Game show winners have frequently complained about California’s “prize tax,” which applies to lottery winnings as well as prizes won in other contests such as game shows. So does the state treat lottery winnings differently from other income? How does the state deal with lottery winnings in a divorce situation? There are several factors that can affect the treatment of lottery winnings in a California divorce, and it will be important to take tax issues into consideration.

California’s Community Property Rules

Under California law, all property “acquired by a married person during the marriage” is considered community property unless it meets a specific exception. Community property belongs equally to both spouses.

So, it is important to understand what the exceptions are and what “during the marriage” means.

When property is not community property equally owned by both spouses, it is considered separate property belonging solely to one spouse. Some property can be considered hybrid, where part of the value belongs to one spouse alone and the remaining value is jointly owned as community property and divided in divorce. Property each partner owned before the marriage is generally that spouse’s separate property. However, if separate property gets mixed together with community property, it can become hybrid property or at least be very hard to trace.

Property acquired during the marriage can also be considered separate property if it is received by “gift, bequest, devise, or descent.” The last three terms refer to property received through inheritance rights. So, if someone in your family won the lottery and gave you part of the winnings or they left you winnings as a bequest in their will, those winnings would be your separate property even if you received them while you were happily married. If you put those winnings in a joint bank account and used them to pay the mortgage on a home you own with your spouse, those winnings could become hybrid or even entirely community property. So if you have separate property and want to keep it separate, you need to take careful steps to maintain the separate nature of the property.

Timing is Everything

Inherited winnings received while you are married may be separate property, but if you or your spouse win assets directly “during the marriage” then those winnings are community property jointly owned by both, even if one spouse bought the lottery ticket without the knowledge of the other. “During the marriage” means after the wedding and before the “date of separation.” So determining the official date of separation becomes crucial in any California divorce because it establishes the date at which community property accumulation ends.

Sometimes the date of separation is obvious, but many times it is not. Living apart is often a key indication, but it must be followed by actions that indicate an intent to end the marriage. For instance, in one case, a man who moved out of the family home to live with his girlfriend but who still came back to have dinner with his wife and kids most nights was not considered to be separated from his wife, so income earned while he lived with his girlfriend was still treated as community property. It was not until he filed for divorce that he was considered to have separated from his wife.

So, lottery winnings acquired before the date of separation are community property while winnings acquired after the date of separation are that spouse’s separate property. It is unclear what would happen if the ticket was purchased before the date of separation but the drawing was held after the date of separation. There is also a case to be made for treating lottery winnings as separate property if they were purchased with funds acquired before marriage (or by gift or inheritance) that had been kept scrupulously apart from marital funds.

Even if lottery winnings do not have to be divided as community property, it is important to be aware that they can impact decisions regarding child support and alimony.

Take Taxes into Consideration When Allocating Lottery Winnings

When couples need to divide lottery winnings during a divorce, they need to be aware of the tax consequences. If the divorce is not yet final before the end of the year, they may want to file a joint tax return to simplify the process of allocating the tax burden. Otherwise, it will be necessary to calculate the likely tax impact on the spouse who holds the winning ticket and divide that liability as well as dividing the winnings.

No Matter How Complicated Divorce Becomes, Holstrom, Block & Parke is Prepared to Protect Your Interests

The challenge of allocating lottery winnings in a California divorce is pretty rare, but it is important to work with a divorce lawyer who is ready to protect you in every complex situation that could arise. With 300+ years of collective experience, the team at Holstrom, Block & Parke APLC understands how to develop the best strategy to safeguard your interests regardless of the issues that surface during your divorce. Contact us today for a confidential consultation to learn how we can help.

The term “wasteful dissipation” is not one used in casual conversation, so when it comes up in the context of divorce, it confuses many people. It is important to understand how it is defined by California courts and the impact it can have on divorce.

While California laws put certain measures in place designed to prevent wasteful dissipation, it still occurs far more often than most people expect. Understanding the definition and the effect of wasteful dissipation can help prevent you from losing out on resources in divorce.

Defining Wasteful Dissipation

The California Family Code does not specifically define wasteful dissipation. Courts have defined the term in generally similar ways. Essentially, when one spouse uses marital community assets for a wrongful purpose, that can be considered wasteful dissipation. It is generally an issue only raised in divorce, but it could potentially be part of a postnuptial agreement.

