Riverside California Family Law Blog

If you thought that your divorce was going to be a clean break and you would not have to deal with your ex anymore, you may want to reconsider that position if you have children. The two of you are still going to have a relationship, in all likelihood. There's just no way around it.

That relationship hinges on the fact that you are both co-parenting your kids together. You may share physical custody, meaning you have to exchange the children every week. That's a face-to-face interaction you may not be able to avoid. You also have to consider how you'll spend birthdays, holidays, summer vacations and other events.

Divorce used to be much less common than it is today. One of the reasons fewer people got divorced was that you used to have to establish fault or grounds for a divorce. Essentially, one spouse would need to demonstrate to the courts that the other spouse violated the marriage vows in a way that made the relationship irreparable. Getting rid of fault in divorces made the whole process simpler.

Although fault is no longer a necessary component in modern divorces, many people still think that it is. The need to establish one person's responsibility for the end of the marriage is a persistent divorce myth that may keep some people from moving on to a happier future. You don't need evidence of wrongdoing, like an affair, to officially divorce your spouse.

If you and your spouse have kids, own a home or share other assets, then it's likely that settling your divorce isn't going to go as smoothly as you may hope it would. If you and your ex are having trouble reaching a compromise, then mediation may be an ideal way for you to resolve your differences without having to spend a lot of time or fork out a lot of money litigating personal matters in a courtroom.

A common concern that divorcing couples have that keeps them from considering mediation is that their issues are too large or complicated to be able to be resolved this way. The truth of the matter is that they rarely are.

Adoptions that occur between birth and adoptive parents who already are friends are referred to as independent adoptions because they don't involve a California state agency or a private one placing the child. While some jurisdictions allow consenting parties to handle the adoption of a child via this process without using the services of an agency or even an attorney, it's not the best idea if you want to make sure that everything is done right.

One reason that you'll want to work with an attorney who regularly handles adoptions is to ensure that you remain in compliance with state law. Birth parents can't simply turn over their child for you to raise it. They must still relinquish their parental rights, and you must sign legal documents before taking a child into your house.