If you are doing any research you may have already found out that a same sex divorce in Santa Barbara County Family Law Courts is actually just a divorce. In California there is no formal distinction anymore between a divorce between opposite genders and divorce of the same gender. Back when marriage became legal for the same sexes in California, it simply was then legal to handle that divorce within the already established family law court divorce process. The California Divorce Petition, Judicial Counsel form FL-100 actually never asked for gender status and the form, updated 2016 still doesn’t. That means that in Santa Barbara County, when filing a same sex divorce in family law court, there is no difference procedurally to worry about. We'll continue on in this article and outline the main procedures for starting with opening a same sex divorce case, all the way to obtaining a same sex divorce judgment from the Santa Barbara County Family Law Court.
Initially, same sex couples will have to open a family law case. This is done by completing and filing the required family law forms for a divorce. The forms can be found in packages, but be aware, the courts pre-packaged forms often include forms you don't need. The court includes forms for all variations of a case and you are not always required to complete or file those. An easy tip is to pay attention to the 3-page FL-100 divorce petition. As you complete this required form, it will indicate options for attachments. Many of these attachments may be within sections that don't apply, which is a hint that if those sections don't apply, neither do those forms. Example would be the question about children...if you answer no children, you move on completing the Petition. If there are children, you will see notes and options in that section for more information and attachments either required or optional. For Santa Barbara same sex divorce forms, you can start on the Counties court family law website that has options for form packages. If you are anticipating a simple and easy same sex divorce, with no issues you may want to talk first to a Legal Document Assistant in Santa Barbara. They can help with simple same sex divorces at a fraction of the cost of an attorney. If you are expecting that your same sex divorce will be contested or you have a large amount of assets or things like custody and visitation concerns, a Santa Barbara Divorce Attorney might be your best place to start. Once your documents are completed and signed you are ready to move onto the next phase of the process.
To have an open and active same sex divorce case in the Santa Barbara County family law courts, you need to file your documents. This is as simple as taking the completed and signed documents, with copies, to your local family law court. Currently Santa Barbara County has three family law courts to file your same sex divorce. This is the main Santa Barbara Family Law Court, Santa Maria Family Law Court and the Lompoc Division. You can see the locations, hours and contact information here. You will take your documents and copies to one of these locations. The copies are needed because the court will take the originals documents and they will stamp and provide the copies back to you. At this time the court takes their filing fee for divorce, currently $435, and returns file stamped copies to you. These copies are both your proof of your filing, as well as a copy for the next requirement, which is the serve. At this point you have an active same sex divorce case in Santa Barbara County, and the court has issued you a unique case number, stamped on all your documents.
The serve process may sound intimidating for anyone not familiar with court procedures, and if at any point you feel overwhelmed or would rather not worry about this aspect, a Santa Barbara Process Server can help complete this requirement. Simply put, the court requires that the other party on the case get notified that they are now about of the case. The court requires they get a copy of the filed divorce documents and general information about the case found on California form FL-110 – Summons. While the requirement may sound intense, really all that needs to happen is the filed documents need to be handed to the other party by some other than the Petitioner and that is over 18 years old. That person will complete and sign and proof of service form, that you file back at the court. This form is important for 2 reasons. The first is that it serves as proof that the other party got the documents and also indicates the start of the court required 30 days wait period. 30 days is given to the Respondent so they have time to get legal advice from a Family Law Attorney, respondent, contest, set up a hearing or do nothing. The court wants to make sure the other party as proper time to understand and plan their movements within the same sex divorce case. At the end of that wait period, the Petitioner can move forward in a variety of ways, all dependent on what the Respondent did or didn't do. This final phase is known as the judgment, but in common speak a divorce decree, a divorce order or divorce certificate.
The truth is that the judgment is a 2-page document, with optional attachments, signed by the Judge. The California required form is a FL-180 – Judgment. This can contain orders for terminating the same sex marriage as well as any other applicable items like custody, support and asset division. There are several ways to complete this phase 2 and get your judgment for same sex divorce in California. Let's take a quick look at each of the 3 major ways to get a judgment in your hands.
