Family Law & Divorce Attorney Ventura – Free Divorce Consultations

• Summary Divorce.  To successfully perform a summary divorce, each party will need to consent to divorce and agree to file collaboratively.  A summary divorce is sometimes possible for married couples who may meet one or more of the following conditions:

  • Married for a short period of time.

  • Do not have children.

  • Own little or no property

  • Limited joint debts and/or assets

These conditions do not explicitly qualify or disqualify a couple from summary divorce eligibility, but they tend to contribute to the complexity of a case and the chances of a contested divorce occurring.  

• An Uncontested Divorce entails a married couple agreeing to the terms of a divorce and filing in collaboration.  In many cases, an uncontested divorce may eliminate the need for a divorce trial.

• A Divorce by Default may occur for cases in which one party files for divorce and the other party fails to or refuses to respond to the filing.  The most common instance of a divorce by default is instances of one person abandoning the other or residing in an undetermined location.

• Fault vs. No-Fault Divorce.  This can be one of the more complex possible divorces.  Prior to no-fault divorce laws, couple’s would be required to indicate that a particular set of circumstances had transpired which provided just cause for divorce.  Every US state except for New York has now implemented No-Fault Divorce.  No-Fault Divorce requires no proof of significant fault or error on one person’s behalf.  Instead, the married couple can choose to indicate irreconcilable differences as the grounds for divorce.  Basically, this claim asserts that there are certain base issues which the couple can’t agree upon which cause the marriage to not be possible.

• Divorce through Mediation.  This is more of a divorce process than a specific type of divorce.  A mediator may be used to assist a divorcing couple sort through any necessary issues which will help them agree to terms of divorce.

• Collaborative divorces in which each party has independent legal counsel representing their interests.  Collaborative divorce is unique in that each party’s attorney works in collaboration with the other to reach an agreement.  Each attorney receives the same information and the two legal professionals use this info to create divorce terms which are (if collaboration is successful) either fair or agreeable to both parties.  In the event that the collaborative divorce is not successful each attorney would be dismissed from representing either party in subsequent divorce proceedings.

• Contested divorce accounts for approximately ninety-percent of all U.S divorce proceedings.  In general terms, contested divorce indicates that the divorcing couple can’t agree to division of assets, property, custody, or other issues, and will require a court trial in which these issues will be left to an appropriate court’s decision.