Walnut Creek Divorce Lawyer and Family Law Attorney

Walnut Creek has a courthouse, but it is the Walnut Creek Juvenile and Traffic Center at 640 Ygnacio Valley Road. Divorce, custody, support, and domestic violence restraining order cases from Walnut Creek are filed in the Superior Court of California, County of Contra Costa, and heard in Martinez, mostly at the Peter L. Spinetta Family Law Center at 751 Pine Street. For court departments, filing hours, custody mediation, remote hearings, and self help resources, see our Contra Costa County family law page and our Contra Costa Family Court Guide.

Residency and Where to File

Under Family Code section 2320, a divorce judgment requires that one spouse has lived in California for six months and in the county where the case is filed for three months before filing. If you live in Walnut Creek and meet those requirements, your case is filed in Contra Costa County Superior Court. If you are not there yet, you can file for legal separation and amend the petition to request a divorce once you meet the requirements (Family Code section 2321).

Filing, Service, and the Six Month Waiting Period

A case begins with a petition and summons, which must be served on the other spouse. Under Family Code section 2339, a divorce cannot become final until six months after the respondent is served or appears in the case, whichever comes first. Many Contra Costa cases take longer, depending on how quickly the spouses resolve property, support, and parenting issues.

Financial Disclosures

Each spouse must serve a preliminary declaration of disclosure under penalty of perjury (Family Code section 2104), including the tax returns filed in the prior two years. Spouses also owe each other fiduciary duties of the highest good faith and fair dealing under Family Code section 721. When a case involves a business, stock compensation, or real estate, complete disclosure is where the real work starts.

Temporary Orders, Settlement, and Trial

While the case is pending, either side can ask the court for temporary orders on custody, visitation, child support, spousal support, or attorney's fees. Family Code section 2030 directs the court to make sure each party has access to legal representation, which can include an order that one spouse pay toward the other's fees. Most cases resolve through negotiation or mediation, and the rest go to trial before a family law judge in Martinez.

When custody or visitation is contested, Family Code section 3170 requires the court to set the contested issues for mediation, which for Walnut Creek families takes place through Contra Costa Family Court Services in Martinez. In every custody decision, the court's primary concern is the health, safety, and welfare of the child under Family Code sections 3011 and 3020.

For Walnut Creek parents, the practical questions are usually school schedules, commutes, and how a parenting plan will work across homes in Walnut Creek and nearby cities. Read more about child custody and parenting time.

Child support in California follows the statewide guideline formula in Family Code section 4055, which weighs each parent's net disposable income and the percentage of time each parent has the children. Under Family Code section 4058, income includes salaries, wages, commissions, bonuses, dividends, and income from almost any other source. In Walnut Creek and the Lamorinda and San Ramon Valley communities, the hard questions are often how to treat bonuses, stock compensation, and business income, and how to set support when income is very high.

Spousal support works differently. Temporary support can be ordered while the case is pending. Long term support after judgment turns on the factors in Family Code section 4320, including each spouse's earning capacity, the marital standard of living, the length of the marriage, and the supported spouse's needs. Learn more about child support and spousal support, or use the California Department of Child Support Services for agency services.

California is a community property state. Under Family Code section 760, property acquired during the marriage while domiciled in California is community property unless a statute provides otherwise, and under Family Code section 771, earnings after the date of separation are separate property. Unless spouses agree otherwise in writing or on the record in court, Family Code section 2550 requires the court to divide the community estate equally.

In Walnut Creek, that often means valuing a family home, rental property, retirement accounts, stock compensation, and a business. When separate funds went into a community home, such as a down payment from before the marriage, Family Code section 2640 can give the contributing spouse a reimbursement if the funds are traced to a separate source. See our property division page, or read about separate property reimbursement under Family Code 2640 and how RSUs and stock options are divided.

Neighborhoods (12)

• Carriage Square
• Castle Hill
• Downtown Walnut Creek
• Lakewood
• Larkey Park
• Northgate
• Parkmead
• Rancho Paraiso
• Rudgear Estates
• Tice Valley
• Walnut Heights
• Walnut Knolls

Some Walnut Creek area neighborhoods are unincorporated parts of Contra Costa County. Either way, family law cases are filed in Contra Costa County Superior Court. Live elsewhere in the county? See our Contra Costa County page for every city we serve.