Encinitas Divorce Attorneys

Defending You Through Thick & Thin

Whether you’re filing for a contested or uncontested divorce process, dissolving a marriage is often a difficult affair for all parties involved. Having an attorney you can trust by your side will enable you to pursue whatever outcome you desire with confidence.

At Griffith Young, our Encinitas divorce attorneys are here to empower you throughout your divorce, helping you toward the best outcome for your future. We provide a full range of family law services to the Encinitas community. Our deep experience in family law allows us to provide efficient legal solutions to our clients’ problems.

Our firm has tackled countless divorces and helped shepherd clients through the process. We understand all the “sticky” legal issues that can arise, such as deciding if you can even file in California, or whether you can receive spousal support. Reach out to our firm directly to schedule a time to meet with an attorney.

A Full-Service Family Law Firm

Griffith Young can handle all aspects of a divorce. Our decades of combined family law experience allow us to assist with any of the following:

• Child custody
• Child support
• Spousal support
• Division of property and debts
• Military divorce
• High-asset divorce
• Prenuptial and post-nuptial agreements
• Gay divorce
• Child custody or support modification

Different Divorce Processes in California

To file for divorce in California, at least one spouse must have been a resident of the state for six months. Additionally, the spouse who files must have lived in the county where they file for divorce for at least three months.

How to Get Divorce in Encinitas

To get divorced, you will need to follow these steps:

1. File a petition to dissolve your marriage. This petition informs the court you are seeking a divorce and provides basic information, such as your name and whether you have children. You will pay a fee when you file.
2. Serve divorce papers on your spouse. Your spouse has a chance to answer the petition, so you must make service. Your spouse can simply accept service, or you might need to hire the sheriff or a process server to make personal delivery. If your spouse is living somewhere else, you might mail the papers. Proper service is critical, which is one reason to work with an Encinitas divorce lawyer.
3. Receive your spouse’s answer. Your spouse gets 30 days to file an answer and then serve you a copy.
4. Share financial information. Divorce involves unwinding a couple’s finances, and one spouse might need to make support payments to the other. Each spouse must share full financial information within 45 days to assist the court. This information also goes into calculating child support. Work with an attorney to ensure your disclosure is complete because if you hide assets, a court can sanction you.
5. Participate in mediation and settlement talks. Not every divorce results in a dramatic two-week trial. Instead, you can reach agreement on all or some of the critical issues, such as child custody. Mediation with a professional mediator can help get spouses on the same page.
6. Go to trial. Any unresolved issues will be decided by a judge at trial. There is no jury. Instead, the court will enter a judgment after hearing testimony and receiving other evidence. You have a right to representation by a lawyer of your choosing.

Although the process might seem simple, there are many hurdles along the way. If a spouse lives in a different state, then questions arise over where to file. Clients with a high net-worth also have tricky issues regarding child support, spousal support, and the division of marital property. Contact our office.

Other Post-Divorce Processes

As you navigate your divorce, you’ll need to resolve the following divorce-related processes:

• Property Division: California is a community property state, meaning that any marital property (generally defined as any property acquired post-marriage not meant exclusively for one party, such as an inheritance) will be split equally between the spouses. This also includes marital debts. As a result, many Californians find themselves taking on more marital debts or needing to give up more marital assets than they first expect.
• Alimony: There are two types of alimony in California – temporary alimony, which lasts while the divorce is ongoing, and permanent alimony, which remains in place post-divorce. The details of alimony arrangements can change depending on the circumstances of the divorce. Factors include the employability and assets of each spouse, their roles during the marriage, mental and physical health, how long it may take an alimony recipient to become financially independent, the standard of living established during the marriage, and more.
• Child Custody: In California, courts typically default to the assumption that joint custody arrangements, in which a child sees and lives with both parents frequently, is ideal. To obtain a different kind of custody arrangement, one party may need to supply the court with evidence that their partner is an unfit caregiver, and therefore should not have equal legal and physical custody of the child.
• Child Support: Like alimony, the amount of child support a payor must supply depends heavily on the circumstances of the case. Factors include whether the payor has other child support obligations, how much custody of the child the payor has, the fiscal, physical, and mental health of both parents, and the standard of living established during the marriage for the child.

How you work resolve these disputes depends on the approach you take to your divorce.

Uncontested Versus Contested Divorce in Encinitas

Some clients want to fight over every single issue, while others hope to amicably resolve the dispute outside of court. Whether you have an uncontested or contested divorce will directly impact the cost and your waiting time.

Uncontested Divorces

If you want to file for an uncontested divorce – which is generally less cost and time-intensive than a contested divorce – you must resolve any differences with your spouse before or during the divorce process. This involves drafting a divorce agreement both parties sign, detailing the terms of the divorce that they’ve agreed on. If a judge deems the agreement equitable, the agreement will be used to establish the terms of the divorce when the marriage is officially dissolved. Sometimes, a divorce is uncontested because one spouse refuses to participate, in which case you have a “default” divorce. In most situations, however, both spouses reach an agreement on child custody and support, spousal support, and the division of community property and debts.

