Will I Have To Go To Court For My California Divorce
Hi! My name is Tim Blankenship, owner of SCV Legal Doc Assist. We are licensed and bonded legal document assistant firm specializing in divorce.
Today, I want to talk to you about how to avoid court when going through the divorce process in California. Many of the calls we get from our clients ask us “Tim, why have to go to court?”, and that all depends on a couple of things and there are some things we could do to help prevent you having to go to court.
Many times, when you go through an uncontested divorce case, the courts or the self-help centers, will want you to deal what’s called a ‘default judgment’.
A default judgment is where only one spouse participates in the divorce, the other spouse does not respond nor do they enter into an agreement.
We’re finding in many cases on these default judgments because the other party has not been involved whatsoever, the judge will often times ask the one party that’s initiated the divorce to come into court to explain the distribution of assets and debts.
Now, I will talk to you about another way of going through the divorce process that accomplishes exactly the same thing with a much less likelihood of having to go to court.
This is called the hybrid judgment. The hybrid judgment is very similar in that the other party will not file a response. However, the other party will enter into a written agreement.
Now when the court sees this judgment, they realize, while the other spouse did not respond, they’re still participating and have entered into an agreement and that agreement has been authorized. When that’s the case, even if the assets and debts have not been distributed evenly, that agreement has been authorized.
When that’s the case, even if the assets and debts have not been distributed evenly, they understand that there has been an agreement and that the parties have the best interest in mind of each other, they will not generally ask you to come to court when you have entered into an agreement in the judgment.
If you have further questions about the hybrid judgment or how to avoid going to court during divorce, please give us a call at 661-281-0266.
