Family law is one type of law in which attorneys and legal professional teams can specialize. It is a wide-ranging topic with many subsets. Some topics that fall under family law are expected: marriage, children’s rights, and divorce. But other topics that fall under family law aren’t as clear cut or easy to understand.
At San Diego Family Law Attorney, we specialize in all areas of family law in the State of California, particularly in the San Diego region. We know the federal, state, and local laws that may affect your family, so we can help you make the best decisions.
This information is meant to provide a brief overview on different parts of family law, but it is by no means exhaustive. If one or more topics here pertain to your personal situation, you may wish to speak with an attorney who practices family law. Because this information is informational, it should not be understood as legal advice. Instead, only a lawyer with specific knowledge of your situation can provide legal counsel.
What is family law?
In the U.S., most lawyers choose an area to practice, focus on, and specialize in at the start of their careers. Family law is a wide-ranging area of practice. At its core, family law includes any legal issues that directly relate to family relationships. This can include marriage and divorce, both for heterosexual and same-sex couples, as well as child-related legal issues such as child support, child custody, adoption, and more
A legal team may specialize in several subsections of family law, but they may also focus more narrowly on one specific part of family law, such as divorce, adoption and foster care, or child support and child custody.
Depending on your needs, you may seek a lawyer with experience in several fields related to your situation, or you may hire different lawyers as different needs arise and shift over time.
Laws that govern marriage, partnerships, and their dissolutions
The State of California has many options for marriage and partnerships, as well as the dissolutions of them if a couple determines it is necessary.
Marriage or Domestic Partnership
The State of California offers marriage to both heterosexual as well as same-sex couples. In order to marry legally, the following conditions must be met:
- Both parties must be aged 18 or older, which makes parental consent unnecessary and superfluous
- Both parties must consent
- Both parties must have the mental capacity to understand the commitment of marriage as well as its legal obligations
- The couples are not close blood relatives
- Neither spouse is part of an existing, current marriage or registered domestic partnership
Furthermore, California also recognizes registered domestic partnerships (RDPs), which are available specifically to same-sex couples. Importantly, RDPs have many of the same benefits and obligations as couples in marriages within California, but federal government and some state governments may not treat them equally.
Other types of partnerships, such as unregistered domestic partnerships or common law marriages, may have some similarities to marriage or RDPs in California, but do not offer the full breadth of federal or personal benefits.
When seeking a legal marriage or RDP, you may want to explore pre-nuptial or post-nuptial agreements which define who retains rights or receives monetary funds should a divorce occur.
Divorce or other dissolution of marriages
California recognizes three main methods for ending a marriage or registered domestic partnership:
- Also known as a dissolution, divorce applies to both marriages and registered domestic partnerships. The divorce process can take a long time, depending on whether the couple opts for a separation period as well as the speed and efficiency through which any disputes may be involved. For instance, the couple may easily agree to splitting child custody, real property, and even finances. Or, the couple may seek mediation, traditional litigation, or other methods to resolve their disputes.
- Legal separation. A couple who opts for a legal separation, instead of divorce, has not ended their marriage. This means that neither party can re-marry. In a legal separation, the couple opts to live separately and they can ask the courts to make decisions for them, including around property, children, protective orders, and other situations.
- An annulment is entirely different from a divorce. If a court issues an annulment, it can be understood that that marriage or RDP never officially happened because it was not legally valid. There are several reasons a court may declare a marriage invalid, such as age of consent, force, fraud, and more. There are two reasons that a court will always declare a marriage invalid:
- Bigamy, wherein one partner is already legally married or in an RDP
- Incest (the two people are close blood relatives).
Each county in California has at least one family law facilitator, who can help you understand the divorce process at no cost, as well as a self-help center with specific, local laws and regulations.
Because California is a “no fault” state, both parties in a couple do not have to agree to a divorce. As long as one person pursues ending the divorce, the other person is not legally obligated to participate, and the state may still issue the divorce. (Specific RDPs may be able to opt for a shorter summary process with the Secretary of State, depending on the length of their partnership and as long as no children or real property are involved.)
Of course, when a couple decides to seek a divorce, they are not the only ones affected. Part of determining a divorce involves choosing a plan for child custody and child visitation, should both spouses share paternity or guardianship of one or more children. Division of real property and financial assets can also be a contentious issue.
Laws that relate to families and children
The State of California has some laws as well as guidelines and best practices for areas of family law that relate directly to children. For most laws and situations in California, the law defines a minor as any person under the age of 18.
