Best Indio Divorce Attorney

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Filing for Divorce, Separation, Support, Custody, and Property Division

California terms divorce a "dissolution of marriage."  A dissolution begins by filing a Petition in the Superior Court in the County where you have resided for the last three of the preceding six months.  Termination of marital status, when you become an "unmarried person," cannot be granted earlier than six months after the responding party is served with the court papers.  This is the California waiting, or cooling off, period.  No marital counseling is required and you cannot be ordered or forced to participate in counseling, although we would recommend you consider it.

To file for divorce in California you must have been a legal resident of this State for six months or more.  If your are not yet a resident, you may still file for Legal Separation and obtain California child and spousal support orders, custody orders (assuming there are no orders already pending in another state), and divide community property and debts incurred before or during marriage.  However, unless your Legal Separation Petition is amended to seek a divorce, or the other party responds by seeking a dissolution of marriage, at the end of the process you will be eligible to remarry or enter into a domestic partnership.

California is a "no-fault" state which means that all that must be alleged by one party is that they believe there has been an irremediable breakdown of the marriage.  This is also known as irreconcilable differences.  Many people are able to complete a no contest divorce, meaning the parties are agreed upon most of the issues.  Others face highly contested divorce proceedings.

Before a divorce becomes final, it often necessary to deal immediately with any number of issues and problems.  "Temporary orders" or "pendente lite orders" are orders that are issued after a court hearing (or upon agreement and stipulation) that remain effective until a Judgment or a different order issues.  A party can apply for temporary orders at the same as they file the Petition or any time after.  The requests are made by way of a "Notice of Motion" or by "Order to Show Cause" application (OSC).  These applications to the court typically involve custody, visitation, child and spousal support, attorney fees, temporary use and possession orders relating to vehicles or homes, and orders protecting assets.  These temporary order hearing are often where most of the litigation takes place, because cases tend to settle once people settle down and begin to adjust to the fact of a new family structure.  Similarly, post-Judgment modification applications may be filed to modify existing orders where the need for a change can be shown.

A divorce is completed by way of a Judgment of Dissolution.  In most cases that Judgment is based upon a Marital Termination Agreement, which is a written contract between the parties often facilitated by a lawyer.  Where some or all issues cannot be settled by agreement, a trial may have to occur before a Family Court judge who will make rulings on each contested matter.  There are perhaps better options to having a judge decide your case, such as Collaborative Divorce.

Most people think of divorces as enmeshed in conflict, but they don't need to be.  Divorces can be satisfactorily managed if otherwise sane men and women choose not to battle over the smallest of matters .  High conflict divorce may cause persistent and lasting resentment and strife, particularly with disputes involving spousal and child support ,  child custody , and visitation timeshares.  Yet, it is possible to achieve a divorce agreement that works for you, your spouse and your children. 

When there is no way around a contested family law hearing, a balanced presentation is the most appropriate way of obtaining sometimes needed court rulings.  The vast majority of cases settle over time and that is always our goal, but sometimes this requires a taste of divorce litigation for the other party.

Contact Palm Springs divorce attorney Thurman W. Arnold today!