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Family Law
Divorce
Divorce is legally referred to as a dissolution of marriage, and is a proceeding by which a marriage is terminated. Generally there are primary issues such as: child custody, support, division of assets and liabilities. These issues can be further divided into subcategories, such as the types of spousal support, origination of assets and liabilities, and so forth.In California, two parties can seek a divorce when irreconcilable differences have caused the irremediable breakdown of a marriage. Neither party is required to prove fault, however there are many factors that may affect how you may want to proceed in a family law matter. Expert family law counsel is needed to successfully confront and resolve the complex issues involved in a divorce.
Post Judgement Modifications
In divorce actions all issues can be resolved at the time of the divorce. However, as circumstances change, the decisions made during divorce may no longer be appropriate and are not necessarily final.Changing the original divorce judgment or settlement can be complicated. Personal circumstances change, of course, but the judgment was established to be as fair as possible for both parties. If you are considering filing for a change to your original judgment or settlement your attorney will need experience handling the complexities involved.
Child and Spousal Support Actions
The amount of child and spousal support or alimony a client will receive or will need to provide is a top concern. There are multiple factors involved when determining support.The factors applied to determine the level of support include the division of the community estate, each party’s respective income, custodial time, the duration of the parties’ marriage and the parties’ marital standard of living, to name a few. Our focus is always on ensuring that the correct financial data is presented to the court to enable our clients to obtain the best possible results.
Child Custody Disputes
The principal concern for the courts in awarding custody and parenting time is to ensure that the resulting arrangement is in the child’s best interests. Child custody is divided into two main categories: legal custody and physical custody. Legal custody gives a parent the right and responsibility to make decisions for a child regarding such primary issues as healthcare and education.It is common for parents to have joint legal custody by agreement, but still have one parent designated as having primary physical custody. It is possible to have sole legal custody to one parent, with nearly equal parenting time with both parents in California.
Premarital Agreements
A premarital agreement will further set forth how the parties' assets and liabilities will be distributed upon any future divorce. A premarital agreement serves as a financial blueprint for how marrying parties will conduct themselves and treat their assets, debts, incomes and living expenses.Premarital agreements can protect the characterization of an estate if a party wishes to retain the separate characterization of assets. Consequently, premarital agreements and even post-nuptial agreements must be clearly worded to protect the assets of the parties.
Post-nuptial Agreements
Postnuptial agreements are agreements parties may enter into after they marry in regard to how their assets and debts or incomes and living expenses are to be treated during their marriage and what is to happen should the parties later divorce.Postnuptial agreements have grown in popularity as couples utilize this tool to provide predictability in the handling of inheritances or gifts received during a marriage, the allocation of their business interests, or as part of their conciliation agreement if they have a period of marital discord that ends with reconciliation.
