Marital Settlement Agreement Lawyers in San Diego, California
Smith Family Law are marital settlement agreement lawyers in San Diego, California who can help you file for divorce through marital settlement agreement. If you and your spouse agree about all aspects of your divorce, you might be able to file for divorce through marital settlement agreement. And in some cases, couples who don’t initially agree about all aspects of their divorce can eventually reach a marital settlement agreement through negotiation or mediation.
If you are planning to file for divorce, you can incorporate a martial settlement agreement into the petition, offering your former partner a potentially peaceful path forward. If you have received divorce paperwork from your spouse and want to avoid court, the marital settlement agreement lawyers in San Diego, California at Smith Family Law may be able to help you craft a marital settlement agreement in response to the petition.
When a couple files for divorce, the couple will need to make a range of crucial decisions before the divorce can be finalized by the courts. A divorcing couple will need to decide…
- How to divide marital property and debts.
- Whether alimony is required or appropriate, and if so, how much.
- Who will have custody of the children, and how the couple will share time with the children, if they have children.
- How much money will be paid for child support using California child support worksheets and determine whether additional money will be set aside for the children’s needs.
Divorce requires couples to navigate these major legal and financial questions. In a marital settlement agreement, a divorcing couple outlines their various agreements regarding division of property and assets, division of debts, child custody, and child support. Couples arrive at a marital settlement agreement often with the assistance of their marital settlement agreement attorney. Your attorney’s role is to help you understand California’s community property laws, and to help you craft a fair marital settlement agreement within the structure of California marital law. A marital settlement agreement lawyer in San Diego, California can help you understand your rights, California’s equitable division laws, California’s laws regarding divorce, and can help you navigate the process of crafting a marital settlement agreement that is fair and that accounts for each partner’s rights under California’s community property laws.
The San Diego, California marital settlement agreement lawyers at Smith Family Law can help you craft a marital settlement agreement that is fair and equitable. We can help you every step of the way. If you have questions about the next steps in your divorce, reach out to the marital settlement agreement attorneys in San Diego, California at Smith Family Law.
A More Peaceful Path Forward In Divorce
If you and your spouse wish to dissolve your marriage, a marital settlement agreement can help you do so amicably and ensure that your divorce is equitable. At Smith Family Law, APC, our San Diego marital settlement agreement lawyers have the necessary experience to ensure that your rights and assets remain protected as you navigate your divorce. Couples who choose to reach a marital settlement agreement decide to work through the big questions about their divorce with their lawyers, rather than fighting over the big questions in court.
What You Need To Know About A Marital Settlement Agreement
A marital settlement agreement is a legally binding contract signed by two spouses. Spouses can use a marital settlement agreement to:
- Determine how they wish to distribute marital assets and liabilities
- Decide how to handle child custody and support
- Ascertain what would constitute an equitable spousal support arrangement, if alimony is necessary
If you and your spouse agree on terms for your divorce and wish to save time, stress, and money by filing for an uncontested divorce, a marital settlement agreement can help ensure that your divorce proceeds as smoothly as possible.
How Does A Marital Settlement Agreement Work?
When one party (the petitioner) files for divorce, they can attach the marital settlement agreement to their divorce petition and ask the court to merge or incorporate the terms of the agreement into the final divorce decree.
Should the other party (the respondent) waive their right to respond or indicate they consent to the terms set forth in the agreement, the court will merge or incorporate those terms into the divorce decree as a separate contract.
If the agreement is merged into the divorce decree, it becomes a legally binding contract between the spouses. Should one spouse fail to uphold their end of the agreement, the other can sue them to enforce the terms of the agreement.
It’s important to note that merging the agreement into the divorce decree allows it to remain a separate contract. If you want the divorce decree and agreement to be part of the same court order, you must instead ask the court to incorporate the agreement into the divorce decree.
