While a short delay to make sure service is accomplished smoothly makes sense, your case cannot move forward until your spouse has been properly served. Once the Respondent has been served, you will need to make sure that the Court has proof of service. For the initial divorce papers, this proof is given with a form called the Proof of Service of Summons FL If you have served by mail, the completed Notice and Acknowledgment of Receipt must be attached to the Proof of Service of Summons.
Completing this form correctly is vital to moving your divorce forward, and missing any of the information will result in delays. You will also need to file your proof with the court. While you are waiting for your spouse to respond, we suggest that you start on your financial disclosures.
For more information on how to complete your financial disclosures, please see Step 5: Temporary Orders. You are subject to these orders the minute you are served, and ignorance is not a defense to violations. For more information about these restraining orders, please review Step 1, Filing for Divorce.
After service, you have 30 calendar days to respond. If you miss the deadline, the Petitioner has the option of moving forward with the divorce without your input. California only requires one spouse to seek a divorce.
By filing for a divorce, the Petitioner is making a clear statement of intent to divorce. Therefore, even if you do not agree, the Petitioner has the unilateral right to seek and obtain a divorce. Responding to the divorce does not mean you are requesting it, or that you agree with what your spouse is asking for. It does, however, allow your judge to hear your side of the story and protect your legal rights. It lists the same factual information as the Petition, and allows the Respondent to either agree or disagree with the facts stated in the Petition.
This includes the same opportunity to provide residency information, statistical information such as the date of marriage and separation, and your general position on the five basic categories of divorce issues.
Reviewing the Petition can help you complete the Response since the same questions are asked on both forms. Make sure that you are completing the form based on what you want, and what you believe is true — do not simply mimic what the Petition states if you disagree with the information provided. For more information on this form, please review Step 1, Filing for Divorce.
For assistance on completing these forms, please watch our videos. You have 30 calendar days after service to file your response with the court and serve the Petitioner. There are mandatory filing fees when you respond to the divorce. If you are on disability or another form of state aid and apply for a waiver, you will automatically qualify to have these fees waived.
If you need a payment plan or cannot pay the filing fees at all, you can apply for this assistance. Since most counties have multiple courthouses in multiple locations, make sure you look up the address of the family law courthouse. Since the Petitioner has already appeared in the case by filing the Petition, you can serve the Petitioner by mail without a Notice and Acknowledgment of receipt.
While you certainly can personally serve the Petitioner or serve by mail with Notice and Acknowledgment of Receipt, this is a legally unnecessary step. Regardless of whether service is personal, by mail with Notice and Acknowledgment of Receipt, or by mail, the same requirements apply.
Service must be by someone at least 18 who is not part of the divorce case. That means that another adult has to mail the documents on your behalf. You will need to file proof with the Court that the Petitioner has been served. This is done by completing and filing a Proof of Service by Mail. While there are multiple forms that will suffice, the mostly commonly used Proof of Service by Mail form is FL If the Petitioner has an attorney, you will want to serve the attorney.
If the Petitioner does not have an attorney, then you will want to serve the Petitioner directly. Temporary orders can be requested during the divorce proceedings. California divorces take at least six months and a day after service of the initial documents before they can be finalized. For many people, that is too long to go without orders. The word temporary can be a little misleading because temporary orders do not have an automatic expiration date. Temporary orders remain in effect until superseded by other orders, including a judgment.
There are many temporary orders that can be requested during the divorce. These include, but are not limited to the following:. Either party can ask for temporary orders anytime during the divorce proceedings. The orders can be by stipulation agreement or issued by a judge. Having a document in writing that is signed by a judge, and therefore enforceable under the law, provides numerous benefits. Many people find that having formal temporary orders reduces conflict and creates clarity. You can file as soon as your divorce case is open, and the key is to be very honest with yourself regarding the direction of your case.
Fear is a terrible basis for decision-making, and the decisions you make in your divorce have very real and long-term effects on you, your children, and your family. Unless your situation is a true emergency that could not have been predicted, it typically takes anywhere from 8 — 10 weeks before a judge will hear your case for temporary orders. Plan ahead and understand that the court system is not going to automatically work on your schedule.
To obtain temporary orders, you will need to file paperwork requesting orders called a motion. A motion will set a hearing date in front of a judge. The paperwork always starts with a form called a Request for Order FL This form will give you a list of typical issues brought before the judge, including: child custody, visitation, child support, spousal support, and attorney fees.
You have the option to pick as many issues as you would like to be addressed in front of the judge. The orders you ask for may require additional documents to be filed with your Request for Order. For assistance on completing these forms, please watch our video.