Contested Divorces

With a contested divorce, couples disagree on at least one of these issues. Accordingly, a judge must decide the issue after trial. A contested divorce is usually more time-consuming and expensive. Couples will engage in discovery, where they request information and might even request a psychological evaluation for child custody purposes.

Many couples use forms of alternative dispute resolution (ADR), such as mediation or collaborative law, to resolve their differences and engage in an uncontested divorce. However, if you cannot reach an agreement with your spouse, you will need to file for a contested divorce instead. This involves dealing with the divorce process in court. The court may hold temporary order hearings to determine how the parties handle processes such as alimony or custody while the divorce is ongoing.

Eventually, the court will hold a trial. At trial, both parties have the opportunity to present evidence to the court. California is a no-fault divorce state, meaning most marital misconduct will not be considered by the court when deciding an outcome for a divorce. However, certain behaviors, such as engaging in domestic violence against a spouse or child, could impact the outcome of the case.

After the trial, the judge presiding over the case will determine what would constitute an equitable outcome for both parties, and draft a divorce decree finalizing the divorce with those terms.

Whether you want a contested or uncontested divorce, our Encinitas divorce attorneys are here to help. If you wish to modify the terms of an already-existing court order, we can help you navigate that process as well.

Divorce with Children in Encinitas

Children add complexity to any Encinitas divorce. Coming up with a custody arrangement often provokes intense emotions. However, the general rule in California is that both parents should be involved in their children’s lives absent a weighty reason to the contrary, so custody is rarely an “all or nothing” proposition.

Custody has two parts: legal custody, which is the right to make important decisions for a minor child, such as what health care they receive, and physical custody, which is the right to have your child with you.

Most parents share joint legal custody, so each has a say. Dividing physical custody is harder. A child cannot be in two places at once, and older children must attend school, so their ability to shuttle between households will depend on how close the parents live to each other.

You have come to the right law firm. The Certified Legal Specialists at Griffith Young can negotiate a custody arrangement that works for your family. We know what information to include in the parenting plan, including details about where to pick up or drop off a child, as well as how to resolve disputes in the future.

Long-Term Marriages & Spousal Support

The longer a couple is married, the more legally complicated their divorce, often because the couple has acquired more community property and debts. Dividing these assets can require considerable thought.

Furthermore, spousal support is treated differently depending on whether the marriage is short-term (less than 10 years) or long term (10 or more years). With a short-term marriage, the court-ordered support will only last for half the duration of the marriage. That is the general rule. If a couple was married for 9 years, then a spouse who received alimony for a maximum of 4.5 years.

By contrast, a court retains ongoing jurisdiction over a long-term marriage (one lasting more than 10 years). A judge will enter an award for permanent alimony but retains the power to revisit the order and either modify or terminate it, depending on the circumstances.

The Challenge of High-Asset Divorce

Griffith Young has deep experience with high-asset divorces. Our firm has represented many professionals and entrepreneurs, who often have unique legal needs related to:

• Protecting intellectual property and client information in a divorce;
• Requesting a deviation from the child support guidelines to account for their high incomes;
• Preserving a business in the division of community property;
• Enforcing a prenuptial agreement if one exists;
• Avoiding excessively high spousal support obligations;
• Protecting their reputation and avoiding a high-profile divorce.

Our firm can represent either spouse in a high-asset divorce, including the one with lower income or fewer assets.

Military Divorce

Griffith Young has strong experience handling military divorces. These cases raise a host of issues we don’t see in most civilian cases. For example, the military spouse could be on deployment, which can impact where to file, as well as how quickly the divorce will progress. Federal law allows military members to request a stay of divorce proceedings.

Other complex issues cover dividing a military retirement and devising a custody arrangement. Call our office for help. Our firm offers a discounted hourly rate for military members or their spouses.

Gay Divorce in Encinitas

Our LGBT clients also have unique legal needs. Legal complications sometimes exist where a couple used a surrogate or in vitro fertilization (IVF) to conceive a child. One parent without a biological tie to the child might not have adopted or secured their parental rights. Hire a lawyer with the right experience in gay marriage to advise you.

FAQs about Encinitas Divorce

How long will my divorce take?

It depends on several factors. There is a six-month waiting period. However, you might end up waiting longer if you have a contested divorce since the courts are usually bogged down with cases. A court might not hold a trial for a year or longer.

How much will my divorce cost?

That will depend on whether you have a contested or uncontested divorce. The filing fee in San Diego County is $435. You should also add in legal fees, which will depend on the number of issues in dispute.

Can anyone divorce in California?

A California court will only issue a divorce if one spouse has been a California resident for six months and a resident of the county where the case is filed for at least three before the date of filing. Other issues might arise if one spouse is currently living outside the state, especially if your children are also living with them. Let Griffith Young analyze your options. Some people need to wait a little bit to file or go to a different state.

Will my spouse find out I met with you?

We keep all client confidences. In fact, it is unethical to share anything you told us with another person without your consent.

Reach Out to Griffith Young Today

Our firm has built a reputation for providing compassionate, ethical advocacy for clients going through divorce. We leverage decades of sophisticated experience to help our clients get the divorce they desire. Call or submit information online to schedule a consultation.