Do It Yourself Divorce in California

Forms

Necessary forms and instructions for their completion can be downloaded for free at the California Family Law website (see References). These forms are updated by the California Family Court and include all necessary paperwork. When filling out forms for a judge, it is essential to be honest, complete and thorough. For a divorce, all financial information must be listed on the forms. This includes all vehicles, bank accounts, retirement accounts and investments.
If the forms seem too complex or time consuming, consider acquiring the assistance of a form filing service such as Legal Zoom. Services such as this will ask for basic information, proceed to fill out the forms as necessary and file them with the court.

In cases involving children, California law requires a couple to go through mediation prior to the court granting the divorce. The court will designate a mediator to handle the case and schedule a time when it will be held. During the mediation, custodial and financial issues can be addressed. The mediation is not binding, but can be useful in solving issues of disagreement. To avoid the additional time after filing, consider hiring either a professional mediator or an attorney to mediate and include the mediation agreement papers in the actual filing.

There are three modern forms of custodial arrangements in California. The first is joint custody, where parents will share the child equally. The second is joint custody with a primary parent. In this case, one parent is given the role of primary and the other parent is the secondary. Normally the secondary parent is expected to compensate the primary parent for the additional care time, and the secondary parent's time spent with the children is less. The final type of custody (and the least common) is sole custody with or without visitation. In sole custody decisions, the non-custodial parent is expected to pay child support to compensate for the reduction in income and is limited in the amount of time they may spend with their child. This type of custody is only awarded in cases where there have been documented factors proving the non-custodial parent unfit.

An attorney should be consulted in cases where parties have assets totaling over $1 million and are unable to agree on the proper division of assets, if the parties cannot agree on a suitable custodial arrangement for the child, or if there are any contractual or business interests in the divorce such as prenuptial agreement. Some attorneys in California can provide arbitration or mediation services to help a couple reach the necessary conclusions on their own. However, where the couple has reached a stalemate, it is in both parties' best interest to hire their own individual attorney.