Think of your request for orders as a dinner menu. Pick what works best for your family. In addition to choosing the issues you want the judge to hear, you will also need to clearly explain to the court what you are asking for and why you are asking for these specific orders. This explanation, or statement, is called a declaration.
Your declaration needs to describe the facts of your situation and give the judge the important information needed to give you orders. You want to be honest, easy to understand, and tell the judge exactly what you want.
Once you file your motion with the court, you are given a date and time for your hearing. Make sure you have your calendar available when the clerk is scheduling your hearing date in order to avoid conflicts. Like all documents you file with the court, the clerk keeps the original, double hole punched document and stamps the two copies you provided. The clerk returns the endorsed-filed copies back to you. One copy is for your records, and the other copy is for you to serve on the other spouse.
It is up to you to ensure that your spouse is served on time. The purpose of CCRC is provide a neutral environment for parents to work out their parenting disputes with the assistance of a mental health professional, called a Child Custody Recommending Counselor. Unless there is domestic violence, parents participate together in the same room with the counselor. The goal of the recommending counselor is to facilitate an agreement between the parents and allow them the first opportunity to make decisions about their own children.
There is no set time limit on these sessions. In some counties, CCRC can be as short as 15 minutes. Other counties allot three or more hours. The amount of time given to the parents typically depends on whether mediation is conducted the day of the hearing, or at a separate appointment prior to the hearing. If you are filing for temporary orders along with the petition, you will need to arrange to have a third party adult personally serve your spouse.
For more information on service, see Step 1, Filing for Divorce. Unless given special permission by the judge, you are required by law to serve your request at least 16 court days before the hearing. If the motion is served by mail, you must add an additional 5 calendar days to your deadline. Court days do not include weekends or any of the 13 state holidays, which are as follows:.
There is little strategic value in delaying to serve your spouse with your motion. The more advance notice that can be given to the other side, the greater the opportunity is to reach agreements before the hearing date.
If you miss your deadline to serve, you will have to file additional paperwork and obtain a new court date. If you and your spouse reach an agreement, you may be able to avoid going to court if you are able to write up your agreement into a formal court order.
The formal name for an agreement is a stipulation. A stipulation can become an order when the judge signs and approves of your agreement.
This is usually called a Stipulation and Order. As part of your agreement, you can drop vacate the hearing. Reaching an agreement and turning it into a court order is usually the best of both worlds.
Not only do you remain in control of your situation and make your own decisions, but you also have the benefit of an enforceable court order. You have the opportunity to tell the judge your side of the story by filing paperwork with the court before your hearing date.
Your job is to respond only to the issues addressed in the Request for Orders. For example, if your spouse requests child custody and visitation orders, you need to tell the judge if you agree or disagree with the requested orders. If you disagree, you should state what you would like the judge to order. A Responsive Declaration is not the right paperwork for asking the judge for orders that are not part of the Request for Orders. Therefore, if your spouse asks for custody and visitation orders, you should not be responding by asking the judge for spousal support.
The deadline to file a Responsive Declaration is usually 9 court days before your hearing date, unless the Request for Order states otherwise. Court days do not include weekends or any of the 13 state holidays.
For a list of court holidays, please see above. It is very important that you file your response in a timely manner. There are many reasons why you may not be ready for a hearing. Some of these typical reasons are as follows:. Moving the hearing date is commonly referred to as a continuance. You can always ask the other side to agree to a continuance. If the other side does not consent to continuing the hearing date, you can always ask the judge.
Assuming you have a very good reason for not being prepared for your hearing, judges are often willing to give you a new court date. An emergency Request for Orders is called an Ex Parte. When an Ex Parte is filed, the judge is being asked to issue temporary emergency orders in a very short window of time. In order to make Ex Parte orders, the judge has to be convinced that there is a true emergency.
An emergency is defined on a case by case basis, but in general, most judges find the following to be emergencies that would warrant the filing of an Ex Parte. Ex Partes require a great deal of detail and adherence to strict procedural requirements. There are a lot of very specific state rules, local county rules, and statutory requirements that must be followed for an Ex Parte to be granted.
Your judge will make orders regarding the issues listed in the Request for Order. You should be prepared to provide the judge with additional information as requested. Based on the documents filed with the court and what each of you says at the hearing, your judge will make oral orders. These orders need to be formally memorialized in writing with a form called a Findings and Order After Hearing.
Depending on the issues, you may need to complete a number of other forms. It is very important that the orders be written up accurately and filed with the Court. Your Findings and Order After Hearing will provide both you and your spouse with clarity on what the judge ordered. You are required to obey what the judge ordered, and failure to do so may result in fines, community service, or even jail time.
