Legal Question in Family Law in California

Many courts offer mediation as a means of settling property division. These services are generally successful and cost way less than a trial.

Ultimately if you are unable to settle the property division a judge will make the decision. This will require a trial. Trials are expensive both in terms of money and stress. The court will divide the property right down the middle, and to the extent will give 1/2 of each item of property to each party. My experience is that most household goods are not worth arguing about in regard to division. This does not apply to family heirlooms etc. Bank accounts are easy the court looks at the balance on the date of separation, and barring a large deposit after that date, just gives 1/2 to each party. With cars the court looks at Kelly Blue Book or some other such source to determine the value of the car at the date of trial. This value is used to determine any community property equity in the car. Any debt secured by the car goes with the car.

Division of community property essentially comes down to adding up the community property assets and dividing by two. Then the property given to each spouse is totaled. If there is a difference the spouse with the most pays 1/2 of the difference to the other spouse in cash or an asset. This results in an equal division.

First off, nothing happens until one or both parties take action. The courts do not do anything to solve your impasse until you ask them to. In most counties this is done by filing a local form usually entitled "at issue memorandum" but sometimes called a request for status conference or request for trial setting conference or something like that. Once that process is initiated, the court will set a hearing for both parties to come in and tell the judge what the status of the case is and discuss settlement options and setting a trial. The courts do not force family law cases to arbitration. They may require you to attempt some form of Alternative Dispute Resolution before they will give you a trial date. The parties then decide whether they want to mediate, have a non-binding arbitration, or a binding arbitration. The court will order whatever they agree on. If there is no agreement on an ADR method, the court in most counties will set a mandatory settlement conference and a trial date for a trial before the judge. There are no jury trials in family court. If the parties agree, however, they can do pretty much anything they want to resolve their dispute. The courts are always happy when a couple agrees to use a private mediator or arbitrator to settle things without using court resources. In family law cases, it is unusual for the parties to use arbitration. Mediation is much more common and almost always far more productive than any adversarial process such as trial or arbitration. Sometimes if they reach an impasse on a particular issue they may ask the mediator to issue a mediators opinion and agree to be bound by it, but generally a mediated agreement serves everyone better than an imposed decision. I offer family law mediation services and have conference facilities in San Francisco. If you would like more information on how I can assist with resolving your case, please contact me directly.