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Divorce & legal separation
A California divorce is a sequence: filing, service, automatic restraining orders, disclosures, temporary orders, settlement or trial, judgment. Where cases go wrong is usually in the first month, before anyone has thought about strategy. I handle contested and negotiated dissolutions in the San Francisco and San Mateo County family courts, and I get involved early enough to matter.
If your spouse is withdrawing large sums, nothing restrains that until the petition is served. The practical move is to file, serve, and document every withdrawal; the court can order reimbursement and shift fees for financial misconduct.
After ten years the court keeps spousal support jurisdiction indefinitely, and the analysis moves well beyond the calculator. These cases turn on earning capacity, the marital standard of living, and the record built during the case.
RSUs, options, bonuses and carried interest raise characterization and support questions that generalist firms routinely miss. The time rule, Hug and Nelson allocations, and Smith/Ostler bonus orders are everyday tools in my practice.
Being unrepresented against counsel is where most bad judgments come from. If you've been served, your response is due thirty days from service; call before that runs.
California imposes a six-month waiting period from service of the petition before a judgment can take effect, so nothing is faster than that. A negotiated case with complete disclosures can be done close to the six-month mark. A contested case with custody or property disputes typically runs twelve to eighteen months, longer if it goes to trial.
No. The date of separation is the date one spouse communicates a final decision to end the marriage and then acts consistently with it. Spouses can be separated while living under the same roof, and the date matters because it cuts off community property and community income.
Once the petition and summons are served, both spouses are barred from transferring or concealing property, changing insurance beneficiaries, and taking children out of state without consent. Filing promptly is often the only practical way to stop money from leaving a joint account.
Not jointly. A lawyer can represent only one spouse. I can, however, prepare a settlement and judgment where the other spouse is unrepresented or consulting their own counsel, which is the most cost-effective path when the parties largely agree.
It depends almost entirely on how much is disputed and how reasonable the other side is. At the consultation I'll give you a realistic range for the first phase of your case based on what you tell me.
Most people call after something has already gone wrong. The better time is before. Tell me where things stand and I'll tell you what I would do first.
Request a consultationor call 213.477.3732