FAQ's -

Frequently Asked Questions

Divorce in California implicates a diverse range of issues so we’ve compiled a list of the most frequently asked questions that we get asked as divorce attorney mediators.

FAQ's

Divorce Mediation Benefits

Divorce mediation offers several key benefits compared to traditional litigation. It typically involves lower overall costs, as it avoids lengthy court battles and reduces legal fees. Disputes are often resolved sooner, with mediation sessions scheduled to fit your timeline, potentially concluding in weeks rather than months or years. The process is cooperative, fostering open communication and mutual decision-making, which helps maintain a more amicable relationship. Additionally, mediation is less emotionally taxing, as it focuses on collaboration rather than adversarial conflict, reducing stress for both parties and any children involved.

Suggesting Mediation to a Spouse

Mediation offers a cooperative approach that benefits both parties: You and your spouse can craft customized agreements that fit your unique situation, rather than following rigid court procedures. By reducing conflict and fostering collaboration, mediation creates stable, low-stress outcomes that prioritize your children’s emotional well-being. You control the outcome, not a judge. Mediation allows you to negotiate solutions that reflect your priorities, leading to fairer, more personalized agreements

Mediation focuses on open communication and cooperation, avoiding the adversarial nature of court battles. This lowers emotional tension, helping parents create co-parenting plans that provide stability and security for children, minimizing the trauma of prolonged disputes.

Resolving Family Challenges with Compassion and Clarity

Why Use an Attorney as a Mediator

Using an attorney as a mediator in family law offers flexibility and reduces harm to children for several reasons:

Flexibility: Attorneys trained in mediation can tailor the process to the family’s unique needs, unlike rigid court proceedings. They facilitate open communication, allowing parents to craft customized agreements on custody, support, or property division that work for everyone. This adaptability often leads to faster resolutions and solutions that better fit the family’s dynamics.

Reduction in Harm to Children: Mediation with an attorney focuses on collaboration rather than adversarial conflict, which lowers emotional stress. Attorneys skilled in family law understand the legal and emotional stakes, guiding parents to prioritize their children’s well-being. By fostering cooperative parenting plans, mediation minimizes the trauma of drawn-out disputes, helping maintain stable, nurturing environments for kids

Expertise: Attorneys bring legal knowledge to ensure agreements are fair, legally sound, and enforceable, reducing future conflicts. Their neutrality as mediators helps de-escalate tensions, keeping discussions productive.

Confidentiality: Unlike court, mediation is private, protecting sensitive family matters and reducing public exposure that could affect children.

Cost and Time Efficiency: Mediation often costs less and resolves issues faster than litigation, preserving family resources and minimizing disruption to children’s lives.

De-Escalating Conflict

Mediation creates a safe, neutral space where you and your spouse can address issues like custody, parenting time, property division, or support with the guidance of our skilled attorney-mediators. By focusing on de-escalation strategies—reframing your perspective, envisioning the end-goal, and recognizing that emotional trauma serves no one, especially children—our mediators help you move past conflict and toward solutions that work for your family.

Preparing for the Mediation Process

Whether you have participated already in a legal mediation session in another area of law or you have never done this before, rest assured Kalfin & Kalfin, Attorneys at Law, will empower you with all the information that you will need to conclude a successful mediation session. At the start of mediation, our attorney-mediator will help you and your spouse identify your priorities, such as custody arrangements, financial support, or property division. Their experience allows them to ask insightful questions to clarify what matters most to you, ensuring the process focuses on your unique needs.

Be ready to discuss what success looks like for you. You’ll be asked to reflect on your short- and long-term goals (e.g., stable co-parenting, financial security) and write down key issues you want to address. Our mediator’s expertise ensures your goals are clearly defined, setting a strong foundation for productive discussions.

Mediation requires transparency to reach fair agreements. Our attorney-mediator will guide you and your spouse to share relevant information, such as financial records, parenting schedules, or asset details. Their deep knowledge of family law ensures they request only what’s necessary, streamlining the process and avoiding unnecessary delays.

Gather documents like income statements, bank records, property deeds, or existing court orders. Be honest and thorough when sharing information. Ask our mediator for guidance on what’s relevant if you’re unsure. Our mediator’s experience helps them identify critical information and explain its legal significance, ensuring both parties are fully informed.

Child Custody and Parenting Plans

Unlike court, where a judge makes decisions, mediation empowers you to determine outcomes that align with California Family Code Section 3040, which prioritizes the health, safety, and welfare of children and encourages frequent and continuing contact with both parents when in the child’s best interest.

California Family Code Section 3040 establishes the framework for determining child custody and parenting time. It emphasizes the best interest of the child as the primary consideration, focusing on their health, safety, and welfare. In addition, §3040 maintains that it is important that each parent have frequent and continuing contact with the child(ren) unless such contact is detrimental to the child.

We are skilled at drafting parenting plans that take into account the individual needs of the parents allowing us to help you navigate how to divide holidays, vacations, important events like the child’s birthday, Father’s Day, Mother’s Day and other important dates.

Chart your divorce with confidence, guided by our mediator’s navigation.

