The premise
People going through divorce are often making the most consequential financial and personal decisions of their lives, in the worst emotional state of their lives, with the least time available to research carefully. The internet they reach for is largely written by law firms with marketing budgets, content farms producing forty articles a day, and well-meaning but vague generalists who write the same article whether the state is California or Connecticut.
DivorceTalk is an attempt to do something different. We focus on one state. We write at length. We try to be useful at the level of a thoughtful book chapter, not a 600-word SEO post. And we say what we don't know.
How we write
Every article on this site is drafted with care, fact-checked against the California Family Code and California court rules, and (in the long-term plan) reviewed by a licensed California family law attorney before publication. Where there is disagreement among practitioners — there usually is — we try to acknowledge it rather than pretend there's a clean answer.
We update articles when the law changes. The "last reviewed" date on each page tells you when the content was last checked against current law. If you find an error, please write to us at the address on the Contact section — we read every letter and we correct mistakes quickly.
What this site is not
This site is not legal advice. We do not have an attorney-client relationship with any reader. We do not know your facts. The general rules described here can lead to wildly different outcomes depending on the specifics of your case, the assets involved, the local court, and the judge assigned. Please use this site to understand the landscape — and then please find an attorney before making decisions that will affect you for years.
This site is also not a directory of lawyers we accept payment from. The Resources page lists tools and services we have evaluated and find genuinely useful. We do not accept payment for inclusion. If something on the list stops being good — a service degrades, a tool changes hands — it comes off the list.
Where the line is
California, like every state, has rules about the unauthorized practice of law. We can — and do — explain what California family law says, how it generally works, and what to expect. We cannot apply that law to your specific circumstances and tell you what to do. The line between information and advice is a real one, and we try to stay on the right side of it.
If you write to us with a specific factual question — "in my situation, what should I do?" — we will not answer it. We will, however, send you in the direction of someone who can.
Get in touch
For corrections, suggestions, or feedback on the writing: see the contact information here. We read every message and we appreciate them. If you would like to suggest a topic for future articles, the same address works.