Divorce

Divorce During Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Published on: April 6, 2020 | by Van Voorhis & Sosna

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Coronavirus, or COVID-19, has the world in an unprecedented state of uncertainty and instability. Six counties around the San Francisco Bay Area were among the first to shelter in place starting March 16 and the order was recently extended to May 1. A few days later, the entire state of California joined suit. We’ve even moved the federal income tax day back three months, the first time this has occurred on a national scale. But relationships don’t hold like paperwork can, and in times of uncertainty, it’s often reassuring to know your full set of options.

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If you’re already in the process of getting separated or divorced, paying or receiving support, co-parenting, or establishing a custody arrangement in California, you probably have many questions. We will answer as many as we can anticipate now and will update this page as new decisions are made and published or as things settle down and reopen.

Alimony in California: What You Need to Know Before Filing (or Responding)

Published on: December 13, 2019 | by Van Voorhis & Sosna

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If you are in the process of getting a divorce or wondering what the outcomes of one may be, you are probably thinking about what your alimony payments (called spousal support in California) might look like. Typically, as you know, the higher wage earner pays regular amounts to their spouse while the lower-wage earner collects these payments.

What you might not know is how many factors influence spousal support in California. The law around alimony in California is informed by dozens of factors, including the length of the marriage and your relative incomes as well as “any other factors the court determines are just and equitable.” That can feel like a big question mark.

If you end up meeting with a divorce attorney to understand your options, good lawyers will ask for many facts about your marriage. These will include your date of marriage, the date you separated or plan to separate (and whether this could be disputed), plus information about you and your partner’s finances. Understanding these central pieces of information will help establish whether the marriage was short- or long-term and set the stage for the terms of any potential spousal support agreement.

Divorcing in California? 3 Separate Property Reimbursement Rights You Need to Know

Published on: December 3, 2019 | by Van Voorhis & Sosna

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When you were thinking about getting married, you probably looked at your accounts and obligations to determine how many guests to invite to your wedding or how long your honeymoon vacation could last. You might have considered your assets when deciding on the house to buy or the remodeling expense to undertake. But now, as you are thinking about a divorce, the calculations probably seem a lot different. Indeed, getting a divorce in California may entail a lot of spreadsheets, calculations, and hunting down old account statements to understand what was yours when you went into the marriage, what belongs to the community, and what reimbursements you may be entitled to.

Whether you are considering your options or the paperwork has been filed, you should know your separate property reimbursement rights. Here are three key reimbursements to consider. Please note: For each of these reimbursements, there are complex limitations and considerations to consider, and reimbursements are just one element of many divorce settlements. If you have any questions about your rights, you should speak with an experienced divorce attorney to understand the extent and limitations of your particular situation.

#1: You Contributed to the Community With Your Separate Property—And Can Prove It

Direct Tracing Community Property vs. Separate Property in a California Divorce

Published on: December 3, 2019 | by Van Voorhis & Sosna

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Perhaps the best part of traveling with others is the great meals and shared experiences with a special friend. And perhaps the worst is sorting out who paid for what, who consumed what, and who owes what to whom at the end of the trip. This sorting and separating is challenging enough with friends whose company you enjoy and for whom you do not mind buying dinner. But when you need to sort and separate assets and debts accrued over the course of a marriage with your soon-to-be-ex, the challenge is that much greater.

Property like real estate, furniture, jewelry, vehicles, checking and savings accounts, retirement accounts, investments, and business interests—as well as any associated debts—can fall into three potential buckets during a marriage in California: Yours, mine, and ours.

If you are thinking about a divorce in the Golden State, you may need help understanding which assets and debts are yours, which belong to your ex-spouse, and which belong to the community (both of you). That is because, in California, the court presumes that all property acquired during a marriage is community property (and the court strives to divide community property equally in the event of a divorce). Keep this in mind as you are listing assets and debts and examining your ex-spouse’s disclosures for evidence of omitted assets. However, if you spent separate property to acquire or improve community property, you are entitled to get that money back—so long as you can prove it.

How to Find the Best Divorce Lawyer in the San Francisco Bay Area

Published on: November 14, 2019 | by Van Voorhis & Sosna

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Choosing the best divorce lawyer may well be the second biggest decision of your entire marriage or domestic partnership. It is often an emotional time with a lot of challenging issues to address. You will need to know what assets and debts are considered community and which are separate property—and you will need to be confident that no assets have been omitted (or hidden). You will have to establish whether anyone should be paid spousal support and how much. And if there are children, you will need to establish custody and visitation arrangements as well as determine any appropriate child support payments.

Whatever is at stake in your divorce, you need to choose an attorney best equipped to work with you and your particular situation. Before making a decision, we always recommend our clients take a step back and reflect on what we have seen to be the three most important steps in finding a divorce attorney who can achieve the best outcome for you.

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What to Do After a Divorce If You Discover Omitted Assets

Published on: November 13, 2019 | by Van Voorhis & Sosna

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If you have recently gone through a divorce, you know how much paperwork was involved. Unfortunately, sometimes in the rapid exchange of all these files, documents, and disclosures, things get missed. An omission typically happens when one or both parties are self-represented, but not always. And while an omission is often inadvertent—an honest mistake—other times one party intentionally hid assets from the other. If you find yourself in such a situation, there are a few things to know.

First, let’s get some legalese out of the way. Do not worry, we will explain what this means in plain English in just a moment. But here is what the California Family Code has to say about omitted assets:

In a proceeding for dissolution of marriage, for nullity of marriage, or for legal separation of the parties, the court has continuing jurisdiction to award community estate assets or community estate liabilities to the parties that have not been previously adjudicated by a judgment in the proceeding.