Divorce Laws and rules in california

[sonyah 0]

Hi all,

Can you please give me some advice about divorce basic rules and laws in California . I moved to California from Canada, got married to my husband USC and now the relation is not working out. I am no longer depend on him in terms of my status here in the US. We’ve been living together for the last 3 years and still do but I am planning to give him divorce . I am buying a house in a few days here in LA and I am not adding his name on this house or loan (purely me) . I am still married to him but my plan is to give him divorce in like few months from now. The question is if I give him divorce, Is he still eligible to claim that he is a part of this house ? I heard this story that if you live with someone even not married for 2 years and longer in California your asset/property will be shared in half, Is that true?

Please let me know

Thanks

[^_^ 5,021]

Hi all,

Can you please give me some advice about divorce basic rules and laws in California . I moved to California from Canada, got married to my husband USC and now the relation is not working out. I am no longer depend on him in terms of my status here in the US. We’ve been living together for the last 3 years and still do but I am planning to give him divorce . I am buying a house in a few days here in LA and I am not adding his name on this house or loan (purely me) . I am still married to him but my plan is to give him divorce in like few months from now. The question is if I give him divorce, Is he still eligible to claim that he is a part of this house ? I heard this story that if you live with someone even not married for 2 years and longer in California your asset/property will be shared in half, Is that true?

Please let me know

Thanks

In many states you can not buy property in your name alone if you are married unless your spouse signs a document saying you can.

[sonyah 0]

In many states you can not buy property in your name alone if you are married unless your spouse signs a document saying you can.

IF I am paying for all the expenses and downpayments and all since i have a seprat account for my self even that he will be apart of it? I purchased a set of couch on payments its almost $10000 set, they didnt ask for his name ifact they told me if he is not signing for the loan he is not responsible for anything so that means I own the set and if I divorce him he will not get that from me since I am making all the paymnents so ?

[Ellie-n-Vladimir 3]

True. CA is a 'community property' state. Community property is all property that was acquired during a marriage. It'll be divided equally 50/50 by the court if you're not able to come to an agreement .

I apologize if this is out of topic, But Please add some of your thoughts here ..... Thanks.

Can you please give me some advice about divorce basic rules and laws in California . I moved to California from Canada, got married to my husband USC and now the relation is not working out. I am no longer depend on him in terms of my status here in the US. We've been living together for the last 3 years and still do but I am planning to give him divorce . I am buying a house in a few days here in LA and I am not adding his name on this house or loan (purely me) . I am still married to him but my plan is to give him divorce in like few months from now. The question is if I give him divorce, Is he still eligible to claim that he is a part of this house ? I heard this story that if you live with someone even not married for 2 years and longer in California your asset/property will be shared in half, Is that true?

Please let me know

Thanks

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

I apologize if this is out of topic, But Please add some of your thoughts here ..... Thanks.

Can you please give me some advice about divorce basic rules and laws in California . I moved to California from Canada, got married to my husband USC and now the relation is not working out. I am no longer depend on him in terms of my status here in the US. We’ve been living together for the last 3 years and still do but I am planning to give him divorce . I am buying a house in a few days here in LA and I am not adding his name on this house or loan (purely me) . I am still married to him but my plan is to give him divorce in like few months from now. The question is if I give him divorce, Is he still eligible to claim that he is a part of this house ? I heard this story that if you live with someone even not married for 2 years and longer in California your asset/property will be shared in half, Is that true?

Please let me know

Thanks

Any property acquired during the marriage using marital assets is considered community property, and must be divided in an equitable fashion. Strictly speaking, money you each earn during the marriage is considered a marital asset, so if you made a down payment on the house using money you earned after you were married then your husband has a claim to equity in the home.

During the divorce process you and your husband will both be required to complete financial disclosures which describe all assets and debts, and identify which are community and which are separate. Any assets or debts either of you had before the marriage are separate. Likewise, any assets acquired after you were married but using assets you had prior to the marriage are separate. For example, if you had money in the bank prior to the marriage, and you used that money to purchase a car after the marriage, then the car is separate property, in spite of the fact that it was purchased after the marriage, because it was purchased with separate assets.

California family code strongly encourages couples to reach settlement agreements on their own, without court intervention. This means that neither of you are absolutely required to make claims against specific assets. The judge will rarely overrule a settlement agreement if he or she thinks it's reasonable. If your husband does have a valid claim against your home, and if he chooses to assert that claim, then he can only claim half of the equity - not half the total value of the home.

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

Actually how you managed your money during your marriage determines how your spending of that money is considered. I have parted company on the worse of term in California and still managed to exclude large items including real estate from maritial assets. That being said , most people don't go to the lengths we did to keep marital apart from separate assets.

[sonyah 0]

Any property acquired during the marriage using marital assets is considered community property, and must be divided in an equitable fashion. Strictly speaking, money you each earn during the marriage is considered a marital asset, so if you made a down payment on the house using money you earned after you were married then your husband has a claim to equity in the home.