Let us help alleviate some confusion and concern regarding spousal support. Start with our spousal support calculator to provide some clarity on what potentially lies ahead. Calculate Spousal Support. It is a specific way of listing out all assets, debts, income, and expenses. In addition, you will state who owns or owes each asset or debt, when the property or debt was acquired, and provide a rough value of each item.
As part of the divorce process, you will be dividing property, including debts, as well as determining support. Financial disclosures can be very tricky and tedious to complete. You are required to provide a substantial amount of documentation, including but not limited to the following:.
All of these documents need to be formatted in a very specific way. You will then need to serve all of your financial disclosures on the other side; however, you will only file FL and FL with the court. There are two sets of financial disclosures required during the divorce process. The first disclosure is called the preliminary declaration of disclosure. The second disclosure is called the final declaration of disclosure. While many people choose to waive the final declaration of disclosure, you do not have the option to waive the preliminary declaration of disclosure.
For assistance on completing this form, please watch our California Divorce form completion video series. California law states that you and your spouse have a fiduciary financial duty to the other. That means that there is a very high duty of loyalty. As part of that fiduciary duty, you are required to be an open book and allow your spouse to see all of your financial information and assets, even if you owned the asset prior to your marriage. On a practical basis, accurate financial disclosures help spouses, their attorneys, and the court to identify the estate.
Identifying the estate makes settlement negotiations easier because there is clarity on what exists and what is owed.
Accurate financial disclosures allow both parties to obtain a fair outcome with confidence. The law states that each party must file a financial disclosure within 60 days of filing his or her initial paperwork.
Contrary to the pop-cultural imagination, most divorces never make it to court, so the added element of fault can sometimes lead to a much lengthier divorce process.
Meanwhile in California, you do not have this option. Child custody tends to be the single most contentious family law matter. These disputes are deeply emotional, and if you or your spouse let those emotions take hold, you may drag your otherwise simple divorce all the way to court. Meanwhile, we strongly encourage you to work things out outside of court, because you might not like what you find there.
When your custody dispute winds up in court, you and your spouse give up all control over your fate, which can cause a whole lot more emotional turmoil. It does help, however, to keep in mind what kind of custody arrangement a California court would be likely to impose. California family law has a presumption of shared custody.
A good family law attorney will steer you away from the courtroom so that you at least have a say in the specific schedule. While child support is generally a much less emotional issue, it also has a tendency to draw out a divorce. This is another line of disagreement that an experienced divorce attorney will hopefully discourage. The fact of the matter is that you and your spouse will ultimately both have to compromise. In an effort to promote that spirit of compromise, California has a set formula that judges use to determine the presumptive child support amount, which you can find on your local court website.
On paper, state law makes dividing your debts and assets simple. However, when it comes to dividing up property, the devil is in the details. Although divorcing couples might understand that they are each entitled to exactly half of the shared assets, they might still end up fighting tooth and nail over which half they get.
The secret to a fast and easy dissolution is to let the little things go. Or better yet, agree to shared custody for both!
Judging by movies, you might think that a court battle is the default divorce method in America. If I do not want a divorce, can I prevent my spouse from getting one? What do I do if I am served with divorce papers?
What happens if I decide not to file a Response? What happens after I file my Response? How much will a divorce cost? Is there any way to get divorced without having to go to court?
I am not receiving child support. Do I still have to let my spouse see the children? If my spouse had an affair, can I get custody of the children? If there is a mistake in the divorce judgment, can it be corrected? I was not able to accomplish much in court because my husband was unbearable. He would lie to the judge and the judge would believe him. I then decided to seek representation and consulted with Family Law Matters. They honestly took the pressure off my shoulders.
I felt very relieved after speaking with them. They really listens. They told me the appropriate law and informed me of my rights. In just the two months since I retained them, we settled everything. They stood by me every step of the way. This is rare to find. They truly understands how difficult it is to go through a divorce. They knows the law very well and they are very dependable. Plus, it cost me half of what it cost my ex-husband to conclude our divorce. I definitely recommend Family Law Matters.
I do not wish a divorce upon anyone, but if you are going through one, consult with Family Law Matters. Try our new step-by-step format! We're improving online instructions for divorce! The forms and instructions you use to finish your case depend on whether: The respondent in the case filed a response, AND You and your spouse or domestic partner have an agreement about: Ending your marriage, Child custody and visitation, Support issues including child, spousal, and partner support , and How to divide your property and debt.
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