How a divorce works in Los Angeles County

Step 1: The consultation, and the decisions that come before filing

Most divorces in Los Angeles County are shaped by what happens in the first sixty days, so we start before anything is filed. At the consultation we go through your goals in plain terms: who keeps the house, how the retirement accounts and any business get divided, whether spousal support is realistic, and, if you have children, where they live and on what schedule. Then we map those goals to what a Los Angeles County family law judge can and will order. That's the difference between a plan and a wish list.

We also settle two questions that people underestimate. First, the date of separation: everything earned after it is separate property, and the length of the marriage, which drives spousal support, is measured to it. Second, whether to file first. There's no legal advantage to being the petitioner in California, but the petitioner sets the calendar and frames the first requests. If your spouse has already filed, you have 30 days from service to respond; miss it and the court can enter a default judgment on their terms.

Step 2: Filing, service, and the automatic restraining orders

A divorce begins with a petition filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court and personally served on your spouse. To file here, one spouse must have lived in California for six months and in Los Angeles County for three. The moment the petition is served, California's automatic temporary restraining orders take effect for both spouses: no transferring, hiding, or borrowing against property outside the ordinary course; no changing insurance beneficiaries; no taking the children out of state without written consent or a court order. They're printed on the back of the summons and they aren't optional. Violating them costs you credibility with the judge for the rest of the case.

Step 3: Financial disclosure, the part that decides property

Within 60 days of filing, each spouse must serve a preliminary declaration of disclosure: an income and expense declaration, a schedule of every asset and debt, and the last two years of tax returns. It's signed under penalty of perjury. A hidden or undervalued asset discovered later can be awarded entirely to the other spouse, and the judgment can be reopened. We prepare yours carefully and read your spouse's even more carefully, because the disclosure, not the hearing, is where most property fights are won.

Step 4: Temporary orders, the hearing that shapes everything

Either spouse can file a Request for Order asking the judge to decide, while the case is pending, who stays in the home, who pays which bills, temporary spousal support, and, with children, custody, visitation, and child support. The hearing is usually set four to eight weeks out. Temporary orders are supposed to be a placeholder. In practice, a Los Angeles County judge is reluctant to disrupt an arrangement that's working, so the temporary orders very often become the permanent ones.

That's why we treat the first Request for Order as if it were trial: a written declaration that tells your story with dates and documents, exhibits that prove it, a completed income and expense declaration, and a proposal specific enough that the judge can simply adopt it.

Step 5: Mediation, and what the court requires

If custody or visitation is contested, California requires both parents to attend mediation with Family Court Services before the judge hears the issue. Bring a written parenting plan, the school calendar, and your work schedule; treat the mediator as you would the judge. For property and support, mediation is voluntary but often the fastest and cheapest path. Many Los Angeles County divorces settle in a private mediation or a settlement conference once both sides have exchanged disclosures and know what's actually on the table.

Step 6: Discovery and valuing what you own

In a contested case, we use subpoenas, written questions, and document demands to verify the other side's finances, and we bring in an appraiser or forensic accountant when a house, a business, or a pension needs a real number. Retirement accounts are divided by a separate order called a QDRO, drafted so the plan can split the account without tax penalties. Tracing separate property, a down payment from before the marriage or an inheritance that was mixed into a joint account, is where a divorce lawyer earns the fee.

Step 7: Settlement, or trial

Most divorces end in a written marital settlement agreement that covers property, debts, support, and the parenting plan and is entered as the judgment. A good agreement is specific enough to enforce and flexible enough to live with. If the other side won't agree to a fair division, the case is tried to the judge, not a jury, usually in a few half-day sessions, and the judge decides everything not already settled.

Step 8: Judgment, and what happens after

The divorce becomes final no earlier than six months after the petition was served (Family Code § 2339), when the judgment is entered. After that, we make sure the paperwork actually gets done: deeds recorded, QDROs approved by the plan, accounts retitled, support paid through the right channel. Support and custody can be modified later when circumstances change; property division generally cannot, which is why it has to be right the first time.

How long it takes and what it costs

An agreed divorce can be finished shortly after the six-month waiting period, and the spouses may never appear in court. Contested property or custody cases in Los Angeles County commonly take twelve to eighteen months. Fees depend on how much is fought over; a divorce resolved at mediation costs a fraction of one with a business valuation and trial. We tell you the realistic range at the consultation and structure the case to keep costs proportional to what's at stake.