Types of Family Law Cases Suitable for Mediation

Mediation is suitable if you and your spouse are willing to negotiate in good faith, even if disagreements exist. It works best when both parties want to avoid the stress, cost, and uncertainty of court. During an initial consultation, our mediators assess your case and explain how mediation can address your specific issues.

Mediation can address multiple issues (e.g., custody, support, and property) in a single process, creating a comprehensive agreement. Our mediators streamline discussions to cover all aspects efficiently, saving you time and ensuring consistency.

Our experienced mediators are skilled at managing challenging dynamics, using techniques to keep discussions productive. For complex issues, like high-value assets or disputed custody, their legal knowledge ensures all details are addressed. If needed, they can conduct separate sessions (caucus) to ease tensions while working toward agreement.

How Much Mediation Costs

Our divorce attorney-mediators offer flat free pricing for mediation services, providing a clear upfront costs for resolving your divorce and other family law issues. This ensures transparency so you know what to expect without hidden costs.

Property Division in a California Divorce

In California, property division in a divorce follows the state’s community property laws, which categorize property as either community property or separate property. These categories determine how assets and debts are divided, ensuring a fair split. Our experienced divorce attorney-mediators guide you through this process with clarity, helping you understand your rights and negotiate equitable agreements.

What Is Community Property? Community property includes all assets and debts acquired by either spouse during the marriage, from the date of marriage to the date of separation. This encompasses:

Income earned by either spouse during the marriage.
Assets purchased with marital earnings, such as homes, cars, or investments.
Debts incurred during the marriage, even if in one spouse’s name, like credit card balances or loans.
Retirement or pension plans earned during the marriage, which both spouses have a right to share.

If you lived outside California during part of your marriage, assets acquired elsewhere may be treated as quasi-community property, subject to similar division rules. In mediation, our attorneys help you identify and fairly divide community property, ensuring transparency and compliance with California law.

What Is Separate Property? Separate property belongs solely to one spouse and is not divided in a divorce. It includes:

Assets or debts acquired before the marriage or after the date of separation.
Gifts or inheritances received by one spouse at any time, even during the marriage.
Earnings or property acquired post-separation.

For example, a car you owned before marriage or an inheritance you received during the marriage remains your separate property. Our mediators clarify which assets qualify as separate, helping you understand how a court would divide your marital estate.

How Long it Takes From Start to Finish

California law requires a minimum six-month-and-one-day waiting period from the date the divorce petition is filed and served before a court can finalize the divorce. Through cooperation and diligence, mediation ensures the process moves smoothly and as quickly as you and your spouse desire.

Mediation allows you to use this time efficiently by resolving all issues—such as custody, support, and property division—through collaborative negotiations. With our mediators’ guidance, you can finalize your agreement early in the six-month period, ready for court submission as soon as the waiting period ends. Cooperation and diligence in mediation ensure no delays, unlike litigation, which can extend beyond six months due to court backlogs.

Mediation by Caucus (Parties are separate)

Mediation by caucus is a technique where the mediator meets separately with each party during a divorce or family law dispute. This approach allows each spouse to discuss issues privately, reducing tension and fostering open communication. The mediator shuttles between parties to facilitate agreement, maintaining confidentiality and neutrality.

Our skilled mediators offer caucus mediation as an option if clients prefer it, allowing each party to discuss their concerns privately in separate sessions. We remain strictly neutral, never taking sides, and focus solely on helping clients resolve their family law disputes. In a caucus, our mediators shuttle between parties, fostering open communication while reducing conflict. This approach creates a safe space for honest dialogue, helping clients clarify their needs and work toward agreement. If preferred, we can also conduct joint sessions to encourage direct collaboration. Our goal is to guide clients to fair, mutually acceptable solutions efficiently and respectfully.

Empower your divorce journey using the mediation services of Kalfin & Kalfin

Child Support in a California Divorce

Mediation offers a collaborative, efficient way to resolve child support disputes, allowing parents to craft fair agreements that comply with federal and state laws, which mandate that both the mother and father are responsible for supporting their child, whether married at the time of the child’s birth or conception, or not. For unmarried parents, parentage must be established to legally identify the father before child support obligations can be enforced. Our experienced California family law attorney-mediators guide parents through this process, ensuring agreements prioritize the child’s well-being while aligning with California’s legal standards, such as the guideline formula for child support calculations. Unlike court, where a judge imposes a decision, mediation empowers parents to negotiate terms tailored to their family’s needs, fostering cooperation and minimizing emotional trauma, especially for children.

California’s guideline formula determines child support based on several factors:

Income: Each parent’s earnings or earning capacity, including wages, investments, or other income sources.
Parenting Time: The percentage of time the child spends with each parent, as this impacts support obligations (the custodial parent typically receives support, but either parent may pay based on income and time-sharing).
Tax Filing Status: The actual tax status of each parent affects the calculation.
Number of Children: The number of children the parents share influences the support amount.
Other Obligations: Support for children from other relationships, health insurance costs, mandatory union dues, or retirement contributions are factored in.
Additional Costs: Expenses like daycare, uninsured medical costs, travel for visitation, educational expenses, or special needs (e.g., therapy or medical equipment) may be included

Our mediators explain these factors in plain language, ensuring transparency. While courts rarely deviate from the guideline amount except in limited circumstances, mediation allows parents to discuss additional expenses (e.g., extracurricular activities) and reach flexible agreements. Our experience in California family law ensures agreements comply with legal standards while addressing unique needs, such as special expenses or complex income scenarios.

