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If you are looking to file for spousal support in Temecula, CA, this quick reference guide will provide some topical information about the process as well as some resources for spousal support professionals in the Temecula area to help you on your journey. While spousal support requests are essentially following the same standardized California Courts process, we will try to give information that is specific to the residents of Temecula who are either about to start the process for spousal support orders, or are looking to modify or terminate their current spousal support orders.
Where to File for Spousal Support in Temecula
There are a few factors to consider when determining where to file for spousal support if you live in the Temecula area. The first is, do you already have an open family law case. If you do, then almost always, you will file your spousal support request at the same location your current family law case is being handled. If you were a resident of Temecula when you opened your case there is a good chance that it is filed in the Riverside County Superior Court, Family Law Division. The current locations of these courts are: Riverside, Hemet, Indio and Blythe. You can see the respective location and contact information for these courts here: http://www.riverside.courts.ca.gov/address.shtml.
If you or the other party were not a resident of Temecula when the case started, your case may be in another court in California, or even out of state. Just because you moved, your court case does not follow you. Court cases remain open and active where they were initiated until formal requests and orders from the court are made giving permission for them to be moved to new court locations. This process is not common and doesn’t apply to the majority of people who no longer live where they had opened a court case. After talking to Temecula Family Law Attorney, you will have a better understanding if your case should be moved to Riverside Superior Court, Hemet Family Law Branch. If you are advised to file on your open case, California attorneys may not be able to help if it is out of State or even in a County far enough from their practice area. In situations like this, you can use an online attorney directory to search for attorneys in the area your case is filed.
Where to File a New Case for Spousal Support in Temecula
If you do not have an open family law case, then California allows you to initiate/open one in the County of your residence… most of the time. Residency is the first qualifying factor, but an example of a situation that could override that is the location of minor children. Common practice is to open family law cases in the jurisdiction where minor children live. Since family law cases like divorce and legal separations could make orders for custody, visitation and child support, the court aims to have those very important orders made where the minor children live so that they have the most useful effect and bearing on the children. Example would be dad and children live in Temecula, but mother is looking to file for spousal support and lives in Santa Ana. A family law attorney would likely recommend her filing in Riverside Family Law Court. While this is just one example and each case is different, it does show spousal support filings have many moving parts that may not even be directly related to the spousal support at all. In situations where you live in Temecula but may be filing in another court, California Courts has a quick reference listing of other courts in all 58 California Counties here: http://www.courts.ca.gov/find-my-court.htm. Again, a local family law attorney can still be your best resource and starting point, even if it means that they are going to refer you to resources outside of Temecula. You can start by viewing a list of those local Temecula Attorneys here: Spousal Support Attorneys in Temecula. The easy answer however, is that for residents of Temecula, without an open family law case, they would likely file their spousal support case in Hemet Family Law Court, which handles Riverside County’s family law workload for most of south Riverside County.
Spousal Support in the Inland Empire
While the Inland Empire is one of the largest metro areas in the Country, spanning San Bernardino and Riverside Counties, many residents may move and change residences, but often stay within the two large Counties. Between both Counties there are 7+ family law courts that would handle spousal support cases. You can see the San Bernardino County Family Law Courts here: http://www.sb-court.org/Locations.aspx. We mention this because the distance between family law courts between the two Counties can be so far that many Family Law Attorneys in Temecula simply won’t travel or represent a party in a San Bernardino Spousal Support case. An example would be a spousal support attorney in Temecula not representing clients with cases in Victorville Family Court. We can see here the distance is almost 90 miles and at least 1.5 hours north and if you factor a round trip, time in court and more, it could take a Temecula attorney a whole day when they could represent a similar case in Hemet court in an hour or two.
If you have already have a family law attorney in Temecula but they do not offer their services in popular San Bernardino Courts (San Bernardino and Victorville), local San Bernardino County Family Law Attorneys can help. Schwartzberg | Luther, APC has offices in Rancho Cucamonga and Victorville, you can see more about them here: Victorville divorce attorney.
Another alternative to help you file spousal support in Temecula, would be contracting for simply the document preparation. Either your request for order, or trial at issue can often be done by a local legal document preparation service like Just Document Preparation, they have an office right in Murrieta. The good part about this option is these types of companies can often complete and file the forms in any County Court in California and then if you expect the request to be contested, you can “sub” and attorney on for the hearing/trial only. This option can save some money in the process.