A wrongful purpose might be something illegal or something that is simply excessive and that benefits one spouse while denying the other to gain an advantage in divorce.

Some examples include:

• Buying gifts for and paying for vacations taken with someone a spouse is having an affair with
• Spending excessive amounts on drugs or partying
• Gambling
• Going on crazy shopping sprees
• Selling property to a friend for less than face value or giving extravagant gifts to friends

With gifts to friends or family members, there is an often assumption that the gift recipient is just holding the property temporarily and will give it or some other benefit to the spouse when the divorce is over, so that is effectively trying to cheat the system and gain an unfair share of marital property during divorce.  

The Effect Wasteful Dissipation Has on a California Divorce Case

Property that spouses acquire during a marriage are considered to be owned equally by both of them. Debts that are created during the marriage are also considered to be the equal responsibility of both spouses. This is generally true even for assets acquired only by one spouse, such as a spouse’s earnings, or debts created solely by one spouse, such as when a spouse goes shopping. If either spouse buys a new swimsuit for $60 and pays for it with a credit card, for instance, both spouses are fully responsible for paying the bill, even though only one of them can actually wear the suit. In divorce, the debt would be divided so that each spouse owed $30.

When spending is considered wasteful dissipation, the situation changes. The debts run up by a wasteful spouse might be allocated entirely to that spouse. If the swimsuit was part of a shopping spree that involved buying 60 swimsuits for $6,000, that would be unnecessary, extravagant, and wasteful. A judge might decide that the spouse who took on this debt should be responsible for paying for all of it.

Alternatively, the court might award the other spouse an extra share of marital property to make up for the waste, particularly if the bill has already been paid. The California Family Code allows the court to award an amount of community property determined to have been “deliberately misappropriated” by one spouse to the detriment of the other spouse.

Automatic Temporary Restraining Orders

Once a divorce petition has been filed, California law places an Automatic Temporary Restraining Order in effect which is supposed to prevent either spouse from taking extreme actions such as emptying out a bank account or selling off major assets. However, this does not help a spouse who is dealing with wasteful spending that occurs before the divorce petition is filed, and the order may not prevent all wasteful dissipation.

Proving and Disproving Wasteful Dissipation

It is important for a spouse who suspects their partner has been spending recklessly or wastefully to collect as many financial records as possible to prove what spending has occurred and how it is out of line with the typical spending patterns during the marriage.

If you have been accused of wasteful dissipation, you also need to gather and preserve financial records. You may be able to demonstrate that your spending has been normal throughout the marriage or that unusual expenses had a particular purpose for your business or to meet family needs. For instance, if a spouse alleges that you bought jewelry or fancy sports equipment for someone you were having an affair with, you may be able to show that you used the property yourself or that the gift was given to a family member or as a legitimate business favor.

Holstrom, Block & Parke Can Protect When Wasteful Dissipation Issues Arise in Divorce

Allegations that a spouse has wasted marital assets can be very complex to resolve, and often require the use of forensic accounts to piece together spending patterns and transaction history. At Holstrom, Block & Parke, APLC, our Certified Family Law Specialists and associates know how to protect financial interests in complex situations, and we can investigate to present the best evidence to support your interests if wasteful dissipation is an issue. Contact us today for a confidential consultation to learn more. 

No one likes to pay for things they don’t need, and many people feel like they don’t need a lawyer to help them with divorce. They don’t realize how an attorney can protect their financial interests and save them considerable money and headaches in the long run. Some personality types, such as those with narcissistic personality traits, believe they know more than a lawyer and wouldn’t listen to one anyway.

Regardless of the reason, if your spouse doesn’t want an attorney, what does that mean for you? The good news is that it does not prevent you from seeking legal advice and hiring the best possible legal representation to guide you through the complexities of the divorce. It also does not mean that you have to share an attorney. But there are some implications and issues to deal with if your spouse is going through the divorce process without a lawyer. Based on our 300+ years of collective experience, here’s what you may need to expect when your spouse doesn’t have a lawyer during a California divorce.

