For Orange County couples considering divorce, mediation may seem like an ideal option. Promises of less stress, cheaper costs and faster results tend to lure couples in – but for many, mediation ends in more frustration, wasted time and wasted money. The truth is: Mediation…
In a typical Orange County marriage, it can make a lot of sense to the spouses to save money by sharing digital connections with a family phone plan, streaming services, Wi-Fi passwords, backup accounts, common photo storage and on and on. In marriage, all of…
Those of us who live in Orange County fully understand why so many of our cities place so high in a recent study of the happiest cities in the U.S. WalletHub analyzed data from 31 metrics in three categories: emotional and physical well-being; income and…
The pandemic made the past year a long and difficult struggle in Orange County, and across the U.S. The nation’s economic challenges – lockdowns, layoffs and the migration of a significant portion of the workforce from the office to the home – has resulted in…
The list of activities curtailed in 2020 by the pandemic is a long one. Add two more to the tally: marriages and divorces. According to a new study, thousands upon thousands of Americans put off or canceled weddings last year, and hundreds of thousands more…
The coronavirus pandemic has changed so much of California life. It has altered work lives, schooling, shopping, social interactions and so much more. By forcing people to stay cooped up in their homes for month after month, the pandemic has made many marriages more stressful,…
If you own a home and live in California, chances are that all or most of it will be considered community property. That is true whether or not both parties are on the title. There are a few exceptions to this, and you should talk…
Regular readers of our Orange County family law blog will probably recall a recent post about how people who changed their names in marriage can effectively confront the question of what to do with their names in divorce. Some individuals who took their spouse’s last…
Divorce presents many different challenges for couples. Those that still live together will have a hard time keeping the negotiations out of the home, while couples who separated must manage packing, moving and running a household all on their own. For many, divorce is a…
There’s a seemingly infinite number of problems, questions and worries to be addressed in a divorce. For people who changed their last name in marriage – taking the spouse’s last name or adding it to your own – the end of your marriage includes an opportunity…