Uncontested Divorce

In California, an uncontested divorce is when both spouses agree on all terms of their divorce, including child custody, support, property division, and spousal support, without needing a court trial. This cooperative approach allows couples to create a signed agreement, which is submitted with judgment forms after the state’s mandatory six-month-and-one-day waiting period.

Steps toward getting your uncontested divorce in California:

Have a signed Marital Settlement Agreement
Paid your first filing fee or have a fee waiver
Declaration Regarding Service of Declaration of Disclosure (form FL-141)

Fill out the following forms:

Appearance, Stipulations, and Waivers (form FL-130): You and your spouse must sign the form. It tells the court that your spouse is taking part in the case (if they didn’t already file a response), that you agree about how to resolve your divorce, and will waive your rights, like a right to a trial, so that the court can accept your agreement.
Declaration for Default or Uncontested Dissolution or Legal Separation (form FL-170): This form tells the court that you meet the requirements for the court to decide your case based on your agreement (called uncontested). Follow the instructions on the form, you may need to attach other forms to this form.
Judgment (form FL-180): This is the final court order to get a divorce. Attach your signed agreement to this form.
Notice of Rights and Responsibilities (form FL-192): Attach this to your Judgment. This lets you and the other parent know about how to ask the other parent to help pay for any of your child’s healthcare costs not covered by insurance and how to ask to change a child support order.
Notice of Entry of Judgment (form FL-190): The court will mail this form back to you after the judge has signed the judgment. It’s the official notice from the court that your divorce or legal separation is final. If you asked for a divorce, it will state the day your marriage or domestic partnership officially ends.
Child Support Case Registry Form (form FL-191): Do not attach the Child Support Case Registry Form to your judgment. Submit it along with everything, if you haven’t turned one in before.
Income Withholding for Support (form FL-195): This form is optional. Complete it if child support will be taken directly from the other parent’s paycheck. Do not attach this to your Judgment.
Stipulation and Waiver of Final Declaration of Disclosure (FL-144) OR Declaration of Disclosure (FL-140) and Declaration Regarding Service of Declaration of Disclosure (FL-141)

How Many Mediation Sessions Will be Needed

The number of mediation sessions varies depending on your case’s complexity and the level of cooperation between parties. Most sessions last a few hours, with some families reaching a mutual agreement in just one session, while more complex issues, like child custody or property division, may require multiple sessions to find common ground. Couples who approach mediation prepared to listen, communicate honestly, and collaborate typically need fewer sessions, ensuring a faster, more efficient resolution. Our experienced California attorney-mediators guide you to streamline the process, prioritizing fairness and minimizing stress.

How Your Business is Evaluated in a Divorce

In a California divorce, evaluating a business for equitable distribution involves three primary approaches: the market approach, the income approach, and the asset (or cost) approach. Each method offers a different perspective on the business’s value, depending on its nature and available data.

The market approach values a business by comparing it to similar businesses that have recently been sold. This method relies on analyzing comparable sales, market multiples, and other relevant factors to estimate fair market value. It works best when there are sufficient comparable sales data within the same geographic region and industry, though finding truly similar businesses can be challenging, especially for unique or privately held companies.

The income approach focuses on the business’s future earning potential. It assesses historical financial performance and projects future earnings, applying a capitalization rate or discount rate to determine the present value of those earnings. This method is commonly used for profitable, ongoing businesses but involves subjective judgments, such as normalizing adjustments for owner compensation or discretionary expenses.

The asset (or cost) approach calculates value based on the business’s net assets, subtracting liabilities from the fair market value of tangible and intangible assets (e.g., equipment, inventory, goodwill). It is often applied when other methods are unreliable, such as for struggling businesses or those with significant asset holdings, though valuing intangible assets like goodwill can be complex.

The choice of method depends on the business type, its financial health, and the specific circumstances of the divorce, with courts typically favoring the approach that best reflects the business’s true worth.

If the Parties Fail to Reach an Agreement

If the parties cannot reach a full agreement during mediation, several options exist. You may achieve a partial agreement, narrowing the scope of issues that would need to be litigated, which saves time and effort in court. Alternatively, you can postpone negotiations to revisit later with fresh perspectives or additional information. If an agreement remains impossible, the case can proceed to court. However, mediating first is always beneficial, as it often clarifies disputes and reduces the complexity of litigation, even with partial resolutions.

Common Topics

Mediation

Divorce Process

Child Custody

Child Support

Spousal Support (Alimony)

Property Division

Property division in a California divorce
How a business is valued in a divorce
What is community property?
What is separate property?
How an inheritance is treated during a California divorce
What happens to the house?