The Divorce Process is Likely to Take Longer

In the early stages of divorce in California, parties need to file official paperwork and comply with official deadlines. If your spouse is not working with a dedicated divorce attorney, it may take time for them to understand the requirements and comply with them. Reading legal documents can seem like trying to read a foreign language to those who are not used to the terminology and legal meaning attached to each phrase.

In addition to figuring out how to respond to petitions, your spouse will also be required to provide certain information and this process is also usually delayed when someone is working without professional legal guidance.

Mistakes and Repeated Efforts are More Likely

Someone trying to rebuild the transmission on their car by following along with a free online video is probably not going to get the job done correctly the first time through. There will be mistakes, and the need to undo and redo steps, possibly many times over.

Taking a DIY approach to a California divorce can be just as painful. Without an attorney, your soon-to-be-former spouse may not understand the implication of choices. They may spend quite a bit of time vacillating, make a choice, and then want to change it a week later. They may agree to terms and then get conflicting legal advice from another free online video and decide the terms will no longer work. They may reject perfectly reasonable terms based on advice from a friend or colleague or even something they read in an online forum. Without a solid source of authority, spouses who are meandering through the divorce process often make repeated mistakes or treat and reasonable action as if it was a mistake.

Your Attorney Works Only for You

Even if you wanted to let your spouse ask your attorney for advice, your attorney would not be allowed ethically to give them any advice. Your attorney is focused on representing your interests and getting you the best terms for your divorce, and it would be a conflict of interest for them to give any advice to the other party to the case.

If you hired an attorney to serve as a mediator rather than as your personal legal counsel, then the attorney would be neutral, but still not able to provide legal advice.

Court Appearances Can Be Embarrassing and Frustrating

The judges who handle divorce cases have a tremendous workload to get through and they have no time to waste on those who are ignorant of proper procedures. When you work with a lawyer, your lawyer will have presented the judge with all the necessary information about the background of the case, narrowing down the issues to the critical points so the judge knows what to focus on. Your attorney will explain what to expect, and your legal counsel will speak briefly and effectively on your behalf to move the case along.

Your spouse, on the other hand, probably will not have presented their side of the issues succinctly in writing for the judge to prepare. They will probably not understand what information is irrelevant, and they may waste the judge’s time with excuses or useless explanations. You may feel the need to answer some of the ridiculous assertions of your spouse, and it can be difficult to keep silent. Rest assured that if your spouse says anything that is relevant that requires an answer, your attorney will make that answer. Otherwise, your spouse is probably just making the judge frustrated.

Holstrom, Block & Parke, Works to Keep the Divorce on Track Even if Your Spouse Does Not Have an Attorney

The Certified Family Law Specialists and associates at Holstrom, Block & Parke, APLC have such a broad range of experience that we have encountered almost every conceivable condition that could impact a California divorce. We know how to keep the process on track when the other spouse is trying to represent their own interests during the divorce process. We work to insulate you from frustration and minimize any negative impacts. Schedule a confidential consultation with our team today to learn more about the ways we can protect you in divorce.

Since California is a “no-fault” state when it comes to divorce, many people believe that their divorce attorney has no need to know the reason for their divorce. But even though it is not necessary for the attorney to prove that someone did something wrong, knowing the reasons the marriage is ending can help your divorce attorney develop the best strategy to secure the right terms in your divorce settlement.

With over 300 years of collective experience protecting clients’ interests in the divorce process, the team at Holstrom, Block & Parke, APLC has seen a huge array of reasons that couples choose to dissolve their marriages in California. Here are ten of the most common reasons.

1. Lack of Commitment

The most common justification cited for ending a marriage–the term “lack of commitment”-- is itself lacking in clear meaning. What does it mean to say that you or your partner lack commitment? Sometimes it means that a partner is not ready to share their life with someone. Or it could mean that a partner still wants to share their life with more than one someone. If you believe your marriage is ending due to lack of commitment, try to explain to your divorce attorney what this means to you. That enables your attorney to plan to meet the challenges likely to arise during the divorce process.

2. Communication Problems

Couples who don’t communicate or who communicate primarily in angry outbursts are very likely to end up divorced. A relationship is built on meeting each other’s needs, and if you can’t communicate effectively, needs go unmet and couples grow apart and often resent each other. If lack of communication or angry outbursts are a big problem in your marriage, letting your attorney know the difficulties can allow your legal advisor to find the most effective method to exchange information during the divorce process.

