Family Law Blog

Finding out your spouse plans to sell assets during your divorce? That’s a gut-punch moment. Whether it’s the family home, a vehicle, or valuable investments, you’re probably wondering what you can actually do about it. California’s Automatic Restraining Orders Protect You Here’s something most people don’t realize. The second divorce papers get filed in California, […]

California judges don’t just crunch numbers when they’re deciding spousal support. They look at how you actually lived during your marriage. Your lifestyle becomes a benchmark for what’s fair when one spouse needs financial help after divorce. It’s not about maintaining perfection. It’s about preventing one person from falling into financial hardship while the other […]

Some divorces are amicable. Yours might not be one of them. When a marriage ends in anger and hostility, spousal support often becomes another battlefield. California judges have to wade through accusations, emotional testimony, and sometimes outright lies to figure out what’s fair. It’s messy. It’s frustrating. And it can get expensive fast. How Courts […]

Most people assume divorce is the only way to end a marriage, but annulment offers a different path. While both options dissolve a marriage, they work in fundamentally different ways under California law. The main distinction is simple. Divorce ends a valid marriage. Annulment declares that a valid marriage never existed in the first place. […]

You’ve got options when ending a marriage in California. Going to court isn’t your only choice. Two popular alternatives are collaborative divorce and mediation, and while they both aim to reduce conflict and keep you out of the courtroom, they work in completely different ways. Understanding how they differ will help you figure out which […]

When you and your co-parent can’t agree on custody arrangements, mediation offers something different than battling it out in court. A neutral third party sits down with both of you and helps work through the disagreements. It’s less adversarial. Less expensive, too. Understanding how mediators actually handle these disputes can take some of the anxiety […]

What Financial Documents Should I Gather Before Mediation? You can’t negotiate effectively if you don’t know what you’re negotiating over. It sounds obvious, but many people walk into mediation without a complete picture of their marital finances. Start with tax returns. You’ll want at least three years for both you and your spouse. Tax returns […]

When you own a small business with your spouse, divorce can feel like you’re dismantling everything you built together. Traditional litigation often turns business partners into courtroom adversaries, which can destroy the company’s value and reputation. Collaborative divorce offers a different path. In collaborative divorce, you and your spouse each hire your own attorney, but […]

Your alimony order doesn’t have to stay the same forever. Life changes. People lose jobs, get sick, retire, or see their circumstances shift in ways nobody predicted during the divorce. California law gets this, which is why spousal support orders can be modified when things change significantly, but you can’t just decide you’re done paying […]

California operates under a no-fault divorce system. You don’t need to prove your spouse did anything wrong to end your marriage. Period. Adultery, abandonment, or other marital misconduct won’t show up as the reason for divorce on your paperwork. Here’s what really matters. Infidelity typically has zero bearing on how the court divides your assets […]