Community Property

Asset Division in 2019 Upon Divorce in San Diego – Community vs. Separate Property

September 27, 2019 | by Roy M. Doppelt

Divorce often comes as a huge blow for families. The husband, wife, as well as the children, may suffer deeply from it and have to endure its difficult aftermath. No matter how much you try, you cannot get rid of what’s to come after a divorce. Besides the unstable emotional state, even your finances suffer. All in all, this tragic event, often simply disrupts your life completely.

Some of the matters that you must deal with during a divorce include child custody, child and spousal support, and asset division. The laws governing the asset division vary state by state. If you are getting a divorce in San Diego, you need to understand the difference between community and separate property, as California is a community property state.

Community Property VS. State Property

Chris Pratt & Anna Faris’ Unusually Amicable Divorce

November 15, 2018 | by Roy M. Doppelt

You can trust The Law Office of Doppelt and Forney, APLC to assist you in your divorce, legal separation or paternity case. Our law office practices in all aspects of family law including child support, child custody and visitation, spousal support, attorney fees, and more.

We offer a free consultation where you are able to discuss your case with an experienced attorney. At the consultation, the attorney will provide you with legal analysis of your issues and provide you with techniques to help obtain your legal goals and protect your rights. If you were to hire our firm to represent you in your family law case, we are a full-service family law firm. We prepare the petition and summons and all the initial dissolution pleadings for filing with the San Diego Superior Court. We will assist with the mandatory preliminary declaration of disclosures including the schedule of assets and debts and income and expense declaration. We can prepare pleadings for a default with no agreement, a default with an agreement or an uncontested case as well as litigating as necessary. We can assist with emergency hearings [ex parte] as needed. We also prepare discovery including written interrogatories, production of documents, subpoena, deposition, request for admissions, request for inspections and others. If needed, we can also schedule a mandatory settlement conference as well as appearing for trial if this is necessary. Our firm assists with the preparation of all pleadings and court appearances as necessary including the family resolution conferences. We also handle post judgment motions including motions for modification of child and spousal support and the parenting plan as well as motions to set aside the judgment and enforcement of the judgment. We can assist with income withholding orders for wage garnishments. Call today to learn how we can help you.

Chris Pratt and Anna Faris show grace and respect for each other as their divorce settles.

Who gets the Pet in a Divorce?

October 22, 2018 | by Roy M. Doppelt

The Law Offices of Doppelt and Forney, APLC are here to help you in your divorce, legal separation or paternity case. We offer legal research, child support and spousal support calculations, preparation of forms and much more. Call us today to schedule a free consultation with one of our experienced attorneys. With over 50 years combined experience, you can count on us to aggressively fight for your best interest and protect your rights as a spouse or parent.

A new law in California just passed that changes how pet custody is handled in divorce cases.

Previously, in the eyes of the court, pets were considered “property” when it comes to splitting up assets in a divorce and the ownership of the pet was argued in this way.

California Appeals Court Reverses Marital Estate Division Order That Including Duplicative Award to the Wife

February 14, 2017 | by Roy M. Doppelt

In a case in which the couple has considerable assets, one of the bigger challenges can be dividing the community estate. In one divorce that involved a high-value community estate and allegations of hidden assets, the Sixth District Court of Appeal reversed a trial court’s order that divided the estate. The trial court’s division improperly gave the wife duplicative benefits regarding certain assets when the statute did not allow the wife to receive such benefits.

California Wife Entitled to Compensation After Husband’s Waiver of Military Pension Cuts off Payments

November 22, 2016 | by Roy M. Doppelt

In family law cases, as with many areas of life, one can sometimes lose an individual battle but still achieve a larger outcome of success in the end. In a recent example, the Fourth District Court of Appeal reversed a trial court’s ruling that raised an ex-husband’s spousal support obligation to make up for the man’s declining receipt of future military pension payments. The ex-wife was not allowed to receive this money as spousal support because the law doesn’t allow judges to increase spousal support just to make up for lost community property interests. The ex-wife was entitled to receive this money, but it just could not be in the form of spousal support.