3. Differing Values and Interests

Sometimes couples meet over shared interests, but other times, they have little in common. If they don’t make an effort to develop mutual interests, or if partners develop diverging interests over time, they may feel like roommates rather than partners.

4. Financial Disagreements

When spouses have different ideas about how money should be managed, that can lead to a state of constant conflict that is exhausting. It is vitally important to make your attorney aware of financial disagreements because this enables your attorney to prepare for potential problems. It may be necessary to work with a forensic accountant to locate hidden assets or trace the history of separate property.

5. Infidelity and Trust Issues

If one partner has had an extramarital affair, or if a spouse has wrongfully accused the other spouse of cheating, then trust between partners is destroyed. It can be extremely difficult to rebuild trust, so partners often instead simply choose to end the marriage. However, if there is a desire to preserve the relationship and rebuild trust, often a postnuptial agreement provides a safety net to protect a spouse while giving the other partner a chance to prove they are worthy of trust.

6. Bullying and Abuse

When one spouse is abusive and controlling, it can be very difficult for the other spouse to take steps toward divorce, and when they finally do so, it is important to put measures into place for physical, mental, emotional, and financial protection. Make sure your attorney knows the details so they can take the best steps to protect your interests.

7. Parenting Struggles

Children often become the center of a marriage, and when spouses disagree about how to raise their children, the fighting can become painful for everyone and lead to a desire for peace. In situations where a child faces a medical crisis or has special needs, the pressure of dealing with the child’s needs also often drives couples apart. In either situation, it is helpful for your attorney to understand the conflict so your lawyer can determine how to help you formulate the right parenting plan.

8. Getting Married for the Wrong Reasons

Some people expect marriage to solve their problems when instead it can make those problems even worse unless steps are taken to the underlying issues. Make sure your attorney understands the unmet needs to determine the best options for settlement.

9. Addiction

Addiction destroys marriages very quickly. An addicted spouse puts the addiction ahead of everything else, and that can make life unbearable for the rest of the family. If you or your spouse are dealing with any type of addiction--from substance abuse to online shopping—your attorney needs to be aware of it.

10. Mid-life Crisis

Some people suddenly decide they don’t like the day-to-day aspects of their lives and want to start over, leaving behind their spouse, children, and everything else. If that’s the case with your spouse, let your attorney know. If your spouse only wants cash, for instance, your attorney may be able to negotiate a division of property that provides you with more value in exchange for less liquidity. Or if your spouse later requests custody, your attorney will be aware that they could be making the request purely to reduce child support obligations.

Tell the Team at Holstrom, Block & Parke, APLC Why You are Getting Divorced

The more information you can provide for your attorney, the better you enable your legal advisor to protect you during divorce. This is not the time to be embarrassed—we have seen it all. Moreover, we are bound by confidentiality provisions so your secrets are safe with us.

For a confidential consultation to discuss the ways Holstrom, Block & Parke, APLC can protect your interests in divorce, contact our team today.

Dividing community property in a California divorce seems like it should be simple. Each spouse gets half, right?

Well, the process is more complicated than that, particularly when dealing with certain assets such as pensions and retirement benefits. It is important to handle valuation and division carefully to get your fair share of community property and avoid added fees or tax liability.

How Much of the Pension is Considered Community Property?

When couples divorce in California, they equally divide up property that is considered community marital property. However, any property that is legally considered to belong to a spouse individually does not get divided—it stays with that spouse. Sometimes assets can be made up of a combination of both separate property and community. With careful tracing, it is possible to separate the value so that the spouse who is rightfully entitled to keep some of the value as separate property is able to do so.

So, when is a pension separate property and when is it community property? The issue comes down to when the interest in the pension or retirement benefits was earned. Any amount earned before the marriage began should be the separate property of that spouse. Amounts earned during the course of the marriage, by contrast, are treated as community property belonging equally to both spouses, even though only one spouse did the work to earn the benefits and despite the fact that they are held in the name of one spouse only. To further confuse matters, retirement benefits earned after the date you separate are also considered separate property, even though the divorce is not final. So establishing the date of separation is crucial.

