Divorce

A divorce, legally called “dissolution of marriage,” ends a person’s marriage or domestic partnership. Once you get divorced, you become single, and you can get married again. California was the first state to implement the “no-fault divorce” concept. This means a dissolution of marriage can be granted if the court finds there to be “irreconcilable differences” that have caused the breakdown of the marriage. In essence if a married person wishes to end the marriage, he/she can do so, even if the other spouse does not agree.

In order to qualify for a dissolution of marriage, one spouse has to have been a resident of the state for a continuous six months and of the county for a continuous three months prior to the filing of the Petition. After you have served your divorce papers on your spouse a person must wait for six months until the divorce becomes finalized.

A person going through a divorce can ask a judge for spousal support, child support, child custody and visitation, as well as domestic violence restraining orders, as well as to divide the property acquired during the marital union.