Four Issues to Resolve During a Divorce

The court requires these four issues to be resolved before a divorce may be finalized. In addition temporary orders will likely be needed during the divorce proceedings. The parties are free to reach private agreements regarding all of these issues, but if they are unable the court will help them resolve the issues.

1. Child Support: This generally is determined by use of a computer program called DissoMaster. Numerous factors including: (a) child custody, (b) financial situations of both parents and (c) who will claim the children on taxes are be used to determine the proper amount.

2. Child Custody: Child custody is generally the most emotional and difficult issue to resolve during a divorce. parents will generally be required to participate in mandatory mediation and parenting classes as they progress through the court system.

3. Spousal Support: Temporary spousal support will be determined using the DissoMaster program used for child support. A permanent order will be crafted by the judge based on numerous statutory factors including: length of the marriage, standard of living, marketable skills and earning capacity.

4. Division of Marital Property: This requires inventorying all the community property of the married couple and dividing it evenly. Couples are free to split up the property evenly or the court will grant each party a 50% interest in each asset.
Once all four of these issues have been agreed to and submitted to the court and the waiting period has passed the divorce will be finalized.