DIVORCE MEDIATION ATTORNEY MAUREEN A. FARIA

"Family Law" is a nickname for the area of law dealing with domestic relationships, and can easily be visualized as an umbrella with numerous spokes each dealing with specific issues:

divorce, child custody, child support, spousal support, and property division to name the most common. The issues raised in a Family Law matter can be contested or uncontested, and the

resolution of these issues can be quick and amicable, or drawn out and highly adversarial.

For the past 35 years, our office has provided our clients with a full range of litigation

services and divorce mediation, from the simplest matter to the most complex, from contested to uncontested. A contested matter often involves court appearances and/or a trial. An "uncontested" matter is one that is resolved out-of-court, by settlement. Sometimes it is completely amicable, and sometimes not, with disputed issues negotiated or mediated in order to reach the ultimate compromise.

As a divorce mediation attorney, our office focuses exclusively on uncontested matters.

The termination of marriage is achieved by Dissolution (divorce), Legal Separation, or Annulment. With the filing of a Petition for the Termination of Marriage, other "Reserved" issues relating to the marriage are almost always involved, such as child custody, child support, spousal support, and property division among the most common.

Numerous articles describing the law as it pertains to any one of these issues can be found online. However, as each case filed in court is unique as to the facts, the law is not one-size-fits-all, and will be applied according to the facts of the individual case. In other words, what happens in one case will not necessarily be the result in another.

With the filing of this Petition, you put all the related issues into play, and give the court jurisdiction to make decisions about you, your family, and your finances. To know whether or not any particular action is the appropriate type of action to take at any particular point in time, requires at the very least a cursory examination of the facts with an experienced family law

attorney, and basic understanding of your rights, obligations, and options before you take any action.

   "At our office our goal is to guide you through the legal process to a successful resolution by settlement - as amicably, quickly, and inexpensively as possible - without ever setting foot in court."

"PreNups" are for couples who are contemplating marriage and want to establish the manner in which their marital property (assets and debts) and other issues arising out of their marriage (ie children, support) will be handled by the court in the event of a future termination of marriage. The intent is to supercede the applicable California Law on domestic relationships. These Agreements are not wills or trusts, which direct what happens to money and other property upon one's death. The requirements for preparation and content of such agreements are strict and must be fully satisfied if the agreement is to be deemed valid by the court. Each party is required to have the agreement reviewed and signed off by a licensed attorney of his or her choice.

"PostNups" are for couples who are already married, but wish to deviate from one

or more of the state's domestic relations laws as to the character of their marital property

or other related marital issues (i.e., child custody, child support, spousal support) in the event of a divorce. The rules for preparation and content of such agreement is basically the same as those for

PreNups.

Often one or more of the marital assets to be divided involve retirement benefits (i.e., pensions, 401(k)'s, IRA's) and to do so a special type of order needs tot be prepared setting forth federally mandated terms. These orders, often referred to as QDRO's (Qualified Domestic Relations Orders or Domestic Relations Order(s) are consistent with the facts of the case and parties' intent for division, including the determination of any separate treatment for any separate property interests in the asset(s). The attorney oversees the preparation, execution, and delivery of the final Order to the appropriate third parties.

 Circumstances surrounding a person's financial situation usually changes with time and the justification of any particular award of support may change as well. When there is such a change of circumstances, and a modification of a prior support order is reasonable, a new order will need to be prepared and filed with the court.

California has devised a rather complicated formula for the calculation of the appropriate amount of Child Support, so complicated that a computer program is needed. This formula is referred to as "Guideline" support and will be the order of the court on the issue unless the parties come up with their own agreed upon amount. While the computer program is available to the public on line, the manner and specifics of how the facts are entered into the program is not so straight forward, and costly mistakes can easily be made. We provide a comprehensive analysis of the financial circumstances, enter the applicable information into the program in one or more scenarios, to come up with a computer printout of what the court would recognize as Guideline. Once this is established, the parties can then use these printouts in court, or preferably, agree outside of court as to what the new amount of support should be ("Non- guideline" support orders). These printouts are attached to the support order to confirm the factual basis for the support order.

The state rules for Spousal Support are very different than for child support and are divided into two types of suppprt: temporary (awarded shortly after the date of separation) and post-judgment (sometimes misleadingly called "permanent") for after the divorce is finalized. For temporary support, the court may look to the computer printout for Guideline child support which also has the ability to calculate a temporrsay spousal support amount. But for post- judgment support the court cannot rely on the guideline, and must instead look to the long list of criteria set forth in Family Code section 4320. The court has broad discretion in weighing the importance of the facts relating to each item on this list. Therefore, it is far better, and less costly, for the parties to reach an agreement on the amount and duration of post-judgment support instead of leaving the decision to the discretion, and possible biases, of just one person.

Just like support, circumstances in a party's life can change, and the justification for any

particular order at the time of Judgment is no longer reasonable. In order to bring domestic

orders back into line with the intent of the law, some orders can be modified. This is where the

court reserves jurisdiction to modify the issue later on. Our office assists parties who wish to

modify these orders outside of court by preparation of a written agreement to be filed with the court.