To get your rightful share of pension and retirement benefits—both your own and those of your spouse—it is important to consider records very closely and work with an attorney who is prepared to help you comb through the details to find all community property and properly allocate all your separate property.

Factors That Make Pensions and Other Retirement Benefits Complicated in a California Divorce

For many couples, particularly those in advanced stages of their careers, retirement benefits and employment compensation packages represent some of the most valuable assets in their portfolio. Both partners have an expectation of being able to rely on the retirement benefits earned to provide support during a comfortable retirement. So there is a lot at stake both financially and emotionally when it comes to dividing pension benefits.

Traditional pensions are a type of deferred compensation. A worker may earn them during the marriage, but they don’t have the right to receive the payout until years later. Trying to establish a current value for the future payments can be tricky, especially if the benefits are only partially vested at the time of divorce. An employee might have earned a certain amount of pension credit but not be entitled to receive it unless they remain employed by the same company for an additional term, and there is no way to predict whether that employment will continue.

Another factor that complicates retirement benefits in divorce is the tax treatment. Assets in a “qualified” retirement plan involve tax-deferred contributions. If those assets are not handled according to federal requirements, a hefty tax bill could become due immediately after a divorce.

The Need for a QDRO

Pension plans and other retirement benefits are held in the name of the spouse who earned them, even if they are entirely treated as community property under California law. Therefore, the companies that manage these plans need to have a specific type of court order before they are able to pay out any of the funds to the other spouse. For qualified retirement benefits, a qualified domestic relations order (QDRO) is necessary. This is a specialized document usually prepared by a professional with particular expertise. It is important to plan ahead to ensure that the preparation of the QDRO does not delay the divorce process or add any unnecessary expense.

Work with a Legal Team That Knows How to Protect Your Interests in Retirement Plans and Other Complex Assets

Some aspects of a divorce settlement, such as alimony and custody determinations, can be revisited later. But the classification and division of marital property is one aspect of divorce that is nearly impossible to change, so it is important to get it right the first time.

The Certified Family Law Specialists and associates at Holstrom, Block & Parke, APLC know how to work effectively and efficiently to protect your property interests in a California divorce. Schedule a consultation today to learn more about how we can help.

Why are so many more couples over the age of 50 choosing to separate their lives and get divorced? For many, it comes down to a pattern of refusing to deal with things that matter because they want to avoid conflict. This pattern becomes exhausting and stifling and divorce often seems the only way to get a sense of relief.

Understanding conflict avoidance is important whether you are trying to save your marriage or working to establish the right terms for a divorce. At Holstrom, Block & Parke, APLC, our Certified Family Law Specialists and associates have seen that when the patterns of conflict avoidance are ignored, it can cause complications in divorce and extend the time it takes to resolve critical issues.

What is Conflict Avoidance?

Conflict avoidance refers to a habit of avoiding confrontation or any hint of conflict in a relationship. The behavior can be intentional or inadvertent. When one partner does not want to upset the other, they end up suppressing the desire to discuss important issues such as hopes, dreams, and worries. They even avoid mentioning the things that annoy them.

Due to their fear of confrontation, they end up burying their personal feelings. When this pattern repeats for years or even decades, spouses end up as strangers. Even worse, they can end up as strangers who resent each other. Avoiding conflict does not make it go away. Instead, it festers like a wound that will not heal.

At some point, one or both spouses suddenly realize that there is no longer a “we” but only an “I.”

Trying to Avoid Conflict Avoidance

Our busy culture makes it easy to establish and maintain a pattern of conflict avoidance. Each partner can get lost in a world of:

• Busyness
• Over-work
• Social media
• Screen entertainment

It not only becomes easy to avoid dealing with difficult issues—it becomes almost impossible to even find the right time and place to start addressing these issues.

How Can You Tell if Conflict Avoidance is a Problem?

Some couples argue constantly. Others may engage in one huge confrontation where everything comes out like an explosion. But when one or both partners are avoiding conflict, you won’t see this type of decisive evidence. Conflict accumulates over time but never erupts. Instead, it festers deep below the surface. For self-preservation, one or both partners begin to avoid communication in general as a means to avoid conflict. If they don’t take steps to address the problem, the relationship disintegrates.

