Posts Tagged ‘divorce proceedings’
An annulment is different from a divorce in a number of ways. While a divorce puts an end to a couple’s legal union, an annulment declares that the marriage was null and void in the first place, and therefor never actually happened, legally. Unlike a divorce, an annulment is retroactive, effectively undoing however many days or months of invalid marriage a couple has already been through. Typically, instead of splitting up property as in divorce proceedings, and annulment simply returns everything to the state (and owner) it was in before the marriage. This is more complicated than simply getting a divorce, however, and annulments are not granted in all cases.
There are a number of reasons a court may grant an annulment. If both spouses were closely related, for example, the marriage would be declared invalid from the beginning. Similarly, if it was found that one or both spouses were mentally unfit to enter into a union at the time of the marriage, or if one spouse is found to have concealed important facts from the other.
It is important to understand all of the differences between an annulment and a divorce if you are considering getting one, as qualifying for one is usually harder to do than simply getting a divorce. In some cases, it is equally important to have competent representation in court to ensure that your annulment goes through. There are a lot more requirements to be fulfilled for a successful annulment than there are for a divorce, and help is sometimes needed. If you need legal advice on a potential annulment in the city of Sacramento, I would advise that you contact a Sacramento annulment lawyer as soon as possible.
Visitation rights are a myth. Neither parent is inherently entitled to visitation rights when going through a divorce. You only have visitation rights when they have been established by the court or determined in a parenting plan that is created by both parents and acknowledged in court.
In your divorce proceedings, it is important to be aware that visitation and custody are two separate matters. Legal custody grants you the ability to direct how your child is raised. This includes things such as the religion, education and healthcare of your child. Physical custody allows your child to live with you. Visitation, on the other hand, tends to define how your time with your kids is spent. A qualified divorce attorney with experience handling custody and visitation issues should be able to more thoroughly explain the differences between custody and visitation and advise you on your best course of action.
For example, if you are awarded full custody of your children, your wife may seek visitation rights. Or if you are granted primary custodial rights while the divorce is pending, your wife may also seek visitation rights. This is something you should talk about with your attorney and something that should be dictated by your wife’s ability and capability to care for your children while they are with her. If your wife has drug or alcohol addiction problems, you should make sure that visits are supervised. Likewise, if there is a history of physical, mental or sexual abuse, visitation should be closely monitored. There may even be a specific location that your wife must be in to visit with your children. In this way, the way your wife spends her time with your children is defined. This offers a number of protections to your children if your wife is unfit to watch them on her own.