Fullerton Family Law Blog

Your spouse asks for a divorce, and your first thought isn't even for yourself. It's for your children. You know how important their education is, and you have heard far too many stories about the negative impacts of a divorce. You worry that they'll act out, become apathetic, let their grades slip and much more.

Of course, you can't control whether or not you get divorced. It only takes one person. If that's what your spouse wants, you can't stop it. So, how can you support the children through this period in their lives?

The waiting period for divorce in California is one reason couples might file for divorce in January, hoping to wrap up everything by summer, but this is not the only reason many experts say divorces spike in January. Other reasons cited are wanting a fresh start as the new year begins and the realization during the holidays that the marriage is over.

The holidays can be stressful, and couples spend a lot of time together traveling and visiting extended family. This can be the final straw in which one or both spouses discover they no longer want to continue in the marriage. In other situations, there may have already been a decision to divorce, but the couple waits until after the holidays to get it underway. This may be particularly true for parents, who are unlikely to want to inform their children a few days before Christmas that they are getting a divorce.

It can be challenging for newly engaged couples in California to focus on the pragmatic side of their future marriage, like discussing finances. While it may not be the most comfortable thing to do, focusing on the benefits of discussing finances early on in the relationship can help a couple address these topics.

A prenuptial agreement gives the couple the opportunity to put a customized agreement in place that will protect both of them if they decide to divorce in the future. It usually lays out how assets and liabilities are divided if the marriage ends. Having this agreement in place can prevent lot of frustration and arguments later on. It can also save them money.

International marriages and partnerships are part of many California residents' lives. People may work and live outside the country and develop a relationship there, or they may connect with a foreign national living in the United States. When any relationship comes to an end, the resulting legal and financial issues can lead to serious disputes, especially when there are children involved. Both parents may want to have more time with the kids, and either parent may see the court system in their area as biased against them. Custody violations and even abductions are all too common even inside the United States, such as when one parent takes the child away in an attempt to maintain full custody or defy a court order.

The situation is much more complicated when an international conflict is involved. One parent may attempt to leave the country with the child, taking him or her to the parent's home country where the laws may provide much greater support to their custody claim. As most child abductions involve child custody disputes, there is an international treaty designed to deal with the legal issues that arise when one parent runs off with a child outside the boundaries of a child custody order.