California Learn
Twelve topics, in plain terms — and the disclosure gate leads
Each topic is written in California's own vocabulary — legal custody, physical custody, visitation, community property, superior court — keys only citations that resolve against the verified corpus, and carries an honesty note naming exactly where county practice or a court's judgment controls. The first topic is first on purpose: it's the one that stalls finished cases.
Read this one first
The disclosure gate: no property judgment without final declarations
California requires each spouse to serve a preliminary declaration of disclosure early (on a sixty-day track from filing the petition or response) — and the judgment itself is BLOCKED on property rights until final declarations are executed and served, validly waived, or excepted. Paperwork-perfect cases stall at this gate every day; the waiver has its own form and its own rules.
§ 2104§ 2105§ 2106
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California's six-month clock runs from service OR appearance — whichever comes FIRST
No dissolution judgment is final for ending the marriage until six months from the date of service of the summons and petition or the date of the respondent's appearance, whichever occurs first. Filing starts nothing; the clock starts when the case reaches the other spouse — a third pattern entirely from Texas (from filing) and Arizona (from service).
§ 2339
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The ATROs: restraining orders that take effect automatically with the summons
Every California dissolution summons carries automatic temporary restraining orders binding BOTH parties: children stay in state (no new passports), property stays put (no transfers or encumbrances outside the usual course, with advance notice for extraordinary expenditures), insurance stays intact, and nonprobate transfers freeze. They bind the petitioner at filing and the respondent at service — day-one law most people learn about too late.
§ 2040§ 233
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Dissolution in California: six-and-three residency, no-fault grounds
A California dissolution requires one spouse resident in the state six months AND in the filing county three months before filing, and pleads a no-fault ground generally — irreconcilable differences that have caused the irremediable breakdown of the marriage (or permanent legal incapacity). Legal separation has no residency wait and is the common bridge while residency accrues.
§ 2320§ 2310§ 2311
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Summary dissolution: twelve gates, one joint petition
California's shortest dissolution path is a joint petition available only when ALL twelve statutory conditions exist — short marriage (five years or less to separation), no children or pregnancy, no real property (narrow lease exception), limited debts and assets under the adjusted dollar limits, an executed division agreement, mutual spousal-support waiver, appeal waivers, and the official brochure. Either spouse can revoke before judgment and convert nothing — the case simply ends.
§ 2400§ 2402
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Community property, divided EQUALLY — the only equal-mandate state here
California divides the community estate EQUALLY — not equitably — unless the spouses agree otherwise in writing or stipulate in open court. Property fights are usually characterization fights: community versus separate versus quasi-community, with the date of separation (a complete and final break, shown by expressed intent plus consistent conduct) as the accrual cutoff.
§ 2550§ 70
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How California child support works: the formula is IN the statute
California's guideline is a statutory formula — CS = K[HN − (H%)(TN)] — built on both parents' net disposable incomes, the high earner's share of parenting time, and the statutory K brackets, with fixed multipliers for multiple children. The statute even works its own example. Guideline support is presumptively correct; deviation requires findings.
§ 4055§ 4059
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Spousal support: fourteen factors, no statewide formula
Judgment spousal support in California is a FACTOR decision — earning capacities against the marital standard of living, contributions, ability to pay, needs, obligations and assets, duration, age and health, documented domestic violence, tax consequences, hardships, and the goal of self-support within a reasonable period (generally half the marriage's length for shorter marriages). Ten years to separation raises the long-duration presumption: support jurisdiction stays open indefinitely absent agreement or a terminating order.
§ 4320§ 4336§ 4325
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Legal custody, physical custody, and visitation — California's own words
California decides custody by the child's best interest with health, safety, and welfare as the PRIMARY concern: the statutory factors include any abuse history (with corroboration options), contact with both parents, and substance abuse — and the court may not consider a parent's sex, gender identity, or sexual orientation. Contested custody or visitation is SET for mediation as a structural step, and a domestic-violence finding within five years raises a rebuttable presumption AGAINST custody to the perpetrator.
§ 3011§ 3020§ 3040§ 3044§ 3170
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Domestic violence protection: the DVPA lives inside the Family Code
California's protective-order law is part of the Family Code itself: abuse is broader than physical injury (it includes harassment, stalking, and disturbing the peace — with coercive control named), protection turns on relationship, ex parte orders are available the same day (a denial must state reasons and carries a prompt-hearing right), after-hearing orders run up to five years and are renewable, every order transmits into the statewide law-enforcement system, and firearm possession is prohibited while an order is in effect.
§ 6203§ 6211§ 6218§ 6320§ 6320.5§ 6340§ 6345§ 6380§ 6389
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Registered domestic partnerships: same rights, same machinery — plus one extra door
Registered domestic partners have the same rights, protections, and duties as spouses under California law, and RDP dissolution runs through the same superior-court machinery — with one extra door: a partnership meeting ALL the statutory conditions can terminate by filing a Notice of Termination with the Secretary of State, both partners signing, without any court case.
§ 297.5§ 299
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Attorney fees: need-based access and conduct sanctions
California fee law runs two lanes: need-based orders that ensure each party ACCESS to representation — early — where there is income disparity, and conduct sanctions against a party or attorney whose litigation conduct frustrates settlement and cooperation. The first levels the field; the second polices the fight.
§ 2030§ 271
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What's covered — and what honestly isn't
Out-of-scope issues get their official path named, not silence — half-covering a subject is how people get hurt.
In scope on this platform
- ✓Dissolution, legal separation, summary dissolution — qualifier + tracker + learn
- ✓Child support (the § 4055 formula) — support engine + learn
- ✓Spousal / partner support factors — spousal organizer + learn
- ✓Community property & date of separation — property organizer + learn
- ✓Custody, visitation, mediation, DV presumption — parenting organizer + learn
- ✓DVPA protective orders + enforcement — safety lanes + learn
- ✓ATROs, disclosures, fees, bifurcation — atros/deadlines/fees engines + learn
- ✓Registered domestic partnerships — qualifier RDP lane + learn
Routed out — with the official path
- Adoption (stepparent, agency, independent)
Official self-help adoption pages + the county superior court's adoption unit — adoption is outside this platform's scope, and it says so rather than half-covering it.
- Guardianship & conservatorship (probate)
The probate self-help center and the court's probate division — a different code and different forms; not covered here.
- Juvenile dependency / delinquency
Dependency counsel is appointed in dependency court — this platform does not touch juvenile proceedings, and says so.
- ICWA / tribal matters
ICWA carries its own federal and state framework and tribal sovereignty — specialist counsel and the court's ICWA resources are the path.
- Parentage actions (contested)
Contested parentage (genetic testing, assisted reproduction, multi-parent) routes to the official parentage self-help pages and counsel — the platform teaches the vocabulary, not the litigation.
- Immigration crossover (U/T-visa, status)
Immigration consequences of family filings are specialist territory — an immigration attorney BEFORE filing, and the platform says so wherever the issue could arise.
- Appeals & writs
Appellate practice has its own rules, deadlines, and counsel norms — the platform flags appealability questions for counsel, never computes appellate deadlines.
Twelve topics, corpus-keyed, in California's own vocabulary — with the platform's standing grammar: likely/commonly/verify, no outcome predictions, official pages control, and out-of-scope issues named honestly with their official path instead of silently absent. Legal information, not legal advice.