With the summertime hacking scandal, and now a lawsuit from a disgruntled user claiming that the website was fraudulent in its use of fembots to attract new users, cheating website Ashley Madison has been in the news a lot recently. Adultery is all too common and can have devastating effects on marriages and families. If you or your spouse has had an extramarital affair, it is essential to understand the impact that can have on a divorce in California.
In California, the law differentiates between community property and separate property when it comes to the division of marital assets. Deciding what qualifies as community property can be difficult, especially if a couple was separated for a long period of time before divorcing, or if one spouse did not immediately move out of a shared residence. A recent court decision has clarified some ambiguities in the relevant statutory language that will help streamline the division of property in California divorce proceedings.
In 2011, responding to concerns about the high number of minor children whose parents were serving prison sentences, California lawmakers instituted the Alternative Custody Program (ACP) to help foster family reunification. The program provides alternative custody arrangements for inmates who have dependent children. It allows eligible inmates to spend the last two years of their sentence outside of the prison in closer proximity to their children. A California District Court broadened the reach of the program even further in a recently decided case.
Since 1969, California has had a no-fault divorce law, which allows a spouse to file for divorce without alleging wrongdoing on the other spouse’s part. Under the law, couples in California may divorce based on either irreconcilable differences or incurable insanity. California’s law was the first no-fault law in the nation. Since it was passed, every other state has also introduced no-fault provisions, and many have also abolished fault-based divorce.
Property division in a California divorce is dependent on whether the property is characterized as community or separate property. Community property is property owned jointly by both spouses or domestic partners, while separate property is owned by only one spouse or domestic partner. In a divorce or legal separation, community property will be subject to division, but separate property will not.
Divorce often causes financial difficulties, especially for a spouse who sacrificed a career in order to take care of children or the home. Alimony is an important aspect of many divorces, and it is important to understand the types of alimony. There are two main varieties of alimony in California—temporary and permanent. Each is designed to serve a different purpose.
In California, child support amounts are calculated based on a formula. The formula provides a guideline for child support amounts, and is generally used unless there are factors indicating that a different amount should be awarded.
Determining child custody is an obvious part of any divorce case involving minor children. However, what happens when the children are not yet, and may never be, born? On July 13, the San Francisco Superior Court began hearing arguments in a trial with potentially groundbreaking legal implications involving the issue of custody rights over frozen embryos during divorce proceedings.
Both an annulment and a divorce end a marriage. But while a divorce ends a valid, existing marriage, an annulment declares that the marriage was never valid in the first place. If a marriage is annulled, then under the law, it never existed at all.
The issue of same-sex marriage is now resolved nationwide, with the Supreme Court’s June 27 ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges. Same-sex couples can marry in any state, and their marriages must be recognized by all other states. Same-sex marriage has been legal in California since 2013, but the Supreme Court ruling does have an effect on same-sex couples married in California.