If you are asking yourself whether this is a problem in your relationship, consider whether you ever:

• Sense pent-up frustration
• Look back over your marriage and realize you don’t want things to stay the same
• Feel as though you need to put an end to something
• Sense the need to make a change or reconcile
• Suddenly feel the urge to open up to your spouse
• Feel like a dam is bursting

Dealing with suppressed conflict is not easy but it needs to happen for your emotional health. Facing the conflict sometimes leads to reconciliation and the rebuilding of a marriage. If there are trust issues, often preparing a postnuptial agreement can establish a safe set of ground rules while couples reestablish trust in each other.

Facing the conflict can also cause you to realize that it is time to end the relationship and get a divorce.

Work with a Divorce Attorney Who Recognizes the Issues That Need to Be Addressed

Conflict avoidance patterns are most common in couples who have been married for a considerable period of time, which is why it is a prevalent reason for divorce among couples over the age of 50. Divorcing at this stage of life, with retirement on the horizon, comes with its own set of unique challenges. Therefore, if you believe you may have conflict avoidance issues in your marriage, it is important to work with an attorney who is prepared to develop a plan to help with both the patterns of conflict avoidance and the financial and emotional difficulties that arise with divorce later in life.

Ironically, the divorce process often forces couples with conflict avoidance issues to address the issues they’ve avoided for decades. Even if they are not able to save their relationship, the process can help them develop better communication patterns for the future.

Holstrom, Block & Parke, APLC Helps Overcome a Wide Array of Family Law Challenges

With over 300 years of combined experience handling difficult situations in divorce, the team at Holstrom, Block & Parke, APLC, understands how to recognize potential difficulties and develop plans to protect your interests. We invite you to schedule a confidential consultation to learn more about the assistance we can provide if you are considering a postnuptial agreement to preserve your marriage or a divorce to prepare you for the next steps in life.

Divorce is a complex process in California, with numerous critical details to be arranged. The impact of decisions you make and the steps you take during the process will impact your life for years to come.

With 300+ years of collective experience guiding clients through the divorce process in California, the team at Holstrom, Block & Parke, APLC has seen a few techniques that prove to be very helpful. One of those is to create a checklist of tasks you need to complete to protect your interests during the process. You can start with basic major steps and fill in additional details as you move forward.

1. Find the Right Divorce Attorney

We may be a bit biased in setting this as your first priority, but if you think about it, you can see the logic. A dedicated family law attorney will have guided many people down the difficult path you are taking and they can provide advice at each step along the way. When you have questions, your attorney can provide answers. Your legal advisor can also keep you mindful of aspects you never considered. In fact, if you are too overwhelmed to create or work through a divorce checklist on your own, a good divorce attorney can help you get started.

2. Make a List of What You Own and Where to Find It

One of the most complex and stressful parts of a divorce is dividing up property and debts. In California, marital assets and debts are split evenly, so the parts of the process that are most critical are first locating all assets and debts and second determining whether they should be allocated to one spouse completely, to both spouses completely, or partially shared and partially to one spouse. Your attorney can help you with this process.

Preparing a list early in the process can prevent problems if your spouse tries to hide assets later.

3. Develop Plans and Goals for Custody

If you have children, this task should be on your checklist twice. In the beginning, you need a workable plan for parenting while the divorce is in progress. The goal is to avoid disrupting the children’s lives as much as possible. For that reason, arrangements may not always be convenient for the parents.

You will also need to develop a parenting plan for the years to come. To create a plan that works best for the children and is manageable for both parents, it will take considerable time and effort.

4. Change passwords

Your spouse may know your passwords or be able to guess them. Even if you don’t anticipate vindictive behavior, it is a good idea to create new passwords for all your accounts to ensure that you will be able to access them in the future.

5. Open Accounts in Your Own Name

After the divorce, you will be operating with accounts in your name only, so you might as well get started opening those accounts now. Once you have separated, you are not supposed to be responsible for debts incurred by your spouse, but if you are both still using a joint account, creditors can still try to get you to pay the debts of your ex. After the divorce is final, make sure debts are refinanced in the name of one spouse only.

6. Learn the Rules

Even if you plan to create your own arrangements for property division, custody, and other matters, it is still helpful to understand your rights under California law and how a court would decide on matters if you had to have a judge decide the issues. Your attorney can provide this information, which is another good reason to hire a lawyer sooner rather than later.