Here are common topics:
- Parentage and paternity. Paternity refers to the legal process that defines the legal parents of a child. If the child’s parents are married when the child is born, there is rarely any question about who the parents are. But, if the parents are unmarried or not part of a registered domestic partnership, the law may need to establish the legal parents of a child. In some cases, the law may even determine that a child can have more than two legal parents. This area of law also helps an assumed parent to dispute his or her parentage.
- This area of law defines the process for establishing an official, legally recognized relationship between a legal parent and child, when the parent seeking the adoption is neither the child’s biological or birth parent. This can include:
- A stepparent or domestic partner adopting a child.
- A non-familiar adoption, such as:
- Agency adoption, as any case involving the California Department of Social Services (DSS) or a licensed adoption agency
- Independent adoption, wherein no DSS or licensed agency is involved. Instead, the existing and adopting parents reach their own agreement.
- International adoption, when the adopted child was born in a country other than the U.S.
- Surrogacy and artificial conception. California is considered a friendly state for couples who seek surrogacy or artificial conception as a means to becoming parents, particularly because legal parentage may be able to be established without going through lengthy, complicated, and expensive adoption processes, which is the norm in most states. However, specific laws vest rights for both the birth mother (or parents) as well as the would-be parents.
- This part of the law defines which situations grant automatic guardianship as well as asking to become or stop being a legal guardian.
- Child custody and visitation rights. These laws dictate how parents can decide child custody as well as visitation, or parenting time, as well as the legal processes for asking for custody, changing custody, or enforcing the court-mandated order.
- Child support. Child support refers to the monthly amount of money that the court orders one or both parents to pay to support a child and the child’s expenses. Each county in California has at least one family law facilitator who provides free-to-families service around child support orders, calculating appropriate child support amounts. Each county also has a free support agency to help parents seek, change, and collect child support.
- Child abuse and neglect. California’s juvenile courts intervene in children’s lives whenever the state is concerned that a parent or guardian is unable or unwilling to keep a child safe from neglect or abuse, or when minors (aged under 18) are accused of breaking a law.
- Juvenile delinquency. Any situation wherein a child is accused of breaking a law, a juvenile delinquency case is initiated, which may also result in a number of outcomes that require the parent or the state take responsibility of the child for a determined period.
- A child under the age of 18 is able to seek legal emancipation from one or both parents by following specific legal processes.
Family law & domestic violence
The State of California’s laws regarding domestic violence often imply a perception of home, so many lawyers consider it a part of family law. Domestic violence is defined as violent acts that have occurred within a shared home or relationship, as may exist between current or former spouses/partners, cohabitants, children, parents and their significant, non-married partners, and even roommates.
Some domestic violence disputes are considered civil matters, handled in civil courts, while more severe or egregious types such as sexual abuse or child endangerment can be elevated to criminal charges.
Other areas that often relate to domestic violence can include:
- Restraining orders
- Elder abuse
- Domestic assault
- Disturbing the peace
- Child abuse
Areas related to family law
The following areas are some areas that can be grouped under family law, but may also stand alone:
- Typically, bankruptcy doesn’t fall within the realm of family law, but if it involves topics that do, such as divorce, child support, and alimony, it can become a complicated topic that involves more people than just the person filing for it.
- Like bankruptcy, taxes are not considered part of family law. But when you must account for taxes on things like alimony, child support, or even spousal support, understand specific family laws may be beneficial.
- Estate planning. This refers to the practice of and laws that define how estates can divide, donate, or otherwise pass along money and real property upon death of the estate owners. Estate planning can be part of family law if an estate is willed or defaults to next of kin, but estate planning may also relate to people beyond familial relations, depending on how the estate owner chooses to plan and divide property long-term.
- Mediation and collaborative law. Mediation and collaborative law are ways of reaching consensus among two or more parties on difficult issues. Both strategies and law practices can be applied to any type of law, not just family law. Still, mediation and collaborative law are often used in family law in order to resolve family disputes. For instance, in familial mediation, a neutral third-party, often a lawyer who specializes in mediation, can help two parties communicate their goals and concerns, with the eventual goal of obtaining consensus for a decision. Family mediation can be used in regard to divorce, division of property, child custody, child and spousal support, and more. It is often a first step to attempt to resolve a dispute, in a way that mitigates cost by avoiding expensive courtroom time and attorney participation that is associated with traditional litigation.
Call San Diego Family Law Attorney today at 619-610-7425 to learn how we can guide you through a situation regarding you and your family. Our vast experience in many areas of family law, as well as the state and local laws that protect you, means we can provide professional, accurate insight and advice.
