Summary Dissolution of Marriage in San Diego Superior Court: Links to San Diego Superior Court Website and California Courts and Information About Requirements: Part Two

In order to qualify for a summary dissolution of your marriage in San Diego Superior Court, below are the requirements and you must meet all of these or cannot proceed with a summary dissolution. While a summary dissolution is preferable, in many cases, it is not preferable in all as you will see. For example, if you are seeking spousal support, you cannot proceed with a summary dissolution. Again, read the requirements carefully since you do not want to spend your time and money processing a summary dissolution only to have this rejected by the Court due to not meeting all the mandatory requirements. The below applies to both spouses.

First, you must have been married for no more than five years. This is from the date of marriage through the date of separation. If there is a disagreement on the date of marriage or separation, then you cannot proceed with a summary dissolution.

Second, you must have no children together. This includes all child or children adopted or born during or before the marriage and you cannot be expecting a new child when the summary dissolution is filed.

Third, you cannot own any part of buildings or land.

Fourth, you cannot rent any buildings or land. There is one exception for where you reside now with the following requirements that you do not have an option to buy or a one year lease.

Fifth, you cannot owe more than $6,000 for debts acquired from date of marriage to date of separation however do not include car loans for computation under this category.

Sixth, you must have no more than $40,000 in community property. Again, do not count your car or cars as with the above category. You can also not have separate property worth more than $40,000. Separate property is that which you obtained either before date of marriage or after date of separation.

Seventh, you must both agree that there is no spousal support now and will never be spousal support in the future for either spouse. This is a very important section since, for example, if you are married for four years, then spousal support duration would be for two years [one half of the duration of the marriage] under most circumstances. Before you agree to waive spousal support, you should find out the disso master calculation. Once you waive spousal support, this cannot be asked for in the future.

Eighth, you and your spouse must sign the agreement for the property division.

Ninth, there are jurisdictional requirements to file for a summary dissolution in San Diego Superior Court. Either you or your spouse must have lived in San Diego County for at least 90 days prior to the filing for the summary dissolution and lived in California for at least 180 days prior to filing.

The law firm of Doppelt and Forney, APLC represents clients in summary dissolution proceedings. As above, since there is always a waiver of spousal support in a summary dissolution, it is important to analyze if you would be entitled to spousal support or if you would have to pay spousal support. The law office has access to the disso master program which calculates temporary spousal support and is the same program the Judges have on the family law bench. A free and confidential virtual consultation can give you information so you can make the most informed and intelligent decision about whether to waive spousal support and all the other requirements for a summary dissolution.