Statistics show that divorce rates are on the rise in the United States. The reasons for divorce vary from infidelity, abuse to incompatibility by marital parties. If you are considering a divorce, there are a few key facts you may need to know about when getting a divorce. This article will discuss the key facts of getting a divorce in California.
To begin with, it is important to realize that California is a purely ‘no-fault’ divorce state. This basically means that you cannot state that the reason for your divorce is because of your spouse’s wrongdoing. Rather, in the state of California, the most commonly used grounds for divorce is that the parties to the marriage have ‘irreconcilable’ differences. And as a result of these irreconcilable differences, it has led to the breakdown of the marriage. That being said, there are instances where the issue of fault may be considered in court when it comes to dividing property or awarding alimony.
For most states, there is a residency requirement in order for it to grant a divorce. With regard to the state of California, it is necessary that one spouse must have been a resident of California for at least six months or 180 days before filing for divorce.
One key issue in any divorce is the dividing of property. California is a ‘community property’ state; this basically means that any income that was owned by either spouse during the marriage and all property that was bought using this money or earnings are considered to be marital property. As a result, during the marriage and divorce, this property is owned equally by each spouse or partner and divided equally between them.
When a marriage has children involved, normally, the divorce requires child custody agreements to be adhered to in order to determine visitation, custody, and other matters. As with any other states, the courts in California focus all decisions relating to child custody on what is to be in the best interests of the child. As such, it is presumed that having frequent and continued contact with both parents after a divorce is in the best interest of the child. Thus, if it is possible, judges strongly support joint custody arrangements. However, the nature of the timeshare between the parents is also to be determined by what is in the best interest of the child.
When the issue of custody is determined, the next issue is with regards to child support. The state of California is no different from all other states in requiring both parents to support their children during and after divorce. However, the amount of child support is strongly influenced by a number of factors, for example:
- Each parents’ income
- Other available resources
- The time each parent spends with the child
There are instances whereby the courts will impute income to a parent that has the capacity to earn more than they actually are earning.
The process of divorce is emotional that requires a professional to walk you through it. For legal advice and representation, contact a divorce lawyer in Chula Vista [https://estolanolaw.com/file-divorce-in-san-diego-county].