In a divorce proceeding, bifurcation is the division of the divorce into into two or more parts. In California, bifurcation is governed by California Family Law Code Section 2337. There are two types of bifurcation. In the first, the parties bifurcate the divorce by severing the issue of marital status from all other issues to obtain a “status-only divorce.” In the second, the parties bifurcate a single key issue from the rest of the case, and have a mini-trial to resolve that key issue. Both types of bifurcation can be especially useful to people getting divorced in today’s economic downturn.

Bifurcation and Status-Only Divorces

Certain parts of a divorce such as the division and valuation of property, child custody, child support and spousal support can take longer to resolve than we would like. This is equally true whether the parties are negotiating or are preparing for trial. They may bifurcate the issue of marital status and reserve the court’s jurisdiction over all other matters. This can give them the peace of mind knowing that they are divorced, can move on with their lives, and can even remarry, while knowing that they will have the time necessary to properly resolve the other divorce issues.

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Filing for dissolution of marriage in California requires that one of the parties meets certain residency requirements. Specifically he or she must have been a resident of the state of California for the last 6 months, and of the particular county where the case is filed for the last 3 months. I wrote about California’s residency requirements for a dissolution of marriage in a previous blog post.

After the petition for dissolution of marriage has been filed with the court, and properly served with a summons on the other party, the parties must wait a minimum of 6 months to become divorced. This 6 month waiting period cannot be shortened no matter how simple the matter, how amicable the parties, or how much they want the divorce to be finalized. In many cases, the parties are able to resolve all marital issues including division of property, spousal support, child support, and child custody in less than 6 months and are left counting the days until they can be divorced. Read more of this post.

Here are three legal terms that you should think about if you are thinking about filing for divorce:

Separate – Separate Property

One part of a divorce is the division of property. California is a community property state. All property obtained by either party during marriage is presumed to be community property and jointly owned 50/50, unless the acquisition of the property was the result of a gift or inheritance. Any property acquired during marriage that can be traced to separate property is also separate property. All other property, including property that was acquired before marriage or after the date of separation is separate property. Certain actions and/or agreements Read more of this post.

You can file for divorce in California if you have adequate grounds and meet the residency requirements.

California is a no-fault divorce state. Legally adequate grounds for divorce, under California Family Code Section 2310 are “incurable insanity” and “irreconcilable differences which have caused the irremediable dissolution of the marriage.” Residency for purposes of divorce requires that one party has lived in the state of California for the last 6 months, and in the particular county where the divorce will be filed for the last 3 months.

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