Useful Terms for the California Divorce
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by: danbob
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Going through a divorce is hard enough, emotionally and financially. Trying to understand the legal terms that your lawyer and the judge are throwing at you makes it just that much harder. Here are a few useful legal terms that will help you navigate your way through your California divorce.
Community Property - Any property that you acquired after your marriage and before you separated. There are some notable exceptions to that, such as property that was given to only one member of the marriage, instead of both of you, or property that was left to just one of you in a will.
Custody - Basically, custody in California breaks down into three kinds: legal custody, physical custody, and joint custody. In most divorces, both parties will continue to have legal custody (meaning that you both continue to have the legal rights and duties of parents) but only one party will get actual physical custody of the children. The party with actual physical custody has the children living with him/her and the other party gets visitation. Joint custody means that the children live 50% of the time with one parent and 50% of the time with the other. It's complicated and not granted very often.
Financial Disclosures - California requires that two sets of very detailed financial disclosures be exchanged between the two parties getting the divorce. The first set is required in all cases and the second set can be waived in many instances.
Parenting Plan - This is what we used to call a, "visitation schedule." It outlines who has physical custody of the children and what times the other parent is allowed to see them.
QDRO - Qualified domestic relations order - This is a very complicated document that's used to divide retirement benefits at the point the divorce is granted. Sometimes your place of employment may provide it through the personnel office. If not, plan on having a lawyer do it for you.
Quasi-Community (or separate) Property - Property that located outside of the State of California but which, if it were inside the State, would be treated as community (or separate) property. What this is all about is that it allows the judge to look at ALL of the property when he/she is dividing, rather than just the property that California has jurisdiction over.
Residency - The amount of time you're required to live in a particular place before you're considered a resident. Before you can file for a divorce in California you must live in the State for six months and in the county where you file for 90 days.
Separate Property - Property that you owned before you got married or acquired after you separated. This also includes property that was given just to one of you as a gift, or was left to just one of you in a will.
Spousal Support - The term California uses for alimony. Normally, it's only granted for marriages of, "long duration," which means about 10 years. The judge can declare a shorter marriage to be of long duration if he thinks there's a reason for it.
Summary Dissolution - A very simplified divorce procedure in California. It can only be used by people who have no children and very little property and you must have been married less than 5 years.
Time Share - One of the factors that's used to assess child support. It just means how much time each party has physical possession of the child or children. The more you're actually in possession of the child, the less your child support is normally going to be.
Waiting Period - The period you're required to wait before your divorce can be granted in California. It's six months from the day your spouse is served with the papers (not from the day you file for divorce.)
For more information on the California divorce process, come see us at The California Divorce Course (http://divorcecalifornia.biz/index.html).
About the Author
Daniel Adair is a retired paralegal and the author of The California Divorce Course, on on-line guide to doing your own divorce in California.
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