Legal Question in Family Law in California
I live in California. My husband and I have been separated for over 4 years and have no children or joint assets. No alimony paid to either party. We were married in California and lived in California exclusively during our marriage. He recently moved to Washington State and is planning on filing for divorce, presumably through the WA Court System. Is here anything that I should be concerned about a it relates to an Interstate divorce?
1 Answer from Attorneys
If you are on good terms and want nothing from each other besides ending the marriage, it really doesn't matter where that process is done. However, if things go badly and there are any disputed issues, just the mere hassle of having to find a WA lawyer and deal with a case out of state would be reason enough for concern. So unless you are absolutely certain it will be a simple no-contest divorce, I would recommend filing here.
The up-side to a Washington divorce is they allow things to move much more quickly than CA. Their only waiting period is that at least one party must have been a resident for 90 days, and that is before the divorce can be granted. It can be filed as soon as one party is a resident. In California no divorce can be granted until a minimum of six months after it is filed and served on the other party.