We represent and assist clients in legal dissolutions, from the start of the petition or response through to the completion of the judgment.
A dissolution is the termination of a valid marriage by a court.
California is a no-fault divorce state in which the parties are not required to prove fault. Rather, the parties have to show an irretrievable breakdown of the marriage or irreconcilable differences.
THE DISSOLUTION PROCESS
- To begin a divorce, one spouse completes a petition. A petition is a legal document that tells the court why the spouse wants a divorce and how the court should resolve issues of spousal support, child support, custody and visitation, and property division.
- The petition is then filed with the court in the appropriate jurisdiction.
- The petition and a summons is served on the other spouse, along with blank forms for a reponse. A summons is a document that notifies the served spouse that the divorce action was started and asks he/she to answer the petition and appear in court.
- The served spouse is given 30 days from service to complete and file a response. A response tells the court if the served spouse agrees with the petition or how the court should resolve the legal issues in the divorce.
- If the served spouse does not respond within 30 days from service, the court assumes that the served spouse agrees with the terms of the petition.
- Both spouses are required to exchange information on their income and property with each other so that the court can determine how to divide their assets and debts.
- Sometimes, the couple can voluntarily agree on how to resolve all their issues and can go through a process called mediation. If a settlement is reached between the couple, the agreement is shown to a judge at an informal hearing where he/she asks some factual questions and whether the spouses understood the agreement and chose to sign it. The couple receives a divorce decree saying what they agreed to if the judge approves the settlement agreement. If the judge does not approve the agreement, the couple will have to go to trial.
- If the couple cannot reach an agreement, the case will go to trial.
- The judge decides the unresolved issues at trial based on the facts, evidence and arguments of each side.
- The judge will grant the judgment on the divorce when he/she reaches her decision. A judgment is a court's final determination of the spouses' rights and obligations.
- One or both spouse can appeal the judge's decision to a higher court unless there was a settlement. However, it is unusual for the court of appeals to overturn the trial judge's decision.