Our Services
Affordable Legal Document Preparation
Divorce and other court petitions doesn’t have to be a complicated, confusing process. Working together with us, we will go through all the necessary court forms in a stress-free environment and at your specific direction. If you are just starting your divorce, legal separation or annulment, just need child or spousal support modifications, help finalizing a divorce, or help with any other family law matter, we can assist you with document preparation from the beginning of the process to end.
We also provide paralegal services to solo attorneys and law firms with project-based needs, or on-going assistance.
Divorce (Dissolution of Marriage)
Divorce is a process that at its conclusion ends the marriage between a couple, and all direct legal relationships between them, with the exception of exclusions written in the court divorce decree or judgment. The types of divorce include Dissolution of Marriage, Dissolution of Domestic Partnership, and Summary Dissolution. A written agreement can usually address pertinent matters to the divorce such as child support, parenting arrangements, spousal support, division of property, and payment of any debts. When there is an agreement between the couple on these matters, the divorce is considered
“uncontested.”
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Annulment
An annulment (or “nullity of marriage”) is when a court states your marriage is NOT legally valid. After an annulment, it is like your marriage or domestic partnership never happened because it was never legal. Marriages and partnerships can be declared invalid for the following legal reasons: being under 18 years old at time the time of marriage, prior existing marriage, incestuous, bigamous, unsound mind, fraud, force, or physical incapacity.
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Child Custody
Child custody in California is a guardianship of a child. California requires that the interest of the child be above anything else. The different types of custody are:
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1. Physical custody which means the right to have a child live with him or her;
2. Legal custody which means have the right to make decisions about a child’s upbringing;
3. Sole custody which means either having sole legal or sole physical custody of a child and;
4. Joint custody which means the parents do not live together but they share in the decision making responsibilities and/or physical custody and/or legal custody.
Child custody is one of the biggest issues that arise during divorce or legal separation. Ideally, courts prefer to have both parents involved in the child’s life and jointly share in the responsibilities of the child.
Legal Separation
Legal separation, unlike a divorce, does not result in ending a marriage. This process is for couples that wish to separate, but do not desire to end the marriage, and want to establish an agreement on parenting, property distribution, and financial responsibilities. Some couples prefer legal separation over divorce for religious reasons. However, legal separation at its conclusion does not end a marriage, and as a result legally separated (but not divorced) couples can’t marry someone else. To obtain a legal separation, the required paperwork will have to be filed with the appropriate court, beginning with a petition (or complaint), by one or both parties.
Marital Settlement Agreement
This can be prepared for either a divorce or legal separation when you and your current spouse want to finalize the division of any property and debts and/or spell out the terms of any child custody, visitation or child or spousal support agreements. By agreeing and signing a written agreement (a stipulation), spouses do not have to go in front of a judge and leave the decision up to him or her. The agreement will not become a court order until the judge accepts your agreement and signs it as an order.
Child Visitation
Visitation (also called “time-share”) is the plan for how the parents will share time with the children. A parent who has the children less than half of the time has visitation with the children. Visitation orders are varied, depending on the best interests of the children, the situation of the parents, and other factors. In general, visitation can be:
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1. Visitation according to a schedule: Generally, it helps the parents and children to have detailed visitation plans to prevent conflicts and confusion.
2. Reasonable visitation: A reasonable visitation order does not necessarily have details as to when the children will be with each parent. Usually, these orders are open-ended and allow the parents to work it out between them.
3. Supervised visitation: This is used when the children’s safety and well-being require that visits with the other parent be supervised by you, another adult, or a professional agency.
4. No visitation: This option is used when visiting with the parent, even with supervision, would be physically or emotionally harmful to the children.
The law says that judges must give custody according to what is in the “best interest of the child.”
Child Support
Child support is the amount of money that a court orders a parent or both parents to pay every month to help pay for the support of the child (or children) and the child's living expenses. Each parent is equally responsible for providing for the financial needs of their child. But the court cannot enforce this obligation until it makes an order for support. When parents separate, a parent must ask the court to make an order establishing parentage (paternity) and also request that the court to make an order for child support. Child support payments are usually made until children turn 18 (or 19 if they are still in high school full time, living at home, and cannot support themselves). Either parent can ask the judge to make a child support order.
Establish Paternity
A Petition to Establish Paternity can be used to determine who the legal parents of a child are if the parents were not married when the child was born. The petition can be filed by either parent of the child and can be used to resolve issues of child custody, visitation, and support, as well as change the name of the child /children and establish the father’s responsibility for expenses associated with pregnancy and birth. Usually a child’s parentage must be established before you can get child support or custody and visitation orders.
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Litigation Support (Discovery)
We provide superior litigation support (Discovery) to individuals and attorneys:
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Form Interrogatories
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Special Interrogatories
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Requests for Admission
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Demand for Inspection and Production of Documents
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Discovery Plan
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Subpoenas
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Motion to Compel
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Motions
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Settlement Agreements
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Trial Briefs
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Electronic Court Filing and More!
Spousal Support
When a couple divorces or legally separates, the court may order 1 spouse to pay the other a certain amount of support money each month. This is called “spousal support” for married. It is sometimes also called “alimony.” Spousal support can sometimes be a difficult legal issue. It is always in the parties’ best interest to see a lawyer or a family law facilitator in your court to help you understand spousal support — how long the support may last and how it may affect your taxes; and help you calculate any possible spousal support. There must be a court case in order for spousal support to be legally established and officially started. A spouse can ask the judge to make a spousal support order as part of a divorce, legal separation, or annulment.
Name Change
Name changes are common. We can also assist with preparing the court forms needed to ask the court to legally change the name of an adult, minor child or children, or a family. There can be different reasons for your name change, such as: you are getting married or you are getting a divorce, or you just don’t like your current name, or perhaps your children are now part of a blended family and you would like everyone to have the same family name. Legal name changes are usually fairly easy to carry out. Courts only generally do not approve a petition for name change if the intent of the change is to defraud or evade registered offenders’ lists.
Unlawful Detainer (Eviction) Help
We also provide residential eviction defense services. A tenant facing an eviction for failing to pay rent or violating a lease or rental agreement may have a defense or several defenses that justifies fighting the eviction. Fighting an eviction delays a residential eviction for up to 3 - 6 months in California.
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We provide low-cost help to self-represented residential tenants facing eviction by utilizing several new laws regarding evictions in California.
