Maintaining the Status Quo During Divorce Proceedings

In California, after filing for divorce and while your case is pending, the law provides for a number of ways to ease the separation from your spouse.  These prophylactic measures are meant to ensure that both parties to the divorce receive the benefit of the marital community while litigating their case.  There are number of automatic restraining orders (ATROs) [Family Code Section 2640] that become effective when the summons is issued and served upon your spouse.  They are found on the second page of the divorce summons and prevent each party from:

Removing the minor child or children of the parties, if any, from the state without the prior written consent of the other party or an order of the court;

Cashing, borrowing against, canceling, transferring, disposing of, or changing the beneficiaries of any insurance or other coverage, including life, health, automobile, and disability, held for the benefit of the parties and their minor child or children;

Transferring, encumbering, hypothecating, concealing, or in any way disposing of any property, real or personal, whether community, quasi-community, or separate, without the written consent of the other party or an order of the court, except in the usual course of business or for the necessities of life; and

Creating a nonprobate transfer or modifying a nonprobate transfer in a manner that affects the disposition of property subject to the transfer, without the written consent of the other party or an order of the court. Before revocation of a nonprobate transfer can take effect or a right of survivorship to property can be eliminated, notice of the change must be filed and served on the other party. 

In general, these ATRO's prevent the other party from displacing community property or the parties' children, such that the other party would be placed at a disadvantage during the divorce.  The portions regarding not canceling any insurance for the benefit of the family also serves the same purpose and helps ease the transition from being a married couple to being self-sufficient.  These protections are necessary to ensure that no unfair advantage is gained by either party in the proceeding while they are going through litigation that can potentially last for months or years.

Besides ATRO's, there are other mechanisms of the law that help maintain the status quo, or ease the transition of a divorce.  These include temporary child custody and visitation, temporary spousal support, and pendente lite (or interim) orders for attorney fees.

Taken as a whole, the law has attempted to create fair and equal divisions of the bounty of the marital community during the time that the parties are litigating their divorce.  Sometimes this becomes difficult because resources are stretched thin when a couple decides to divorce.  Ultimately, it can be a rocky road because dividing something in half never equals the sum of its parts.  However, the alternative to these stop-gap, or prophylactic measures, would likely be that one party to a divorce is left holding the short end of the stick.  

*This information is not meant to constitute legal advice.  To learn more about divorce, contact our attorneys at Senh Law Associates, (925) 408-8546.