Legal Question in Family Law in California

I'm sorry for your family situation. Fortunately, the legal issue in a dissolution are usually quite straightforward. Essentially, there are only four concerns in a California marital dissolution: 1. Status (i.e. dissolving the marriage); 2. Property Division; 3. Suport; and 4. Custody. Within each of these categories, the issues can become complex, but the court system is really quite good.

In your case, the money that you contributed to the house, from pre-marriage savings, would ordinarily be regarded as separate property. Thus, you would be entitled to reimbursement or a larger share of the home. There are exceptions to this rule, such as whether you "intended" the contribution to be a gift to the community and whether your funds became "commingled" to an extent that they lost their separate property characterization. An attorney can help you iron out the issue.

The general rule is that everything acquired before marriage is separate property, and everything acquired during marriage is communitiy property, except that property which is acquired by gift, bequest, devise, or descent, which is separate property. Once again, there are exceptions to all the rules.

With regard to support, in California, it does not matter whether the wife or husband is the income generator. Based on your scenario, it appears that you would be entitled to spousal support. You have not included facts that are relevant, such as whether you can work, the length of your marriage, the reason that you have not worked, and your income from sources other than work. An attorney can work out these issues for you.

In a nutshell, in California, we just plug financial information into a computer program called Dissomaster, and the program pops up the support numbers. This applies to both spousal support and child support.

Finally, you will need to deal with the issue of custody of your stepchildren. For that, I would need many more facts. For example, I would need to know who the natural parents are. In any event, the main focus on child custody is the best interests of the child. This issue can be resolved easily, by agreement, or the issue can become a morass of legal fighting. Check with an attorney.

You should know that, even though you are not the money-earner, you would, ordinarily, be entitled to have your wife pay for you to hire an attorney. If she does not agree to it you can obtain a court order, when you first file the action.

I hope this Answer helps. It really provides a brief overview of the process that you will face, and applies to California marital dissolutions.

Good luck to your family.

You may be entitled to spousal support in addition to half of the community property. Contact me directly.