Going through a divorce can be an extremely emotionally and stressful life changing event. With all the different factors and people involved, it can be overwhelming to know how to begin. Taxes and divorces are complex enough on their own, but together they create a headache best addressed as early and as fully as possible. The right tax considerations will ensure the true fairness of your divorce settlement. In California, here are some of the most common tax issues divorcing couples face:
Read More “Tax Implications and Divorce”Millions of Americans already have lost their jobs due to the coronavirus crisis and the worst of the damage is yet to come, according to a Federal Reserve estimate.
Read More “Child Support Modifications Due Coronavirus Pandemic”Perhaps we still see our return to our working life a bit distant, but whether it is so or not, the fact is that sooner and later we will have to rejoin our working life, many things will change including our working environment and development.
Read More “Tips to prepare physical offices for the end of the quarantine for COVID-19.”Often, one of the parties in a custody proceeding wants the court to consider the child’s preference to live with that party as opposed to the other parent.
Read More “Child`s Testimony in California Custody Proceedings.”A pension earned during the marriage is generally considered to be a joint asset of both spouses.
Read More “Dividing Pensions”
In the state of California, marital partners who are seeking to dissolve their marriage can choose from a variety of legal options. The alternatives are a “conventional” divorce trial, arbitration, mediation, “collaborative” divorce, legal separation, and annulment.
LEGAL SEPARATION.
A couple does not always need to go straight to divorce. Legal separation is an option for couples who are determining if they actually want to end their divorce.
You must have lived in the state for six months before you file for divorce, but there is no such residency requirement for a legal separation. After filing for divorce, you must wait an additional six months before your divorce can be finalized; but there is no waiting period for a legal separation. Once you file for legal separation, it is in place.
As part of a legal separation, you’ll want to draft an agreement. This can be beneficial should you decide to go through with a divorce.
Partners with children must arrange for child support payments and visitations. You can learn more about the option of legal separation in California – and about whether legal separation may be right for you – by discussing your own situation with an experienced Long Beach family law attorney.
Moving Forward with Divorce
If you decide to divorce after your separation, California law allows you to convert your legal separation to a divorce. This can be done at any point during the legal process. Either spouse is able to file a request for the conversion. This will require additional paperwork.
Another way to move your divorce along without establishing residency for 6 months (which is required in California); you can file for legal separation immediately. The six-month waiting period for a final divorce decree begins as you work through the legal separation procedure. When it has expired, you are able to file to convert your matter to a divorce.
Even if you feel like your marriage can be saved, and you do not want to pursue divorce, it’s advised that you work with a family law attorney. You’ll want to take actions to protect your assets, credit, home, children, and possible future right to support settlements. If your spouse files, a temporary hearing can be held in as little as a few days.
In what ways is legal separation comparable to divorce?
Petitioning for legal separation in California is just as complicated as filing for divorce. This is a no-fault divorce state where a divorce and a legal separation require identical legal grounds – either “irreconcilable differences” or one spouse’s incurable insanity.
The two actions are almost identical, from serving the divorce or separation petition to the full disclosure of both partners’ finances. In legal separations as well as divorces, the partners can personally resolve any disputed issues in the marriage, or a court can make those decisions when the partners cannot reach agreements.
In both divorces and separations, the spouses can reduce their time, expenses, and anxieties by reaching agreements on as many topics as they can before they formally initiate legal separation or divorce proceedings.
Having the insights and advice of a Long Beach family law attorney is imperative for anyone who is seeking a legal separation or a divorce in southern California.
Ask for Help
We can listen to your story and ensure you take the right steps towards protecting your rights.
Contact our law firm today at 562-439-9001 if you or someone you know needs the help of an experienced family law attorney. We will be here for you when you call. Schedule a free consultation!
We are very central to all of Long Beach, Seal Beach, Lakewood, Palos Verdes, San Pedro, Newport Beach; and regularly serve all of Los Angeles.
A divorce can affect grandparents. If you are a grandparent and want information about visitation with your grandchildren, it`s important learn about your options and understand your rights as a grandparent.
When Can Grandparents Ask for Visitation?
Parents can always choose to allow grandparents visitat with their children, without a court order. For various reasons, however, some parents stop allowing their children time with their grandparents. In these cases, the grandparents may be able to petition the court for visitation.
Under California law, a grandparent can ask the court for reasonable visitation with a grandchild. To give a grandparent reasonable visitation with a grandchild, the court has to:
- Find that there was a pre-existing relationship between grandparent and grandchild that has “engendered a bond.” This means that there is such a bond between grandparent and grandchild that visitation is in best interest of the grandchild.
AND
- Balance the best interest of the child in having visitation with a grandparent with the rights of the parents to make decisions about their child.
Grandparents Visitation
Another issue that comes up is if grandparents are permitted visitation rights to their grandchildren. In every state, there are stipulations that allow grandparents to maintain a relationship with their grandchildren through grandparent visitation rights. Each state’s laws and requirements will vary greatly, so it will largely depend on what state the child custody process is being adjudicated in.