The court will evaluate your marital settlement agreement to ensure it’s fair to both parties. If the court decides your marital settlement agreement is unfair to one party, it may choose not to incorporate or merge the agreement into the decree.
There are benefits and drawbacks to both merging or incorporating the agreement into the decree. You should consult your attorney to determine what’s best for you.
Understanding California’s Community Property Laws and Marital Settlement Agreements
Marital settlement agreements are possible because California’s community property laws are generally clear about how marital property is owned and how marital property should be divided during a divorce. Any income you earn during your marriage and any property acquired during your marriage is considered community property and is subject to a 50-50 split in divorce. Any debts you and your partner took on during the marriage would also be considered marital debt and subject to 50-50 division during divorce.
California distinguishes between community property (shared marital property) and separate property (property you owned before the marriage). Community property can include real estate purchased using community or comingled funds, income earned during your marriage including passive income or investment gains, rents, retirement and pension accounts. Separate funds can become community funds if the separate funds are used to purchase community assets. Community property can include any joint bank accounts and any debts acquired during the marriage.
Separate property is any property you owned or had before you were married. Individuals must often take conscious and intentional steps to keep property separate. For example, if you owned a home prior to getting married, the home will usually be considered separate property, unless community funds were used to pay the mortgage, or community resources were used to make improvements on the home. Inheritance gifted to one spouse will usually be that spouse’s separate property, unless the inheritance was comingled with community property or used to purchase shared assets. Any property specifically designated separate in a prenuptial agreement or structured to prevent comingling of assets would also be considered separate property in most cases.
One of the big challenges that couples face when filing for divorce is distinguishing between separate and community property. Couples who aren’t careful to distinguish between separate and community property can end up in a situation where separate property gets comingled with community property. An example of this would be a situation where one partner had significant savings but then put that savings in a shared bank account. It can be difficult to trace the original separate savings from community property savings when dividing marital property. Another common difficult situation is when one partner had significant retirement savings or a pension fund prior to the marriage and then continued to contribute to the retirement account or pension fund during the marriage. The person’s spouse might be entitled to a portion of the pension fund, but not all of it, because a portion of its value derives from investments made prior to the marriage.
During a marital settlement agreement, you get to decide how you’ll divide your property and how you’ll distinguish between separate and community property—with the help of your San Diego, California marital settlement agreement lawyer. Smith Family Law can review your specific situation and help you understand how the courts might distinguish between your separate and marital property and help you itemize your marital estate so that it can be divided fairly. When couples share debts, things can get more complicated, because a marital settlement agreement may not necessarily protect a spouse on a promissory note from debtor’s claims. When navigating a marital settlement agreement, your attorney can help you understand your options. Some couples choose to use savings to pay off shared debt, consolidate shared debt, or include debt payment amounts in alimony agreements, so that the paying off a debt is in the nature of alimony and cannot be avoided through bankruptcy or other means.
Reaching a fair marital settlement agreement requires a couple to navigate various challenges. You’ll need to…
- Distinguish between community and separate property
- Trace separate property if assets have become comingled
- Decide how to divide community property
- Manage debt and decide how to pay or divide debts
- Decide what to do with a family home (sell the home and split the proceeds, buy out your spouse’s share of equity, or rent out the home and split rental proceeds)
- Develop a child custody and parenting plan
- Work through child support worksheets and determine how additional expenses will be paid
With a marital settlement agreement, you work through these crucial questions and propose solutions that help you and your former partner avoid litigation and court. If you have questions about whether a marital settlement agreement is right for you, reach out to the marital settlement agreement lawyers in San Diego, California at Smith Family Law today. We can help you work through the tough questions of divorce so that you can move forward.
