Legal Question in Family Law in California

Whether you need to hire an attorney depends mostly on whether or not there will be siginficant disputes about any aspect of the divorce. If you and he are both prepared to focus on this as a relationship transition from husband and wife, to unmarried but at least civil parents of your children, you can probably do it yourself. I got divorced long before I started practicing Family Law, and when I went to the Law Library and looked at the books on divorce, I got really confused, and I was a hot shot young litigator at a huge international firm. But then someone pointed me to Nolo Press, and their book "How to Do Your Own Divorce in California." It gave clear, step by step instructions and pretty much all the forms I needed. It's now in it's I-don't-know-how-many'th edition and still great. If you and the to-be-ex are being civil and reasonably cooperative, I'd start there. If you start fighting about things, then you can always hire a lawyer.