If you and your husband or wife just made the decision to split up and end your marriage, you may be wondering how to get a divorce in California without a lawyer.
There could be many reasons you’d want to avoid attorneys in your divorce:
No matter what the reason, the answer is YES - you CAN get a divorce without a lawyer!
And not only that, but you don’t have to risk making expensive mistakes like you would with a do-it-yourself divorce method.
The answer to the question, "How to get a divorce in California without a lawyer," is to use divorce mediation and work with an experienced, professionally trained and highly skilled divorce mediator.
Here’s a high level overview of how you can divorce in California without a lawyer:
1. It's better for your kids.
Unlike the “us against them” legal system, California divorce mediation allows you and your spouse to negotiate as parents instead of litigants.
Every decision you make in mediation will be made with the following question in mind:
What is best for our kids?
Because child support and parenting issues are resolved more quickly and arguments are often circumvented if you spend your time focused on your children and making smart decisions that are in their best interests.
2. You’ll complete your uncontested divorce with less stress, in less time, and at a significantly lower cost than if you divorce using lawyers.
No one in California wants to spend a ton of money on their divorce or have their proceedings drag on for years. But, that's specifically something that can happen when attorneys are involved in a California divorce process.
On the other hand, divorce mediation is focused on helping both parties (you and your spouse), work together and arrive at mutually agreeable solutions.
Helping you and your spouse to end your marriage amicably and in less time so you can both move forward with your lives and save tens of thousands of dollars at the same time.
3. You control the pace of your no-fault divorce and the terms of your settlement.
When you allow lawyers to control your divorce process, as a California couple, you risk a number of bad things that can happen:
While there are undoubtedly countless benefits to divorce without a lawyer in California, here are a few things you need to understand before you choose this path:
1. You and your spouse must both be willing to get a divorce.
Divorce mediation is a voluntary process, so if only one of you wants to divorce, but the other spouse doesn't, then getting a divorce in California without a lawyer will not be an option for you.
The spouse wanting to end the marriage will most likely have no choice but to hire a divorce lawyer, file with the courts, serve the other spouse with divorce papers and down the path to litigation you’ll both go.
While it takes two parties to get married, it only takes one party to file for a divorce. That means that if one of you wants the divorce, both of you will be getting one. It merely becomes a matter of how you will get divorced and how much money, time and distress you will spend to get it.
2. Both spouses need to be active participants in the divorce process.
Your chosen divorce mediator is going to ask each of you to gather a series of financial documents and complete a number of tasks. Allowing you to participate in what we commonly refer to as a transparent, "good-faith" negotiation.
If one spouse is willing to do the required work and one spouse isn’t, you will probably need to retain an attorney instead of using mediation. Your attorney will likely petition the courts to compel your spouse to turn over the required financial information.
3. Both parties must be of sound mind and body and be willing and able to make his or her own decisions.
If one party is mentally incapacitated, getting a divorce without a lawyer in California will not be possible. Instead, that party will need an advocate as settlement agreements reached without one could be disallowed by the courts. Or worse yet, years down the road, challenged by the disadvantaged party.
Divorce proceedings are difficult enough, but having to repeat and relive that process again in the future because your ex-husband or wife stated they were unaware of what transpired would be horrendous.
4. Both parties need to be prepared to fully disclose community property and debts.
In order to have a comprehensive divorce agreement, it is critical that both spouses put "all their financial cards on the table" so that an open and honest dialogue may be had and all community property and debts be properly discussed.
If not, a family law attorney will have no other choice than to subpoena your community assets and liabilities and down the divorce litigation path you’ll go.
It doesn’t mean you need to give up control of your settlement agreement by instead having a courtroom judge decide on significant matters of parenting time, child support, spousal support, and the division of community property and debts.
And it does not mean you need to wait years to complete your divorce case.
It’s your life, your future and your hard earned money!
If you want a high quality mediation that is peaceful, cost-effective and results in a fair and thorough agreement while receiving personalized divorce support from a compassionate team of professionals, choose Equitable Mediation.
When you are ready to start the divorce process, take the next step and book a mediation strategy session for you and your spouse!
Book a Strategy Session
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