7. Develop a Financial Plan

Divorces cost money and they drive up the cost of living since you will need to support your household with one income instead of two. To protect your interests and your sanity, it is a good idea to develop a plan to cover living expenses in the short and long term. The process of evaluating expenses and income is also very helpful if you plan to seek or expect to pay spousal support.

8. Gather Legal Documents

Even for the most basic situations, a California divorce will require you to submit considerable amounts of information. Get together key documents such as tax returns, mortgage statements, estate planning documents, and, of course, your marriage license.

9. Take Care of Yourself

This is another item that needs to be listed more than once on your checklist. Divorce is a painful loss, similar to the death of a loved one. You need to allow yourself the opportunity to process your grief and anger. Working with a therapist can often be helpful and can help you avoid the temptation to dump too much negative emotion on your family and friends.

Get the Right Guidance Throughout the Divorce Process

To overcome the challenges of the divorce process, you need the right guidance and support. The Certified Family Law Specialists and associates at Holstrom, Block & Parke, APLC, are ready to steer you through from start to finish. Get started with a confidential consultation today.

Divorce tears a family’s home life into pieces. But unlike some states, California does not require divorcing couples to live apart. For the sake of children, and for financial reasons, couples often continue to live together during the divorce process.

Is there an advantage to staying in the marital home? If one party moves out, are they at a disadvantage when it comes to divorce terms? Every divorce situation is unique, but there are some general issues to consider when deciding whether to move out of the family home before a divorce has been finalized. It is a good idea to consult an attorney before taking steps to move out of home because that action can have a significant impact on many aspects of the divorce process.

Moving Out Can Affect Your Relationship with Your Children

In custody decisions, courts are not supposed to favor one spouse on the basis of their parental label as mom or dad. However, courts look carefully at the role of caregiver, and often find that it is in a child’s best interests to be with a parent that meets the child’s daily needs on a regular basis. If you, as a parent, are usually the one to put the kids to bed at night or make breakfast and get the kids off to school each day, moving out of the home will likely impact your ability to continue with these daily rituals. If you have the option of staying in the home with the children, consider whether the benefits of leaving the home outweigh the loss in caregiving opportunities and whether there are ways to continue in the caregiving role.

Another way to protect your relationship with your children is to establish a plan where the children stay in the home and the parents alternate staying in the home with them and staying in another location. While this arrangement is not feasible for many people on a long-term basis, during the divorce process it can provide stability for the children and help parents feel more secure in their parental rights.

Moving Out Does Not End the Obligation to Pay for the Home

A spouse who moves out during the divorce may need to pay for their own new living arrangements while continuing to contribute to the cost of the family home. In fact, if both spouses are on the mortgage, they both continue to be obligated to make mortgage payments even after a divorce is finalized, until the property is sold and the mortgage is paid off or one spouse takes out a new mortgage in their own name.

But even if the marital home is rented and there is no mortgage, a spouse who earns more money may have an obligation to help support the other spouse during the divorce process, and if there are children, both parents are required to contribute to meeting their housing needs.

Moving Out Should Not Make it Less Likely That You Will Receive the Home in the Divorce Settlement

The underlying property rights with respect to the family home should not be affected by which spouse is living in the home during the divorce process. The property interests are determined by whether the home was purchased before or during the marriage, and whether funds used to pay the mortgage and other expenses were community property or one spouse’s separate property.  A spouse might move out of the home during the divorce but then end up with the house later, either through an agreement between the spouses or by a judge’s determination.

Moving Out is Sometimes Legally Required

When there are allegations of domestic violence or other issues that could pose a safety risk to the other spouse and children, the court may issue an order requiring you to leave the home and stay away. If there is a court order requiring you to keep out of the house, it is vitally important to obey the order, even if it is unfair. Your attorney can help you contest the order and possibly change it. But acting on your own can cause you to get into legal trouble and damage your efforts to obtain advantageous terms in your divorce settlement.

Have a Written Agreement Before You Move Out

When parents are in constant conflict, staying in the same home may not be a wise move. Having one spouse move out can ease the stress and it also makes it easier to establish the date of separation. However, to avoid allegations of abandonment and protect parental rights and possibly other rights as well, it is a good idea for both spouses to have an agreement in writing regarding separate living arrangements.

