Irvine Family Law Attorney

Family Law is an area of legal practice relating to family issues and domestic situations such as filing for a divorce, child custody, division of property, alimony, and much more. Below is a detailed list of the services we offer at DeArmey law and what they entail.

Divorce

If you and your partner are considering a divorce, there are many matters to resolve. Divorces become more complex when couples cannot agree on a settlement. This is called a “contested divorce,” and a family lawyer is necessary to help negotiate matters such as child custody if the couple has children, separation of assets, and property division.

One of the biggest mistakes people make when filing for a divorce is trying to handle these matters on their own. Hiring a lawyer helps to achieve the results that you wish for, all the while letting you focus on your day-to-day life. Lawyers help mitigate and resolve conflicts between couples that cannot agree, cleaning up the divorce process and lowering the stress levels that are experienced during this challenging time.

Although it may seem more affordable to navigate the case on your own, without legal representation, you may run into unexpected charges or not secure the results that you wished, therefore losing out on potentially having more spousal support or child support granted to you. You may even lose property or assets by not hiring a lawyer to help you secure your valuables.

Legal Separation

Divorce is not the right choice for everyone. Many couples prefer to file for a legal separation, which does not terminate your marital status but allows you to live financially separately from your partner. In many cases, couples may choose this option for insurance benefits if they need to maintain their partner’s insurance coverage.

Much of the legal process for a legal separation is handled similarly to filing for a divorce. The couple must agree on a division of property, assets, and child custody.

Annulment

If you believe your marriage to not be valid under state law, a family lawyer can help you seek an annulment. Annulments can be issued for multiple reasons, including religious purposes. Unlike a divorce, an annulment doesn’t end a marriage, but it declares that the marriage was never valid from the very beginning. There are very stringent conditions in which an annulment can be granted, and most often, they are not accepted, but if you believe your marriage to not be valid, a family lawyer can help you with the process of proving this to the court.

Child and Spousal Support

A large part of the divorce/legal separation agreement is deciding on who will gain physical custody of your children. This is often the most difficult and trying part of a divorce because many couples cannot agree on an arrangement that will work best for them.

The parent that does gain physical custody of their child/children may also be eligible to receive child support from their ex-partner.

To calculate exactly how much one parent will earn from another, the court takes into consideration factors such as:

• The income of each parent
• The time each parent spends with their child
• If the child is receiving any support from relationships outside their parents
• Other unique cases such as traveling and education expenses

Child support issues often proceed far after the divorce has concluded. A lawyer may be needed down the line if one parent stops or refuses to pay their agreed-upon sum or if one parent wishes to revise the agreement or end the child support altogether.

Regarding obtaining spousal support, which is an allotted amount of money given from one spouse to another, the court will look at factors such as:

• The length of the marriage. The longer the marriage, the better chance of receiving spousal support. However, in cases of domestic violence, the length of the marriage is not always prevalent.
• Expenses. The court evaluates how many expenses each spouse has, including court and lawyer fees.
• Earning capabilities. Aside from current occupation, the court evaluates how capable each person is of earning money. This can include cases where one person is not as capable of earning as much money as another due to mental and physical health, age, and disability.
• The age of the individuals. More elderly couples often have a lesser ability to pay money to their ex-spouse as opposed to younger, more able-bodied people.
• Outstanding debt. This includes any accumulated IRS debt as well as tax consequences incurred during the marriage.
• Family hardship. If one party can prove the need for spousal support to help pay for family hardships, such as an ill or disabled family member, this factor may come into play.

Property Division

For any couple getting a divorce, dividing property and assets may be one of the hardest processes to negotiate. You want to ensure you can hold onto your valuables, all the while achieving the fairest agreement possible. The state of California considers all property to belong to the community. Therefore, when you are going through a divorce, all property, debt, financial assets, and businesses must be divided equally between both partners.

A family law attorney can help set your mind at ease and reduce financial insecurity as you negotiate the right path for you. With the help of a lawyer, you can be confident that the fairest arrangement will be negotiated, and your future will not be jeopardized.

Child Custody

When couples pursuing divorce have children together, the divorce process becomes much more complicated. It is often hard for two people to agree on what is best for their children. Since California is a no-fault state, meaning the person who issues the divorce is not any less liable to not get rights to their children, then the agreement of child custody often comes down to the case created by the family law attorney.

When settling matters of child custody, there are two main divisions: legal custody and physical custody. Legal custody involves the process of deciding who will make the decisions regarding the child. It is most common in California for parents to have joint legal custody, meaning they are both involved in the decision-making process for their child. These decisions can consist of where they go to school if they attend religious ceremonies, which doctors’ offices they visit, etc. If the parents cannot come to a consensual decision, then a family attorney can help navigate these choices with the parents or help one parent fight the other in court.

Regarding physical custody rights, typically, only one parent has sole physical custody. This entails that the child will live with one parent, but generally, the other parent will have visitation rights or be granted the ability to see their child on specific weekends and holidays or other arrangements.

Domestic Abuse

Domestic abuse is often associated with physical abuse, but in actuality, the definition is much broader. Within a marriage, domestic abuse can be considered as any type of manipulative behavior, including the issuing of threats, controlling behavior, stalking, harassment, or emotional abuse.

This behavior can make a spouse feel trapped and scared in their marriage. A family attorney can help victims of domestic abuse safely exit these toxic situations by helping to compile a case that would allege a divorce or a restraining order. Orange County divorce attorneys can also aid when false allegations of domestic abuse are made against a partner under malicious intent.