Every day people ask us some very common Family Law Questions.  The one piece of advice we like people to hear is that they should consult with an attorney and get all their questions asked before just moving out and serving papers. 

 1.     Does my spouse get half of everything I own?  California is a Community Property State.  This means that every thing you earn through work during marriage, or acquire with money earned during money, is community property.  You actually don’t own any property separately unless (a) you brought property into the marriage and kept it completely separate (b) someone died and left you something that you kept completely separate.  Even if one spouse worked and one spouse stayed home with the children, everything earned or acquired during that period is community property, even your pension and 401(k).    

2.     2.    How many alimony or child support will I be paid?  Child support is calculated with a strict formula based on individual wages and time –share.  Since most Family Law judges in California seek to grant 50/50 custody, sometimes neither pays the other support because the wages and time-share are equivalent. Alimony, or spousal support, is calculated based on certain factors such as the length of the marriage and whether or not the person asking for support has another way to support themselves. 

3.     3.    How much time will the kids spend away from me with my ex? The normal arrangement in California is joint legal and physical custody, barring any sort of domestic violence or abuse.  The rationale is that the children benefit by being with each parent as much as possible.  This is the standard by which all cases are judged, and other arrangements are made on an ad hoc basis, such as with infant or small children or children who are ill or handicapped.  50/50 custody means shared time with the child.  So you could have Joint Legal and Physical Custody but only  20/80 time share.

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5.      4. How much will my divorce cost?  This is impossible to say because there is no way to tell how much discovery will have to be done or if experts will have to be used.  Clients can keep down their bills by cooperating in their divorce and producing documents without the need for extensive discovery litigation.  Some can much more if there are extensive joint property holdings or if “tracing” of separate property through the community property must be done. A mediated or collaborative divorce is the least expensive divorce because you agree together to divide property, debts, children and support.  

Morinelli & Lieberman Law Group can help you with any type of divorce and answer your questions.