What a Forged Deed May Mean for the Property Division in Your California Divorce

November 8, 2016 | by Roy M. Doppelt

When you go through a divorce process in California, there potentially are many things to address. One of these may be whether or not you and your spouse have any community property. Sometimes, the identification of the status of a property can be murky, especially if a community asset’s sale may not have been valid. In a recent case involving two apartment buildings sold using a forged deed, the courts were asked to decide whether the sale was valid. In this case, the Second District Court of Appeal ruled that the wife couldn’t challenge a forged deed because she had pro-actively taken many steps that blocked her from going back and arguing that the sale should be invalidated and the buildings deemed to be omitted community assets.

California Court Says Wife Can Pursue Claim for Community Assets Spent on Husband’s Property

November 1, 2016 | by Roy M. Doppelt

When a couple goes through a divorce process in California, there are three types of assets they may have: the first spouse’s separate property, the second spouse’s separate property, and community property. If the classification of each of your assets is completely black and white, agreeing on a division of property in your divorce may be relatively straightforward. But few things in life are ever all black and white. What happens if the couple took money from a community asset and invested it in improving an asset that was one of the spouses’ separate property? That was the issue recently before the Fifth District Court of Appeal, which decided that such a scenario gave the community a right of reimbursement, and that right, when not accounted for in the couple’s divorce judgment, gave the wife a valid cause for action under the statute governing unadjudicated assets.

California Court Upholds Couples’ Stipulation in Divorce Action

June 28, 2016 | by Roy M. Doppelt

Parties are encouraged to reach agreement on as many issues as possible in divorce cases. When the couple is able to do this, they tend to be more in control of the ultimate outcome. Furthermore, such an agreement or stipulation typically leads to a shorter, less costly, and more amicable resolution. For the most part, courts look to approve such agreements in order to resolve the case as efficiently as possible. But the stipulation must adhere to applicable legal standards. In order to ensure that any agreement you enter into in divorce protects your rights and will stand up to court approval, you are encouraged to contact a local San Diego family law attorney as soon as possible.

A recent California divorce case involved the trial court’s rejection of a stipulation entered into by the parties prior to trial. Here, the wife filed for dissolution of the marriage in June 2009. The husband moved out of the family home in April 2010. There were two trials. The first took place in April 2011, dissolving the marriage and allocating support and child custody. The second addressed the division of assets, which is the subject of the matter at hand.

California Court Rules Jointly Titled Investment Accounts are Community Property

June 7, 2016 | by Roy M. Doppelt

California divorce law explicitly states that as a general rule, property acquired by couples during a marriage is community property, subject to division. And while this rule seems fairly straightforward, virtually no divorce case is without complications when it comes to the division of property. As the parties are separating and beginning to consider their new future, each spouse will most certainly try to preserve and protect their separate financial interests moving forward. To be sure your rights are protected throughout your divorce proceeding, it is imperative that you contact a local family law lawyer from the San Diego area.

Property subject to division in divorce includes bank accounts, the marital home, other real estate interests, investment accounts, and many other items. In order to allocate assets and debts in divorce, courts must determine what is separate versus community property. While the timing of the acquisition is of primary importance, additional factors may affect the characterization of property. For instance, assets may have been accumulated during the marriage, but what happens if one spouse used their own, separate funds initially to acquire that jointly held property?

California Court Addresses the Division of the Marital Home in Divorce

May 17, 2016 | by Roy M. Doppelt

The marital home is typically one of the most valuable assets to be divided in divorce. In California, unless the spouses agree on the division of community (or marital) property, courts will endeavor to allocate evenly the assets and debts that have been accumulated during the marriage. It is important to keep in mind that parties must pay close attention to whether assets (and debts) are characterized as separate versus community property, since only community property is divisible in divorce. The division of marital property has a tendency to affect both parties financially after divorce. For this reason alone, you are encouraged to contact a local San Diego family law attorney if you are considering divorce.

Interestingly enough, some property may be made up of both separate and community property. A good example of this is a marital home that was purchased prior to a marriage by one spouse. When the couple gets married, they may both make mortgage payments to reduce the loan amount. So what happens to the home in divorce? Under established California law, when community property is applied to reduce the balance of a mortgage on one party’s separate property, the “community” acquires a “pro tanto” interest in the property.