Supervised Visitation
Lastly, if a parent has received full custody of their children and there is a concern about abuse to the spouse who has full custody of the children, or abuse to the children themselves, the court may still grant the other parent visitation rights. However, these rights will typically include supervised visitation. This can be a person who is either known or unknown to the parents and no visitation will be able to take place without a third-party supervisor being able to monitor the safety of the parent, as well as the children.
How Courts Decide Whether to Grant Grandparents Visitation
Grandparents that file for visitation rights with their grandchildren must serve a copy of the petition on each of the child’s parents, stepparents, and any other person who has physical custody of the child. Courts automatically send all grandparent visitation cases to mediation. If the parents and grandparents can’t settle their matter in mediation, the mediator notifies the court, which then sets the case down for a hearing before a judge.
A judge deciding a grandparent’s visitation case begins with the presumption that grandparent visitation shouldn’t be allowed if both parents (or one parent with sole custody) decide that the grandparent shouldn’t have visitation. It’s the grandparent’s burden to prove to the court that visitation is in the child’s best interests.
When determining whether visitation is in a child’s best interests, courts consider a host of factors, including each of the following:
- the child’s health, safety, and wellbeing
- and history of domestic abuse by anyone seeking custody or visitation
- each person’s use of drugs or alcohol, and
- the nature and frequency of contact between the child and person seeking custody.
When a child’s parent dies, the court can grant visitation to the deceased parent’s children, siblings, parents, or grandparents if it’s in the child’s best interests. Judges consider the amount of contact between the child and the other family member when deciding whether to grant visitation for all family members except grandparents; grandparents need only show that it’s in a child’s best interests for them to win visitation.
Visitation Rights After Adoption
In California, if a child is adopted by someone other than a stepparent or grandparent, all visitation rights with the previous family automatically terminate. The child’s adoption severs not only the relationship between a child and parent, but all of the parent’s relatives as well. If a stepparent or another grandparent adopts the child, however, grandparent visitation may continue.
Also, if a court has removed a child from the parent’s physical custody and placed the child in another environment, such as a children’s home, the judge must also determine whether continued grandparent visitation is in the child’s best interests. In these cases, courts don’t automatically assume that grandparent visitation is against the child’s best interests, regardless of the parents’ views or desires.
Ask for Help
We can listen to your story and ensure you take the right steps towards protecting what you care most.
Contact our law firm today at 562-439-9001 if you or someone you know needs the help of an experienced family law attorney. We will be here for you when you call. Schedule a free consultation!
We are very central to all of Long Beach, Seal Beach, Lakewood, Palos Verdes, San Pedro, Newport Beach; and regularly serve all of Los Angeles.
Social media offers a small glimpse into our everyday lives and allows us to share our lives with our families and friends; but during your divorce case, it can be extremely harmful. Some details of your life are worth sharing on social media
While some big life events are worth sharing on social media, others are better left unposted. The details of your divorce are a prime example.
The things you post publicly on social media can be used against you by attorneys for your spouse. That’s why it’s critical that, when going through a divorce, you avoid some risky social media habits that could provide ammunition to the other side and undermine your divorce case. Here are some social media habits to avoid during your divorce.
Posting about your spouse or ex-spouse.
It’s never a good idea to vent your frustrations about your spouse’s behavior on a public forum such as social media. In general, you shouldn’t publicly speak negatively of others, even if you plan to delete the post later. As has been proven many times over, things posted on social media can live on forever thanks to screenshots, so it’s important you don’t wade into the legal minefield of emotionally venting you and your spouse’s business for all to see.
Deleting activity that could be used against you.
Most people think that when they delete their social media activity, it disappears forever. However, it is almost impossible to permanently delete anything from your online presence. Even the act of trying to delete your social media activity can be held against you as the destruction of evidence or inference of guilt.
Sharing Locations on Social Media
Many social media platforms allow for geotagging, which means that when you make a post the location from which the post was made is also revealed. With many platforms, geotagging features can be toggled on and off. Make sure that you don’t allow geotagging, as your social media accounts may be creating a trackable database of your whereabouts that could be used against you in court to damage your case.
Discussing new romantic relationships.
Any new romantic relationships should be kept private until your divorce is final. Even if your new relationship began after your marriage ended, any evidence of a new relationship can be used to prove an affair. Keep your new love interest under wraps until everything is settled.
Posting photographs of or mentioning drugs and alcohol.
Evidence of drug and alcohol use can be used to prove that you are an unfit parent. Even a casual “Friday Night Wine” post or a picture of you sharing a beer with a friend can be taken out of context or exaggerated. Exercise extreme caution when anyone wants to take a picture of you in social drinking settings.
Most social media platforms have an option that allows users to temporarily pause their account. During a divorce, it’s best to play it safe and avoid all social media use until the divorce and related proceedings are final.
Ask for help.
Contact our law firm today at 562-439-9001 if you or someone you know needs the help of an experienced family law attorney. We will be here for you when you call. Schedule a free consultation!
We are very central to all of Long Beach, Seal Beach, Lakewood, Palos Verdes, San Pedro, Newport Beach; and regularly serve all of Los Angeles.