During the divorce process you and your husband will both be required to complete financial disclosures which describe all assets and debts, and identify which are community and which are separate. Any assets or debts either of you had before the marriage are separate. Likewise, any assets acquired after you were married but using assets you had prior to the marriage are separate. For example, if you had money in the bank prior to the marriage, and you used that money to purchase a car after the marriage, then the car is separate property, in spite of the fact that it was purchased after the marriage, because it was purchased with separate assets.

California family code strongly encourages couples to reach settlement agreements on their own, without court intervention. This means that neither of you are absolutely required to make claims against specific assets. The judge will rarely overrule a settlement agreement if he or she thinks it's reasonable. If your husband does have a valid claim against your home, and if he chooses to assert that claim, then he can only claim half of the equity - not half the total value of the home.

Thank you for your time.

I still have few more questions.

So if I am paying the down payment of this new house from a friend of mine is that still a shareable asset ?

sorry I am new here in california, when you said ''equity'' this means if I buy the house for just an example 10000 and by the time of our divorce its 12000 now he can only claim 1000 correct?

what If he is agreeing that i dont care what you have, can he say to the judge or can he fill the form and say i dont care what my wife has i dont want to ask for anything, then what is going to happen?

Please add some light in here..

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

If you want to hold you house as a sepatate asset you need to have your spouse sign and you file a quit claim deed on the property

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

Thank you for your time.

I still have few more questions.

So if I am paying the down payment of this new house from a friend of mine is that still a shareable asset ?

sorry I am new here in california, when you said ''equity'' this means if I buy the house for just an example 10000 and by the time of our divorce its 12000 now he can only claim 1000 correct?

what If he is agreeing that i dont care what you have, can he say to the judge or can he fill the form and say i dont care what my wife has i dont want to ask for anything, then what is going to happen?

Please add some light in here..

Unless you are purchasing the house with your own separate assets then he probably has a claim to the equity. If you are borrowing the money from a friend then that may be a community debt. As NigeriaorBust has mentioned, you have to go to some lengths to ensure that assets and debts acquired during the marriage remain separate. For the most part, a married couple in California are treated as a single entity.

$10K wouldn't buy a garage in the Mojave desert, but yes - half of the difference between what is owed and what the market value of the property is.

He doesn't have to say anything to the judge. You and your husband will get together with your attorneys and work out a property settlement. If you both agree to the property settlement, then there's better than 90% chance the judge will accept it. The courts strongly prefer you to work out the settlement, and just come to court for the final dissolution of the marriage. Actual divorce trials are somewhat rare in California.

[sonyah 0]

Unless you are purchasing the house with your own separate assets then he probably has a claim to the equity. If you are borrowing the money from a friend then that may be a community debt. As NigeriaorBust has mentioned, you have to go to some lengths to ensure that assets and debts acquired during the marriage remain separate. For the most part, a married couple in California are treated as a single entity.

$10K wouldn't buy a garage in the Mojave desert, but yes - half of the difference between what is owed and what the market value of the property is.

He doesn't have to say anything to the judge. You and your husband will get together with your attorneys and work out a property settlement. If you both agree to the property settlement, then there's better than 90% chance the judge will accept it. The courts strongly prefer you to work out the settlement, and just come to court for the final dissolution of the marriage. Actual divorce trials are somewhat rare in California.

Thank you.

you've mentioned that we dont need to go to a court, so if we are agreeing on our assets, do i still need to hire an attorney?

can you please tell me how long the process takes from the day we file our divorce application until the end... ?

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

Thank you.

you've mentioned that we dont need to go to a court, so if we are agreeing on our assets, do i still need to hire an attorney?

can you please tell me how long the process takes from the day we file our divorce application until the end... ?

If you don't hire an attorney and your husband does then you will be raked over the coals. Hire an attorney. You have assets to protect.

That said, you and your husband can dictate how things will work out. If you leave it entirely up to your attorneys then you can usually expect some turmoil. Most attorneys are like attack dogs in a divorce case - that's their job. If an attorney thinks you're settling for less than you could get then they'll advise you to be more aggressive. You don't have to. You hold the leash. You can keep your attorney in check.

How long it takes depends on how much disagreement there is. I've seen divorces completed just after the six month separation period ended. I've seen others take much longer. My last divorce (in California) took more than six years because my ex-wife was a human train wreck, and her attorney kept asking the judge for more time so she could pull herself together. She also objected to every motion my attorney made, and every settlement we proposed. In the end, I had to threaten to use information I had about my ex-wife to coerce her into pulling in the leash on her attorney because we were heading for a divorce trial. I told her that she might get some of the things her attorney was demanding if we went to trial, but she'd leave the courtroom in handcuffs. That was enough to end the madness.