Legal Question in Family Law in California

Child custody and support will be an issue for the court to address until the child reaches the age of majority. While it's good for you to come up with current orders concerning your child, the likelihood depending upon the child's age is that there may be a need to change orders in the future or return to court. Please meet with an experienced family law attorney to explore your legal options.

Six months is the statutory MINIMUM time from filing to a dissolution of marriage judgment. The basic divorce is only over when the two of you obtain a judgement on custody, child and spousal support, property division and dissolution. It is possible to bifurcate (split into two parts) the dissolution of marriage from the other issues and obtain a judgement of dissolution only, reserving jurisdiction over the other issues. That results in you being legally single while you work out or litigate the other issues. There are only two ways to get a judgment, whether bifurcated, or all-in-one: you reach a marital settlement agreement and stipulate that the court enter a judgment according to the settlement terms, or you go to trial and the court issues a judgment.

With all that said, however, once you have a child you don't ever get finality until the child turns 18 and any spousal support order ends. Until then, either party can go back to court any time there is a "material change of circumstances" and ask for a change in custody and/or support. The parties can agree that spousal support cannot be modified if that is put in the settlement agreement that is turned into a judgment AND all the required language is included. (Waiving support or support modification is not something that should be done without a lawyer's advice and assistance.)