Talk to Your Attorney Before You Move Out

At Holstrom, Block &  Parke, APLC, our Certified Family Law Specialists and associates know that there are often good reasons for moving out of the marital home. But it is still wise to review the issues from a legal perspective before taking action.

Schedule an appointment with our team today to discuss the living arrangements that make the most sense during your divorce.

Whether you’re talking about the family home, a vacation property, or commercial real estate, determining the value of real property often has a tremendous impact on the short-term and long-term futures of couples divorcing in California. The state’s unique and volatile real estate market makes it difficult to come up with a property value that both spouses can agree on. And there’s a lot at stake, so it is important to make the effort to gain an accurate value.

Many people wonder whether it makes sense to work with an appraiser during divorce or whether that only adds expense and further uncertainty to the process. In our 300+ collective years of experience handling divorce cases, we’ve seen many instances where the use of an appraiser has reduced conflict and delays in the divorce process. However, it is important to take the right approach and understand what’s involved.

A Divorce Appraisal Can Be Different Than a Mortgage Appraisal in California

Traditionally, home appraisals are ordered when someone is purchasing a property or refinancing the mortgage on a property. They are conducted for the benefit of the lender to ensure that the property represents a good investment. Mortgage lenders require these appraisals to appear in a specific format and to comply with Uniform Appraisal Dataset guidelines established by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the federally-sponsored enterprises that guarantee most of the mortgages in the U.S.

An appraisal prepared to establish the value of a property for purposes of property division in a divorce does not need to follow those specific formats and guidelines, and so this type of appraisal might read quite differently. It is important, however, to ensure that the appraiser presents and considers sufficient evidence to support their opinion of the property’s value.

Comparative Market Analysis vs. Full Appraisal

In many situations, people rely on a Comparative Market Analysis performed by a real estate professional to determine the value of a property. This involves evaluating the neighborhood, taking note of certain features about the property, and comparing it with three to five comparable properties that have sold recently in the area. A market analysis is part of a full appraisal. But an appraisal considers more details about the individual property, and an appraisal can only be performed by a professional licensed as an appraiser. For that reason, a full appraisal is considered to provide a more accurate representation of the value of a property.

How an Appraisal is Prepared

During the appraisal process, the appraiser visits the property to inspect a wide variety of issues. In addition to measuring room sizes, the appraiser will evaluate the condition of various aspects of the property, considering whether features are in good repair and whether they are dated or reflect modern trends.

The specific aspects that make the property unique will be considered when comparing it to comparable properties in the area that have sold recently. All the information will be written up in detail  to justify the value assigned by the appraiser.

Finding the Right Appraiser

There are appraisers who specialize in testifying in high-conflict divorce proceedings. Depending on your situation, it might make sense to consult one of these specialists. If your divorce is proceeding through a more cooperative process, then you might ask your attorney or a local realtor for a recommendation. You want the appraiser to be a neutral third party providing an opinion that will be respected by both spouses.

Issues to Consider Regarding Real Property in a California Divorce

There are a few issues to keep in mind as you prepare to assess the value of real property and develop a plan for dividing community property. First, the timing of the appraisal matters. If you are looking at an appraisal done when you refinanced the property a year ago, that value is no longer accurate. If you had an appraisal completed in January but you are still working out the divorce details nine months later, you might want to have an updated appraisal or at least an updated market analysis.

When considering the value for property division purposes don’t forget to account for tax issues. The property may come with capital gains liability, depreciation recapture issues, or the ability to take advantage of a one-time transfer of protected property tax rates. Your attorney should review all the details to ensure that your final plan of division fairly allocates all obligations as well as assets.

Holstrom, Block & Parke, APLC, Knows How to Protect Your Property Interests in California Divorce

There are so many details to consider in divorce that it can easily become overwhelming. The best way to ensure that everything is accounted for is to work with an experienced attorney who is dedicated to safeguarding your interests.

At Holstrom, Block & Parke, APLC, our Certified Family Law Specialists and associates consider all the details and how they fit into the big picture so that we can ensure you receive the right value for your share of real property and other assets in divorce. Schedule a consultation with our team today to find out how we can protect your interests.