Ex
A custody journal is exactly what it sounds like: a log of when you and your ex actually have physical custody and/or visitation of your child after a custody determination. At a very basic level, a custody journal should contain: 1) the time at which your child was...
How to Support Friends Going Through a Divorce
For some, divorce is a common occurrence among friends, but, for many, a friend’s divorce can come as not only a shock, but also uncharted territory. It can be confusing to know what to do or say to a friend when they tell about a pending separation or divorce,...
What Factors Affect How Much Spousal Support Is Awarded in a California Divorce?
The first thing many people considering and/or facing divorce for the first time think about is splitting up property between the spouse (e.g. who gets the house?), or what arrangements will be made for children, but often the most financially significant issue that...
How to Keep Your Spouse From Stealing Assets During a California Divorce
Getting divorced can easily feel like a one-way ticket into The Twilight Zone. You thought you knew someone only to see a whole other side of them, and other, even darker sides may be coming out. With the relationship coming to an end, your spouse may be acting in...
My Spouse is Cyber Bullying Me – Can I Get a Restraining Order in California?
The state of California has long had laws in place to protect individuals from a dangerous spouse or ex-spouse, whether they are married, separated, or divorced. With the age of the Internet, there are unfortunately new ways for people to intimidate, harass, and...
Getting a California Divorce When Your Spouse Lives Out-of-State
It is not uncommon for a spouse who is presently living in California to want to seek a divorce from a spouse living in another state. The fact that you and your spouse live in separate states may well be part of the cause for your divorce (e.g. your spouse abandoned...