Last Updated on: 23rd June 2025, 06:45 pm
Understanding Divorce Lawyers and Legal Separation in Los Angeles
You need a Los Angeles divorce lawyer
Not everyone will want to file for divorce, so it’s important to understand the process and your rights in a divorce.
If you decide not to go through with a divorce and you want to understand your options, I recommend consulting a divorce lawyer. You’ll pay more for a divorce lawyer than your average family law attorney, but a good divorce lawyer will go above and beyond for you, helping you determine the best approach to protect your rights in a divorce and financially prepare you for the future.
If you need legal advice regarding your divorce options and family law matters, my firm, Artistic & Resources Inc., offers free initial consultation. If you’d prefer to have an attorney handle your case, we may be able to lower the cost of your divorce attorney fee to something more appropriate for your financial circumstances.
Understanding Divorce Attorney Services for Different Demographics
Divorce attorneys see opportunities for helping men deal with domestic abuse because of women’s increased involvement in family court proceedings. As more women come to the court to petition for and obtain support, the number of males served by divorce attorneys has increased.
Men over 50 who have been married for 5 years or more, or who have been divorced once, might find it easier to retain an attorney if they:
- Seek to establish guardianship over their children
- The husband is looking to receive alimony or a spousal support award
Those who have already had children may find it easier to negotiate with the custodial parent over the custody of their children and separate the children from their father. The increased importance of custodial mothers becoming alimony recipients has resulted in an increase in numbers of male clients.
What is Divorce ?
Separation
What is legal separation ?
Legal separation is a legal declaration of non-co-habitation, i.e. that one person is not living with the other. Legal separation is when you stop living with your spouse and you have a legal separation agreement, or contract, that you both follow.
In your divorce, it is your choice to decide how long you want to live apart from the other person, i.e. no matter how long you want to live apart you can ask for it.
Intimate Relations (Marital Separation)
Please note, you do not need to divorce your spouse if he/she has been living with you and you did not inform him/her about your intention to divorce. The third party can terminate the legal agreement of separation at any time.
For any further questions on Separation, please refer to the article:
Emotional Separation
Important note
You can divorce your spouse even if he/she is not living with you, for example if you lost your job or if you are temporarily separated because of a life event.
Please keep in mind that you have the right to seperation only as an option. A separation agreement is not required to be legally separated from your spouse.
This does not mean that your spouse is required to leave you. So please note that there may be a temporary separation only for a short time if you make the unilateral decision to do so. Divorce can be declared only after a period of separation.
Intimate Separation
In order to be able to divorce your spouse and to decide to live apart from the other person for any length of time, you need to enter into an agreement regarding their property, i.e. you must inform your spouse first.
| Requirement |
Description |
| Threat to Well-being |
You must be able to prove that you had sufficient reason to believe that your spouse would continue to be a threat to your physical or psychological well-being. |
| Breach |
You must have breached this breach without reasonable justification. |
| Rights Affected |
The violation must have affected at least one of the parties’s rights to freedom, integrity and security, if any of those rights had been legally adopted or recognised by the other party. |
| Voluntary Violation |
The violation must have been committed voluntarily. |
| Valid Agreement |
You must prove that you entered into a valid agreement for a sustained period of time, in which time the other party’s interests did not materially change. |
| Arbitration |
You must prove that you made the settlement through an arbitrator and in accordance with the procedure established in your state. |
When you enter into an agreement for separation, you will need to satisfy all of the following conditions:
Final Steps in the Divorce Process
Once the breakup is done, you must inform your spouse that you have filed for divorce. Sometimes a spouse files a legal separation because they don’t yet qualify for a divorce.
The information will be sent to your spouse as part of the final settlement agreement, which, under this legislation, must be witnessed and signed by both spouses. A sworn statement must also be provided describing the reasons why your spouse should not contact the other spouse about the divorce.
If you and your spouse end their marriage and file for divorce in a court, you can file for a claim of damages. Getting legally divorced or separated affects how you file your taxes.
A decree of divorce entered on your behalf will allow you to pay expenses, such as:
- Income tax
- Real estate taxes
- Child support
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