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Commonly known as Divorce. It is the process of dividing the financial aspects, child issues, spousal issues and severing the partnership of the parties and rendering each as a single person.
In California, if someone other than an attorney prepares any legal document for you, they must be registered and bonded and meet the criteria under the law to be called a Legal Document Assistant (LDA). Legal Choices has continued to be a registered and bonded Legal Document preparer since 2000, when the law went into effect. All documents are prepared with the information the client provides.
A Paralegal is a person that is under the direct supervision of an attorney. This may be an employee or an independent paralegal. Legal Choices works with attorneys in both capacities.
Unless you hire an attorney to represent you for a single hearing or for your entire case, your Legal Document Assistant is not working in the capacity of a Paralegal.
An uncontested divorce is when both parties are in full agreement. The other spouse may either sign stating that they received the paperwork or you may have to send a Process Server to hand the papers to the other person.
An uncontested divorce further means the parties are in full agreement and willing to sign a Marital Agreement stating all issues have been resolved and the court does not need to make any decisions. These issues can include Custody, Visitation, Child Support, Spousal Support and property division. A Marital Agreement cannot be “served” on the other party and you cannot force the other person to sign an agreement.
In some cases the parties can agree to the majority of the issues, however are having trouble reaching an agreement on just a few. In this incident Legal Choices can assist the parties with mediation services, thereby avoiding court appearances.
A contested Divorce is whenever the parties cannot agree on all issues. A contested divorce usually means you are hiring attorneys and making numerous court appearances so that the Judge can make the decisions for you.
Are you required to file a Legal Separation before filing for a Divorce? NO
A Legal Separation is when you want to be separated financially, while remaining married. Some of the circumstances that people file for Legal Separation are for financial, religious or medical reasons.
Legal and physical custody is defined below by California Family Code Section 3020, which is provided below for your review.
“3020. (a) The Legislature finds and declares that it is the public policy of this state to assure that the health, safety, and welfare of children shall be the court's primary concern in determining the best interest of children when making any orders regarding the physical or legal custody or visitation of children. The Legislature further finds and declares that the perpetration of child abuse or domestic violence in a household where a child resides is detrimental to the child. (b) The Legislature finds and declares that it is the public policy of this state to assure that children have frequent and continuing contact with both parents after the parents have separated or dissolved their marriage, or ended their relationship, and to encourage parents to share the rights and responsibilities of child rearing in order to effect this policy, except where the contact would not be in the best interest of the child, as provided in Section 3011. (c) Where the policies set forth in subdivisions (a) and (b) of this section are in conflict, any court's order regarding physical or legal custody or visitation shall be made in a manner that ensures the health, safety, and welfare of the child and the safety of all family members.”
A paternity action is the process of having a legal determination that a minor child, born out of wedlock, is the biological child of the male.
DNA testing is not required. The father can sign acknowledging the child is his.
The parties can sign an agreement, which Legal Choices will prepare, agreeing to paternity, custody, visitation and support.
No Court appearances will be necessary when the parties sign an agreement.
A modification of a prior order is when the court has made a ruling or an order and you are seeking to change that order. This is often the case when a parent wants to change custody, visitation of the other parent and/or support. Legal Choices will prepare all of the documentation on your behalf and file the motion with the court.
When you are seeking a change in custody or visitation of a minor child, the court will require you to attend mandatory mediation to discuss the issues only relating to the child / children. Both parents will then go to in front of the Judge to have the new “Orders” issued.
Legal Choices offers independent mediation so that the parties do not have to attend the courts mandatory mediation. What Legal Choices can offer to you is mediating all issues that you have requested the court to rule. Independent mediation will allow the parties to attend one mediation session and to resolve all issues, including support issues.
Once the parties have mutually agreed to the division of retirement benefits, or
when the court orders the division of retirement benefits, the Judgment of Divorce
is not enough to actually divide those benefits. The Plan Administrators generally
require a Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO) to separate the party’s benefits
and place those benefits into the name of the non-
Mediation is the process in which both parties sit down with the Mediator to resolve the issues the parties have been unable to agree to previously. These issues can include:
Gail Hahn received her mediation training through the National Conflict Resolution Center in San Diego, California.
1) Who is going to keep what property
2) Who is going to pay a debt
3) What will be the parenting schedule
4) Child support
5) Spousal Support
6) Houses, timeshares and raw land
7) Retirement benefits
8) Various other issues relative to your matter
Both parties must agree to mediation. One of the parties cannot be forced into independent mediation services. If the parties cannot agree to custody or visitation, the Court will force the parties into court mediation. Family Court Services Mediation will only address issues relating to the children, not division of assets or debts.
When utilizing Legal Choices to assist you with mediation, this will save the parties a great deal of time, money and often multiple appearances in court.
