Self-Help with the California Legal System

The legal system can be a very difficult process for the average person to navigate. Lawyers spend years in school learning how to navigate the system! However, California’s legislature has tried to make many aspects of the legal system available to everyone. By using the state’s website courts.ca.gov, non-professionals may be able to handle their own legal problems.

In Family Law, self-help information is available in the following topics and many others:

Adoption

• Types of Adoption
• Steps to File Adoption Papers
• Notifying the Other Parent of the Adoption
• Finding Your Child’s Birth Parent

Child Custody and Visitation

• Custody and Parenting (Visitation) Time
• Custody Mediation
• Supervised Visitation
• Custody and Domestic Violence
• Visitation Rights of Grandparents

Child Support

• How Child Support Starts
• Calculating Child Support
• Changing Child Support
• Ending Child Support
• Child Support Agreements

Divorce

• Basics of Divorce
• Summary Dissolution
• Annulments
• Spousal or Partner Support
• Marital Property Issues

Domestic Violence

• Legal Definition of Domestic Violence
• Restraining Orders
• What Restraining Orders Can and Cannot Do
• The Restraining Order Process
• Getting Help
• Responding to a Restraining Order

Remember, not all legal issues are complicated and with a little help, you can resolve your own legal problems. However, if your legal issue becomes difficult, seek professional help!

Next week, free and low-cost legal help…