How Marital Settlement Agreement Differs from “Traditional Divorce”
With “traditional divorce” one spouse files a petition for divorce and makes requests about dividing property, debts, assets, child custody, and child support in that petition. Usually, these requests are made with the assistance of a divorce lawyer who will help the petitioner ask for the most favorable possible divorce settlement. The divorce papers are filed and then are “served” or delivered to the other spouse. After the paperwork has been delivered, both spouses have a period to disclose all financial information, including tax returns, and itemized lists of assets and debts. After this period has passed, if the couple cannot reach a marital settlement agreement, the couple goes to court to resolve differences and disagreements about dividing assets, debts, child custody, and child support.
A divorce can move forward in four ways:
- The spouse who is served the divorce paperwork never responds to the paperwork once it has been delivered. The court waits the required waiting period and then issues a default judgement for the petitioner (the person filing for divorce), meaning the person who files the divorce paperwork pretty much gets what they asked for in the initial petition with regards to division of property, assets, debts, child support, and child custody. The judge can review the request and adjust it if the court finds it unfair, but for the most part, a default judgement will result in the petitioner getting what they ask for in the petition. This is why it is never a good idea to ignore divorce paperwork if you have received it.
- Both parties submit a marital settlement agreement when they initially submit divorce paperwork, allowing the judge to approve the agreement, thus allowing the couple to avoid court. While one partner might be the “petitioner,” both parties agree to submit the paperwork with a co-signed marital settlement agreement attached.
- Both parties, after disclosures, work together to craft a marital settlement agreement, which they submit before the case goes to trial. This usually happens when one spouse files for divorce and the spouse receiving paperwork wants to avoid court but may not completely agree about everything requested in the petition. A marital settlement agreement lawyer can help.
- Both parties cannot agree to a marital settlement agreement, so the divorce case goes to court, where a judge will review questions of division of property, debts, custody, and child support.
A marital settlement agreement allows a divorcing couple to reach an agreement either before either partner files the divorce paperwork, or after one partner files for divorce. Even if you disagree with the things your former partner has requested in the initial divorce petition, there’s time after disclosures for you and your partner to work out a marital settlement agreement. If you are thinking of filing for divorce or have received divorce paperwork from your spouse and want to know whether a marital settlement agreement is right for you, reach out to the marital settlement agreement attorneys in San Diego, California at Smith Family Law. Our marital settlement agreement lawyers can help. We can either help you file for divorce with a marital settlement agreement attached or help you reach a marital settlement agreement if your partner has filed for divorce and you hope to avoid court.
Who is the Best Marital Settlement Agreement Attorney in San Diego, California?
The best marital settlement agreement lawyer will be the attorney in San Diego, California with the experience handling divorce cases like yours and the lawyer with whom you feel the greatest comfort. Some divorce lawyers take an adversarial approach to divorce. Marital settlement agreement lawyers tend to take a more amicable approach with a focus on compromise and settlement. The best marital settlement agreement lawyer in San Diego, California will be the attorney that you feel is the best match for you.
Ultimately, you’ll need to decide whether you want an adversarial lawyer or a lawyer who handles marital settlement agreements. That’s the first question you’ll need to ask. Marital settlement agreements aren’t for everyone. If your partner is coercive and not open to compromise, your only option might be court.
The best thing to do is to interview several attorneys and work with the one who you feel can best help you. Divorce is a very sensitive time, and you’ll need to share sensitive information about your family, children, and finances with your divorce lawyer. Comfort is incredibly important. Reach out to the marital settlement agreement lawyers in San Diego, California at Smith Family Law today to learn more and explore whether we might be a good match.
Speak To An Attorney About Your Settlement
Our team of attorneys is here to assist you throughout the divorce and settlement process. To learn more, give us a call at (619) 431-3131 or schedule a free initial video or phone consultation.
Our San Diego, California marital settlement agreement lawyers at Smith Family Law are here to help you navigate the divorce settlement process every step of the way. Whether you’re just starting to explore your options and trying to decide the best path forward for your divorce, or if you’re been served divorce paperwork and want to avoid court, the marital settlement agreement attorneys at Smith Family Law are here to help. Contact us today to explore your options and take the next steps.