Divorce (Dissolution):

The goal of a dissolution process is to terminate the marital status or domestic partnership and decide issues such as child custody, visitation, child support, spousal support and to create an equitable division of assets and debts.

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• Residency Requirements: To file for dissolution of marriage in California one spouse must be a resident of California for a minimum of six (6) months and a resident of the county where the filing occurs for at least three (3) months immediately prior to filing the petition. 

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• Grounds for Dissolution: The only grounds for dissolution of marriage in California are “Irreconcilable differences” and “Permanent legal incapacity to make decisions.”

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Irreconciable differences; simply asserts that for whatever reason, one spouse decides to no longer continue in the marriage.    

  

• Permanent Legal Incapacity to Make Decisions; must be medically determined and presented to the court.

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Contested Divorce: where one party files a Petition for divorce, and the other party files a written Response objecting to what was asked for in the divorce Petition. In a contested divorce proceeding, the parties are in disagreement, and a resolution can only be made through mediation, by a Judge in a court hearing or trial. A contested divorce can be costly if the parties hire lawyers. 

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It is possible for a self-represented person to handle some legal matters

without hiring an attorney.

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MEDIATION as opposed to LITIGATION 

is a prudent option for reaching agreement when the parties

experience challenges finding common ground.

 

Uncontested Divorce : 

     1) parties are amicable and agree to the terms of the divorce documents or

     2) by default - a divorce proceeding where one party fails to appear or respond

     3) through Mediation to draft a settlement agreement

 

The advantage of an amicable or uncontested divorce is that it can be relatively inexpensive and simple. The entire matter can be completed just by the paperwork filed with the court and neither party ever has to appear before a Judge.

 

Summary Dissolution: A shorter and easier way to handle a dissolution that is available to qualifying couples who meet certain criterias such as:

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• Have no children together

• The date of marriage was less than five years from the date of separation.

• Do not own much property.

• Do not owe many debts.

• Have no disagreements on a division of assets and debts.