Checklists Cover Turning 18, Divorcing

Today we continue with more checklists to keep your legal, and not so legal, life in order:

I’M TURNING 18

* I have a duty to: register for the draft (males only) within 30 days or be imprisoned or fined, pay taxes on the money I make, serve on juries when I am called.

* As an adult I can: vote, make a will, apply for credit in my own name, buy real estate in my own name, get a job without a work permit, get married without my parents’ consent, get medical treatment without my parents’ consent, get a driver’s license without my parents’ consent.

* I can no longer: force my parents to support me, let my parents take legal responsibility for my actions, legally call off contracts I entered, have my police record “sealed,” be tried in Juvenile Court on a criminal charge.

* Until I am 21, I cannot legally: buy, sell or consume alcoholic beverages; be in a car with liquor, even if the container is sealed, without a parent or guardian; work in a place that sells alcohol as its main business; be in a bar unless I have legal business there.

I PLAN TO DIVORCE

* To file for dissolution (divorce) in California, I: must have lived in the state six months and in the county for three months, must file certain legal papers with the Superior Court, must have copies of the filed papers and a summons delivered to my spouse or my spouse can ask for a hearing at which a judge decides any temporary child support or support disputes, must appear in court if my spouse contests the dissolution or files an answer to the papers I filed, must file a sworn statement with the court saying the marriage is ending because of irreconcilable differences if my spouse does not contest or answer.

* My spouse can contest the dissolution by objecting to my plan to: divide our property, handle child custody or arrange financial support or to any other arrangement I propose.

* I can get “summary dissolution” without going to court if my spouse and I: have been married five years or less; have no children; do not own a home, other real estate or much other property; agree on all terms of the dissolution and meet other conditions outlined in Summary Dissolution Information, available from the clerk of the county Superior Court.

* According to California law, my spouse and I: must divide everything in or out of the state that either of us obtained during our marriage through labor or skill (community property), each keep whatever we owned before marriage (separate property), each keep whatever we received as gifts or inheritance during marriage (separate property), halve community property and separate property debts as well.

* Decisions on how to divide community property can be made: by me and my spouse, with the help of a mediator, by a judge if we cannot agree.

* Our child custody choices include: Sole custody (one of us is primarily responsible for bringing up the children), joint physical custody (children live part-time with each of us), joint legal custody (together, we make the important decisions about children), both joint physical and legal custody.

* In terms of taxes, I cannot be taxed for child support money I receive; cannot deduct from taxable income child support money I pay; may be able to claim children as tax exemptions if I have custody; may qualify, with my spouse, for a special tax rate if we share custody equally or almost equally.

Next week: More checklists.