A private judge is an attorney or retired judge the parties hire by agreement to decide their divorce case.

A Get is the religious divorce document required under Jewish law, and it intersects with California family law.

You can appeal a family court decision, but the deadline is short and the court reviews only for legal error or abuse of discretion.

A California court can order the higher-earning spouse to pay some or all of the other spouse’s attorney’s fees and costs.

Discovery tools like interrogatories, depositions and subpoenas help verify what assets really exist in a high-asset divorce.

Family Code 271 lets courts sanction a spouse who frustrates settlement or needlessly drives up litigation costs.

A putative spouse married in good faith believing the marriage was valid, only to learn it was void or voidable.

Both spouses must complete and exchange preliminary financial disclosures as a mandatory step in every California divorce.

You get temporary orders in a California divorce by filing a Request for Order, Form FL-300, and serving the other party.

Contempt is how you enforce a family court order when the other person willfully refuses to obey it.

A same-sex divorce in California follows the same Family Code rules on property, support and custody as any other divorce.

California does not recognize common law marriages formed in the state, but it honors valid ones formed in other states.

A registered domestic partnership ends either by a Notice of Termination with the state or through a court dissolution.

In California, an adult who is not a party to the case must personally deliver the divorce papers to your spouse.

You have 30 days after being served to file a Response, Form FL-120, to a California divorce petition.

Marvin v. Marvin lets unmarried couples enforce agreements about property and support, the basis of palimony claims.

To start a divorce, the filing spouse files two forms: the FL-100 Petition for Dissolution and the FL-110 Summons.