The answer depends upon several things, most notably:
1) Did the other party cause death? and 2) Was the marital status terminated early by bifurcation?
For purposes of this article. We are going to assume that death is a result of accidental or natural causes, not criminally expedited.
DIVORCE PROCEEDINGS STOP WHEN A SPOUSE DIES
If a party’s death occurs before their marital status is dissolved, then the property passes according to intestate succession or another governing estate plan, including survivorship and community property rights, and the family court loses jurisdiction over the property which now must be adjudicated by the probate court.
How a Death During a Divorce Affects The Terms
So, the divorce process stops when a spouse dies. What does that mean for the allocation of property, child custody, and financial obligations?
Allocation of Property: If your spouse dies during a divorce, you’ll typically assume ownership of all community property. You may also inherit all of your spouse’s separate property unless they had a last will saying otherwise.
The Decedent’s Non-Probate Assets
All states distinguish between probate and non-probate assets when a person dies. Non-probate assets are those that pass directly to a named beneficiary by contract, so probate isn’t necessary to achieve a transfer of title. For example, life insurance death benefits and retirement plans usually have named beneficiaries. If the probate court is deciding the disposition of your marital estate, it generally has no control over these assets. They go to the named beneficiaries, regardless of your divorce plans. If your spouse named you and neglected to change her designation when you filed for divorce, you’ll usually still inherit.
What Happens When a Will Goes to Probate?
If you have assets at the time of your death, they must still pass through the probate process so your outstanding bills are paid and the remaining assets go to your statutory heirs — persons whom by the law in your particular state are deemed to have the right to inherit from you. If you leave a will, the process is overseen by your chosen executor.
Is a Divorce Decree a Conveyance of Property?
A divorce decree usually splits property between spouses in addition to addressing child support, custody, and other issues. However, even though your decree orders your property to be split in a certain way, you may have to take additional steps to make the transfer effective. For example, you may need to sign a deed giving real estate to your spouse.
Ask for help.
Contact our law firm today at 562-439-9001 if you or someone you know needs the help of an experienced family law attorney. We will be here for you when you call. Schedule a free consultation!
We are very central to all of Long Beach, Seal Beach, Lakewood, Palos Verdes, San Pedro, Newport Beach; and regularly serve all of Los Angeles.
Domestic abuse is, unfortunately, taking place all around us and yet very few of us will be aware of it happening to our friends or family as it usually occurs behind closed doors. For many divorce solicitors, this therefore means that some of our clients will be victims of domestic violence but may not openly speak about it.
In any case, domestic violence in the home poses not just emotional and psychological risks, but financial as well. Luckily, as part of a California domestic violence case you open with the court, you may be able to ask for financial support to help you meet the necessary financial expenses while you and your spouse are not living together.
As family lawyers, we are always aware that there can be hidden issues behind the breakdown of a relationship, however these figures have shocked us perhaps more than the national statistics, as these are individuals we have met…families we have acted for and supported.
The Government defines domestic abuse as:
Any incident of controlling, coercive, threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those aged 16 or over who are, or have been intimate partners or family members regardless of gender or sexuality. The abuse can encompass, but is not limited to:
- psychological
- physical
- sexual
- financial
- emotional
Under the Domestic Violence Prevention Act (California Family Code § 6200 et seq.), domestic violence charges cover a wide range of abuse, including spousal abuse and child endangerment. Any threatening or violent act, even if the accused did not intend to harm or compromise the safety and security of the victim, could be grounds for prosecution under the California Domestic Violence laws.
The term domestic abuse covers a wide range of behaviours and does not always mean that there is physical abuse.
Domestic abuse is not confined to any one type of person, it can happen to anyone regardless of age, gender, religion, race. The victims have often been isolated by the abuser with their links and access to friends and family being restricted.
Divorce
Although California is a no-fault state regarding divorce, there are some instances where fault could be a factor, namely a domestic violence conviction. In California, when a spouse has been convicted of domestic violence against the other spouse within the past five years, the presumption is that the convicted spouse should not receive an award of spousal support. Keep in mind, this is a “rebuttable” presumption, not an automatic presumption, meaning the convicted spouse is allowed to present evidence to “rebut” the presumption against him or her. If there was domestic violence on both sides, then this may be taken into consideration by the judge, and spousal support could be awarded to the convicted spouse.
Leaving Your Abuser
As noted, there are certain protections available for those who are dealing with domestic violence and find themselves in family court. If you are in a domestic violence relationship, you will have different issues to consider once you decide to file for divorce, or when you separate from your spouse, particularly if there are children involved.
If it is at all possible, do a little bit of planning before you file for divorce, in that it could be extremely helpful to have some cash saved, and to have a safe place to stay—preferably one that your spouse will not immediately look.
Ask for Help
We can listen to your story and ensure you take the right steps towards protecting yourself, your children and your financial interests.
Contact our law firm today at 562-439-9001 if you or someone you know needs the help of an experienced family law attorney. We will be here for you when you call. Schedule a free consultation!
We are very central to all of Long Beach, Seal Beach, Lakewood, Palos Verdes, San Pedro, Newport Beach; and regularly serve all of Los Angeles.