Providing Divorce Mediation Services Throughout California
Deciding between legal separation and divorce in California may depend upon personal choice or preferences, but it can impact your future legally, financially, and emotionally.
Though both address issues ranging from child custody and alimony to property division, legal separation keeps your marital status retained while divorce ends it.
If you are considering a divorce or legal separation and don’t know which one to choose? Book a free consultation today, and we will help you decide which is right for your needs or situation.
The good news is that you could start with a legal separation and then later divorce. You don’t need to start with a legal separation. This is a common misunderstanding.
Families First Mediation offers mediation for divorce and legal separation in California, which is easy and cost-friendly, unlike expensive and lengthy options like litigation.
In both divorce or legal separation action, you can ask the judge for orders like child support, spousal support, custody and visitation, and domestic violence restraining orders.
However, deciding between legal separation and divorce may depend upon individual choice, preferences, and the need to retain certain benefits. The following are the differences between legal separation and divorce.
Both divorce and legal separation share similarities. For example, They both provide legal clarity and enforceable agreements, allowing spouses to live separately.
Some more similarities between these two are as under:
For both legal separation and divorce, you need to petition the court. A judge reviews and finalizes these legal agreements to ensure they are fair and comply with the law.
Legal separation and divorce involve addressing issues like child custody, visitation, and child support in accordance with California’s family law and the best interest of the child.
Both legal separation and divorce in California allow a spouse to request spousal support. However, the court may review various factors, such as the spouse’s income, marriage length, and financial needs of each party, before deciding on it.
To Both the process, community property laws of California would be applicable, which means that assets and debts acquired during the marriage will be divided equally in case of legal separation or divorce.
Legal separation and divorce permit spouses to live separately in terms of financial independence and separate households.
The agreements in both legal processes will be legally binding and enforceable.
A legal separation may suit best to couples who hope to reconcile or have religious or cultural concerns of not divorcing. Whereas the spouses with irreconcilable differences can choose to divorce and move forward independently.
Hence, choosing between these two may vary from person to person and spouses’ needs. This section will help you decide the right option.
You may not want to divorce because your religion or culture discourages it and prefer living apart in a marital relationship, which favors legal separation.
Moreover, this arrangement permits you to manage essential legal and financial matters and continue marital benefits without dissolving the marriage.
Numerous health insurance policies permit coverage to persist for a legally separated spouse—something that is not possible following divorce. This factor can be particularly pivotal for one spouse who relies on the employer-sponsored benefits of the other.
Yes, when couples are uncertain about divorce or reconciliation, they can choose legal separation, which gives time and space to review and assess the marital relationship besides obtaining legal agreement on certain important matters like custody, property division, etc.
Some couples can use this option as a period of reflection to find clarity regarding their marriage while others might remain uncertain about the future of their marriage.
Want to pursue or know more about legal separation action? Book a free consultation call with California’s best legal separation mediator, Dina Haddad.
Getting a divorce is the right choice when both parties wish to end the marriage completely. It allows both parties to move forward independently, manage their affairs without involving their former spouse, and simplify things like financial management and estate planning.
In the case that one or both spouses want to remarry, a divorce is necessary as it legally ends the marriage, allowing for the spouse to remarry.
In the case of legal separation, this effect is not present as spouses remain married.
When reconciliation is impossible between spouses, divorce may be the best option to set clear boundaries and get rid of failed relationships and ongoing emotional stress.
Can you get an automatic divorce in California? How is long separation different from legal separation? Check out this in our guide on ‘Automatic Divorce.’
The following are the pros and cons of legal separation in California
Your health insurance and spousal benefits are preserved in legal separation, which may not be possible in case of divorce.
It gives both spouses space and time to determine whether reconciliation or divorce is the right path.
Many couples may not consider divorce because it goes against their religious or cultural norms. In that case, legal separation would be a better alternative.
In a legal separation, you cannot remarry someone or enter into a domestic partnership in California because you remain married as per California family laws. To remarry, you have to opt for divorce.
It serves as a temporary solution as ongoing emotional stress may be continued to complicate relationships if not resolved. It retains the legal and financial ties between spouses, meaning that spouses may be financially responsible for each other’s debts and inheritance rights.
This section throws light on the pros and cons of divorce in California.
It allows spouses to end marriage permanently and move forward in their lives or remarry.
It helps couples resolve entangling issues in marriage and helps couples clarify financial and emotional issues like child custody, property division, and stress, which help them build a future.
In California, every divorce has a six-month mandatory waiting period, meaning that the process takes longer to finalize than legal separation.
Divorce brings a lot of changes in the lives of divorcing couples and their children, such as custody arrangements and shared parenting plans, which may be overwhelming.
It ends spousal marital benefits including but not limited to long-term care and joint pension and health care benefits.
Want to pursue a divorce without a lawyer? Book a free consultation call with California’s best legal separation mediator, Dina Haddad.
According to the California Courts Self-Help Guide, the steps to filing legal separation or divorce are the same. These processes can be easily completed even without hiring a lawyer or attending a court trial.
Hence, mediation is the best route to get legally separated or divorced because it is cost-friendly and less stressful than the other options, allowing couples to take charge of their divorce.
Over the past 21 years, Dina Haddad, a family law divorce mediator, has helped thousands of people with legal separation and divorce with long-lasting and quality agreements.
Start your legal separation or divorce by filing necessary court forms, financial disclosures, or any agreement pertinent to custody or property. Our paralegal can help you with the filing procedures, which would maintain accuracy in the documentation and prevent unnecessary delays.
Related: Legal Separation and 7 Steps of Filing in California
Use mediation to resolve the issues outside the court and without paying expensive lawyers.
A neutral mediator in California can assist you in resolving significant issues like child custody, alimony, and property division, helping both parties get a fair and long-term quality agreement.
Dina Haddad offers a free consultation to couples who are confused about legal separation or divorce. Book yours today.
Once you reach an agreement with your spouse, the attorney mediator will draft a legally compliant document to submit to the court for final approval. The judge would finalize the legal separation or divorce after reviewing and signing your agreement.
Both spouses must agree to be legally separated in California. California is a no-fault state.
In other words, only one spouse can desire a divorce. Only one spouse needs to claim that there are irreconcilable differences to get a divorce.
You do not have to prove that in court. Thus, if a spouse requests a legal separation but the other requests a divorce, legal separation is not an option for this couple.
Yes, you can file for a legal separation and later go for a divorce action.
For instance, if you file for a California legal separation, you may later be able to file an amended petition to ask the court for a divorce after you meet the residency requirements.
You can even start as a divorce, and if both spouses agree, they can pursue a legal separation instead (so long as the divorce has not been finalized).
Families First Mediation is a pioneer in the field of divorce mediation. Our entire divorce mediation team takes great pride in being active trainers, divorce mediators and teachers of mediation in the greater California area. If you are considering a collaborative divorce, legal seperation or looking for a san jose divorce lawyer we have services that may be beneficial to you. Take advantage of our vast expertise and background in the field of divorce mediation and our genuine desire to help with your divorce mediation services.
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