Serving all of Southern California:
Offices in North San Diego County opening soon.
Mark L. Watkins, PhD
Divorce, Custody, Support and Other Orders
Divorce
The package you receive from the court clerk will give you a lot of forms, some of which you need, some of which you might not, depending on the circumstances of your case and the particular process it takes. But more importantly, the process tends to lead you toward a fight, not an agreement. This is because divorce is modeled on the adversary process. That doesn’t mean that the adversary process is unnecessary in some cases (e.g. if one spouse is hiding assets, or concealing a child), but the vast majority of cases settle without trial. If an amicable divorce is what you want, Dr. Watkins (a former professor of Conflict Resolution) is an expert in helping you get there, whether your ex has a lawyer or not.
Rejections
When a document is rejected by the clerk, it is usually due to something being technically amiss. The most common rejections occur with the “Judgment Packet” and often require a long list of corrections. Deciphering the language used for these corrections can be challenging.
Our team can assist you in navigating through these issues and getting your documents approved by the clerk and onto the judge’s desk for signature.
While some fixes are straightforward, others can be quite confusing, and in some cases, it may feel like starting over. Usually, it is somewhere in between. We are here to help, so bring us your rejection slip, and we will guide you through the process.
Parenting and Other Orders
Getting your facts and evidence in front of the judge is the number one most important task of getting good parenting orders.
California judges have a lot of “discretion” to make parenting orders, and they generally use that discretion wisely IF they are presented with the facts.
Moreover, your testimony and the testimony of others (usually by way of written declarations) is how the judge learns those facts. But, judges have dozens of cases before them every day, so it is critical that your declaration presents the facts, along with all the messy, complicated nuances that are part of life in a way that can be quickly understood by the judge.
Let us help you create a document that the judge will actually read and think, “Yes, the correct decision is to give this person what she’s asking for.”
Documents Don’t Speak for Themselves
With your declaration, you will likely submit documentary evidence (photos, calendars, school or medical records). Your declaration has to tell the judge the meaning of those documents. Many self-represented people fail to do this. But the documents (especially photos) often don’t speak for themselves. Describing what is in a picture can be difficult, but more often there is more than one possible interpretation of what is happening in a photo, and a description is necessary.
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