Same Sex Judgment by Default. This option is available to those cases where the Respondent did not file a response to contest the case. This could be one of two reasons. The first default judgment is when the other party didn’t respond because there were no issues in the case. Example would be a short term same sex marriage, no children and no assets or debts. There may not have been a reason for the Respondent to respond and thus the case can move forward by default. The other scenario where a default can finalize the case is when the parties of the same sex marriage are looking to finish the divorce with an agreement (stipulated Judgment). This is where both parties are in agreement and they plan to submit a marital settlement agreement with the default judgment on all their terms. This is common because the court will accept an agreement in a default case and by going this route, the Respondent can save a $435 filing fee for a response, as well as any costs associated with preparing and serving the Response. Some same sex couples realize that if they are going to finish by agreement, why spend extra money and time if the default process will allow them to do so regardless. In this default judgment process the Petitioner submits the final default judgment to the Santa Barbara Family Law court, and waits the average timeline for the court to process and the Judge to sign the Judgment. The court then mails a copy of the Judgment to each party. Right now, timeline for a default Judgment for same sex couples in Santa Barbara is 8 weeks. The good thing to note on the same sex default judgment for divorce, no court appearances required. In situations where no response was filed, the other party wont sign an agreement and there are children, property and debts, the default is still an option, it just means the default must make orders based on state guidelines. This means the requests on the Petition must match the orders requested. Simply out, the court will only grant orders you initially requested. Even though the Respondent did not file, they will only make orders based on the initial documents filed and served. This protects Respondents in some regard that the court won’t make orders outside of any requests they already saw and ignored. The key order many Petitioner’s get their judgments rejected from the court for is property division (asset and debts). The general guideline is that by default, all assets and debts must be divided equally. Meaning, just because the Respondent did not respond doesn’t mean the Petitioner can keep all the property and give all the debt away. The court will still want to see an order that first lines up with the initial filing, and secondly awards all assets and debts close to 50/50. This doesn’t mean a same sex divorce can’t divide assets and debts, just that the court has the final discretion on these orders. For questions about this, a Santa Barbara Property Division Attorney may be a major help.
Options 2: The Respondent has contested, but wants to enter into an agreement. This is not uncommon and simply means after the Respondent was served, they filed a response. They completed California Courts FL-120 and attachments, served the Petitioner by mail, filed the Response and paid the court $435 filing fee. Just because someone files a response doesn’t mean they are not in agreement. Respondents in same sex divorce cases, and really any court case, are often advised to file a response not matter what. A response brings the Respondent into a court case and means the Petitioner cannot move forward by default. It assures the Respondent is a part of any further actions including final orders. If this is the case, then you will proceed as mentioned above, with a marital settlement agreement submitted with the judgment. The difference is it isn’t a default, but what’s known as an uncontested matter. Essentially the forms are almost the same with a few being different. The final Judgment still includes your final agreement signed by the Judge and not required court appearance.
The third and most heavily re-created in Hollywood option is the Judgment by trial. In this situation, the Respondent has filed a response and they are not willing to enter into an agreement. At this point either Petitioner or Respondent can file for a trial or MSC Hearing. Typically before the court will allow and hear a trial, they will want issues like custody and visitation to be handled. This is done by the court in a hearing, but not in a courtroom by the Judge. A Request for Order can be filed to have the court mediation staff address those issues. They are trained family law counselors and mediators who are typically family law counselors who have experience in just those issues, and have discretion to make recommendations to the court. This could be a series one 2-infinity hearings and appearances where the court will make final orders. With this, legal fees for each hearing and set of documents can quickly mount, but eventually, Most all cases will get to a state of final judgment.
It is important to note that in situations where a same sex divorce Petitioners do not want to wait the 30 days from serve, or want orders made immediately, the court will allow filing a Request for Order with the Petition, or really at any time orders need to be made. In emergency situations like custody and visitation the court will allow it on a shorter basis. Rather than the standard 35-45 days for a hearing, in emergencies they can hold a hearing within 2-3 days.
Overall, the same sex divorce in Santa Barbara Family Law Courts follows the same procedure as any divorce in the family law courts in California. If you entered into a domestic partnership before same sex marriage was legal in California and then converted to a marriage or are still in a domestic partnership alone and want to know about options for a divorce, a domestic partnership attorney can help explain the nuances of your situation as it applies to a same sex divorce in Santa Barbara.
Joel Smith is a lead SEO representative helping clients boost their online business presence. ... View full business profile here: Joel Smith
