Santa Clarita Divorce aTTORNEY
Work with a certified family law specialist In Santa Clarita!
Are you looking for a qualified attorney who can provide you with guidance through your divorce or other family law matter? If so, you should consult with our Santa Clarita divorce attorney at Richard Ross Associates. Attorney Ross has more than three decades of experience and is a certified family law specialist. In order to receive this certification from the California Board of Legal Specialization, Attorney Ross has had to undergo testing and peer review, with a requirement to obtain recertification every five years. When you turn to our law firm, you get a compassionate and experienced lawyer who is willing to provide you with the personalized attention you deserve. Attorney Ross can help you work to protect the best interests of both you and your loved ones, regardless of how complex your case is.
legal Support Through the Divorce Process
The experience of going through a divorce varies from person to person. For some divorcing couples, the spouses are able to agree on the divorce terms outside of court through collaborative law. For others, it is necessary to through heated legal battles in order to agree on issues such as property division, child custody, spousal support, child support, etc. Some divorces are bound by the terms of prenuptial agreements, while others are not. Our law firm can provide high-quality legal representation in each type of scenario. In addition to divorce, the family law matters above may also need to be dealt with when couples are looking to end domestic partnerships, when married couples are seeking legal separations, or when ex-spouses want to make adjustments to previous court orders.
Guardianship, Stepparent Adoption, and Other Matters
Aside from divorce, our law firm also handles many other types of family law matters. We assist individuals who are trying to obtain guardianship of children who are not their own sons or daughters. We can also help individuals who are trying to carry out stepparent adoptions. Some of the other areas we handle are domestic violence, move-away cases (or cases in which the custodial parent wants to relocate with the child), and visitation matters, among others. Whether you need to know the do's and don'ts of divorce or you want to protect a child's future, you can turn out firm for assistance. Contact us so we can begin assisting you!
What Are The Benefits Of Hiring A Divorce Attorney In Santa Clarita?
There are so many benefits to hiring a legal expert to help you through your divorce. From supporting you emotionally to helping you with a variety of family law matters revolving around your divorce, a lawyer will help ensure that you have everything you need for a smooth divorce process.
Here are the top benefits of hiring a lawyer for your divorce:
- Your attorney can support you emotionally.
- Your attorney will give you all of the legal information that you need to ensure you are on the right path.
- Your attorney can help you with child support, child custody, spousal support, and other family matters related to your divorce.
- Your attorney will handle all of the hefty paperwork involved with your divorce.
- Your attorney will be there to represent you in court if your case gets escalated.
- Your attorney will help to ensure a smooth divorce process.
If you or someone that you care for is going through a divorce, reach out to our divorce attorneys in Santa Clarita and let us help you. Contact our divorce lawyers online to schedule a free initial consultation and to learn more about what we can do to help.
Suggested Reading:
Dedicated TO CLIENT CARE & SUCCESS
-
I heartily recommend him to anybody in need of a well qualified, results-oriented, family law specialist.
“I would not hesitate to, again, retain the legal services of Richard Ross.”
-
Our family and our dignity have been restored.
“Mr. Ross and his supportive, competent staff put their hearts into their work and literally turned our lives around.”
-
The results far exceeded my expectations.
“The entire staff at Richard Ross Associates really helped me through my divorce and they were with me the whole way.”
-
Extremely thorough and professional!
“Richard has helped me through a very difficult divorce and I can't say enough good things about him.”
-
Polite, caring, and quick to respond.
“Richard Ross is a subject matter expert in the field of family law.”
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
-
This is very important: If you have separated from your spouse before one of you has filed for dissolution of marriage or legal separation, avoid agreeing to and placing into effect a temporary parenting plan arrangement regarding the children unless you will be able to live with this arrangement after the divorce papers have been filed. Once you begin a parenting plan that seems to be working, it becomes the "status quo." It is very difficult to convince a mediator or judge to change the status quo, especially if it is working or appears to be working and is not detrimental to the minor children.
-
If you have not received a judgment dissolving your marriage before the end of the year, you may file an individual tax return under the status of "married, filing separately" or a joint tax return with your spouse. You should consult your accountant as to the advantages of these options. You may obtain special information booklets regarding tax information for divorce or separated individuals from your local IRS office or read the IRS booklet online.
-
To file an action for divorce, also known as dissolution of marriage, a person must have resided in the state of California for six months and in the county where the action is filed for three months prior to filing the petition in court. This is true of either the petitioner or the respondent - either person can meet the test and allow a filing. If your spouse meets the residency requirement, you can file even if you do not meet it yourself.
-
The court can and usually will order you to move out of your residence if your spouse convinces the court that you have been violent toward your spouse or threatened your spouse. You could be given ex-parte notice to be in court the next day because your spouse is seeking an order to make you move out and stay out. You can be ordered to leave immediately and not return even if your spouse is not on the property title or lease agreement! Once you are ordered to leave, it is not likely that you will be allowed to return.
-
Before you get a divorce, photocopy all relevant financial documents that you can obtain and store them off-site with a trusted friend or relative. Do not store them in the trunk of your car where they can easily be found and removed by your spouse. There may be both personal and strategic reasons not to tip off your spouse that documents are being reviewed for a possible dissolution proceeding. Make copies of documents that you find in the residence and return the original documents to their original location as soon as possible so that your spouse won't notice that they are missing. It is often advisable to make the photocopies when you are sure your spouse is away for an extended time, such as during a workday. It is advisable to gather as many relevant financial documents as possible while they are still available and before they have been removed or destroyed by your spouse. This will significantly reduce the cost of divorce litigation if the documents do not have to be recovered later. It will also permit us to get a true picture of all community assets and debts as soon as possible.
