How to Tell Your Spouse You Want a Separation or Divorce

10 tips to help you organize and prepare yourself for a difficult conversation: telling your spouse. One of the first questions I get from people who consult with me is “How do I tell my spouse?”  Even if you believe your spouse sees it coming (or should have...

Making Sense of Those Divorce Legal Forms

The Petition Opens a file: Filing a petition for dissolution of marriage (divorce) simply opens a file at the courthouse and gives you a file number to use in the future.  Nothing else will ever happen if no one files anything further.  In fact, the court is obligated...

3 Ways to Manage Kids’ Expenses after the Divorce

Certain mandatory shared children’s expenses are defined in the CA Income and Expense declaration which include: child care for job training and/or work, medical care, special educational needs, and travel related to visitation. But what about other expenses such as extracurricular sports, private school, orthodontia, tutors, birthday parties, even haircuts?

In Divorce: My Inheritance is Mine, Right?

Your inheritance, well, yes and… In California legally an inheritance is the separate property of the person who receives it.   However, whether you get to keep it depends on what you did with it. If you kept your inheritance money in your name and in an account...