Articles Posted in Divorce

A common question when a person is considering a divorce is how long the process will take. While a lawyer’s answer will generally be something along the lines of “it depends”, there are some factors, especially in California, that can help narrow down the timeline.

In California, the state has a mandatory 6 month waiting period from the date the Petition for Dissolution is served before a final divorce judgment can be entered. This means that you cannot be deemed legally single for 6 months and one day from the date the Petition was served.  While this may seem like a long time to wait from start to finish, most divorces actually take much longer than this depending on the different issues that need to be settled or determined by the court before a judgment can be entered. Further, this does not mean that you can’t settle all of your issues, such as property division, support and custody during this time. You can in theory have an entire agreement completed and filed, you will just have to wait until the six months have passed in order to be legally “single” again.

When parties cannot agree on the outstanding issues in any given matter, the divorce process tends to take much longer. This is because to the extent parties cannot agree, the court will have to make decisions. This leaves the parties at the mercy of the court system, and its calendar and schedules.

We often hear it in polite chatter: “Have you heard? So and so are getting a divorce! Oh, well you know, it is that time of the year again.” Phrases like these are normally passed around at social and familial gathering throughout the year, but there is one time of the year where they pop the most, the winter holiday season.

We’ve all been there: traveling back to our hometowns, seeing our old friends, and breaking bread with our close, yet somehow distant, relatives over the span of Thanksgiving through the New Year. Single people get hounded with questions about why they aren’t married, newlyweds get bulldozed with questions about why they don’t have children yet, and seasoned veterans to marriage get peppered with questions as to when the second baby is coming, or why a new house hasn’t been purchased yet.

However, amongst the nosy, highly inquisitive family members are the salacious gossips of the family. Those who report back with details of other absent family members and why they aren’t at the various holiday gatherings. A big topic of continual gossip? Divorce. Many consider the holiday season to be the precursor to divorce season. You are required to remain in close proximity to your spouse for months on end while simultaneously attending a myriad of social gatherings that both parties would probably rather not attend. More couples fight during this time of the year due to trivial issues such as gift giving and general holiday cheer.

It is common for people to borrow against their 401(k) to have money for a down payment on a house and for people to take money out of their 401(k) in times of emergency. Since the pandemic started, it is even more common for individuals to withdraw money from their retirement funds due to the increase in job losses and furloughs. In fact, the CARES Act passed in March of 2020, Congress made it easier to withdraw from retirement accounts. So if you lost your job or lost hours/shifts during the pandemic or if you contracted the virus and was unable to work, it is possible that you will qualify for a withdrawal of up to $100,000 in the 2020 tax year. If you qualify, you won’t pay penalty taxes, but the withdrawals will affect your income tax bracket.^[1]

If you are in the midst of a divorce or if you plan on filing for divorce soon, taking money from your 401(k) can also have huge consequences for you in the future.

California is a community property state, which means that all assets and debts acquired during the life of the marriage are divided equally upon divorce. Generally, community property is everything that you and your soon-to-be ex own together, as well as all of the earning that either of you earned during the marriage and everything bought during the marriage. This includes any value of your 401(k) that has accumulated during the life of your marriage using contributions made by you while the two of you were still together. So at divorce, that value of your 401(k) will be split and half of it will be awarded to your soon-to-be ex at divorce.

5 Ways to Survive Divorce During a Pandemic

In a normal year, when people aren’t facing a deadly virus, record wildfires, civil unrest, and skyrocketing unemployment, going through a divorce is difficult both emotionally and financially. Adding extra difficulties into the mix of a divorce is enough to make anyone feel overwhelmed. However, if you are unhappy or unsafe in your marriage and you feel it is the right time to get divorced, it is possible to make it through the process. The five tips below will hopefully help you survive a divorce during a pandemic without losing your sanity and your money.

1. Shop out your divorce attorney

One of the most frequently asked questions people have about going through a divorce is “how long will it take?” The answer is, it depends. Certainly, no one wants to go through a divorce that’s going to drag on for years, and family law attorneys want divorces to move along smoothly and quickly as well. However, there are several things parties can do to help their matter keep moving forward.

1. Let go of the “principle” and be willing to compromise. Sometimes, parties become so fixated on “winning” or their spouse “losing” that they can no longer see the forest for the trees. For example, one party decides they are bent on keeping the old family couch just so that their spouse can’t have it (even though it may have no significance to them at all). This is usually accompanied by attitudes along the lines of “it’s not the actual [insert item here] I care about, it’s the principle of the matter”. These types of thoughts and feelings are a surefire way to slow a case down. However, generally, there is room to compromise in every family law case; once a party sets aside their negative feelings and is willing to work towards a compromise, it really helps move the matter along.
2. Try meeting face-to-face. Having a meeting with the other side, their attorney, and your attorney can often move things along. Typically known as a four-way meeting or conference, these meetings used to take place in person, often at one attorney’s office. Though a little more difficult given the current pandemic, a four-way meeting can still take place through video conferencing. A four-way meeting is often helpful because it allows the parties and attorneys to have discussions about the issues in real time, unlike when sending letters, emails, or documents back and forth, and then having to wait for a response. The parties and their attorneys can then go through a list of all the outstanding issues in their matter and work through different proposals and solutions. A good approach is to start out with smaller issues that can be easily resolved first, and then move on to more complex matters. That way, if the parties aren’t able to come to an agreement on a harder issue, they won’t feel defeated right at the outset of the meeting. Another way to ensure a four-way meeting is successful is to keep in mind that a four-way meeting is an opportunity to settle as much as possible and to go into the meeting prepared to compromise.3

As we all know, 2020 has been a strange and crazy year so far. On top of a new pandemic, riots, and fires, some couples are also going through a divorce, and celebrities are no exception. From reality TV stars to country singers to social media influencers, here are some of the celebrity couples who have called it quits in 2020:

Cardi B and Offset

US Weekly and TMZ confirmed on September 15 that Cardi B has filed for divorce from Offset after nearly three years of marriage, having secretly wed in 2017. According to court documents filed in Atlanta, Cardi is seeking primary legal and physical custody of daughter Kulture, who she welcomed with Offset in July 2018.