Family Law

If you are trying to end or change a marriage in California, you may be considering legal separation, divorce, or annulment. These are not interchangeable choices. Legal separation lets you live apart and obtain court orders while remaining married, divorce ends the marriage, and annulment asks the court to find that the marriage was not legally valid from the beginning. The best option depends on facts such as your California residency, property and debt, children, health insurance, religious or personal beliefs, and whether there is a genuine legal reason the marriage may have been invalid. This guide explains the differences in plain English. It is not a substitute for advice about your specific circumstances. ...

Once custody and a parenting schedule are in place, the next question is almost always: how much child support will actually be owed? California doesn’t leave this to negotiation or guesswork — it uses a fixed statewide formula that courts are required to follow in nearly every case. Here’s how that formula actually works, what a significant 2024 legal change means for your numbers, and where to run the real calculation yourself. ...

If you have children, custody is usually the part of a California divorce that matters most — and the part with the least room for guesswork. California doesn’t default to one parent over the other; instead, every decision is measured against a single legal standard: what’s actually best for the child. Here’s how that standard works in practice, what the different types of custody actually mean, and what to expect if you and your co-parent don’t agree right away. ...