Los Angeles Divorce Attorneys

A Divorce creates community property rights which requires approximately 50% distribution to each of the parties. An Annulment voids the marriage from the beginning so that any property acquired would be separate property of the person who acquired it. Likewise, any debt incurred would be the separate liability of the person who incurred the debt.

In most cases, courts require testimony in front of a Judge to support the reason for the Annulment. However, some courts allow Annulments to take place by declaration instead of requiring a court appearance. The Attorney will advise you as to the requirements of your court.

When you are served with Legal Separation papers, you should get legal advice as to what to do. Normally, you would file a response because there are issues that need to be addressed. In the instance that you are served with Legal Separation papers, but you want to Divorce instead, then that would be stated in the Response. In this case, you would now be dealing with Divorce and not Legal Separation. Your attorney can advise you as to your best options.

If you are served, you should get legal advice and do a response. This means that you are contesting the grounds for annulment. You will have a time before the judge to state your side of the case.

You do not have to go to court if you and your spouse will agree on your issues. Once agreements are made, the Attorney can prepare a Legal Separation Agreement which outlines in detail the terms of the Legal Separation. Once this document is signed and notarized it is filed with all other necessary documents and finalizes the Legal Separation without a court appearance.

When you are served with Annulment papers, you should get legal advice as to you particular situation. If you agree with the allegations in the Annulment, then you may not need to respond and can allow the Annulment to proceed.

No, you can remain legally separated as long as you do not wish to remarry. You will need to Divorce if you wish to remarry. The advantage of the Legal Separation is that any debt acquired once you are separated would not be considered community debt. In effect, assets and debts will be separate and orders for children will be set in place. If you do decide to Divorce, then the issues will have been settled.

Generally speaking this is not a good idea. People file for Legal Separation for the following reasons: a) when they want to continue being married but separate assets and debts b) some people cannot divorce for religious reasons c) some people feel that it’s difficult to separate the emotional ties so they wish to do a 2-step approach i.e. continue reading...

This would still be a ‘Publication Divorce’ and as such would be done in the same way as any publication divorce. In this case children issues such as custody would be awarded based on the fact that the parent cannot be found. A court appearance would be needed to determine child custody and other appropriate issues.

A Publication Divorce usually takes longer than a typical divorce. A typical divorce can be finalized in a minimum of 6 months & one day from the date of service. A Publication Divorce would usually take longer because of the need to search and publicize. It might take as long as 9 months to finalize.