Newport Beach Family Law Attorney

When your legal case is a family matter, it really hits home. Family lives evolve and some changes require navigating the legal system. Family law is personal and often fraught with emotion, but navigating family law in California requires a cool head and experience. When achieving your desired outcome in a legal case really matters, the Newport Beach Family Law Attorneys at Moradi Saslaw are the skilled, knowledgeable lawyers you need to deftly navigate the complex California legal system. We are full-service Newport Beach family law lawyers who have fought diligently for every client’s rights and goals since 2009 with a track record of success.

At Moradi Saslaw, we’re ready to take on your family law case as though it’s our own, with personalized attention, open communication, and a resolution-based approach to any family law matter.

Why Choose Our Newport Beach, California Family Law Lawyers?

We are a full-service family law firm with experience litigating and negotiating complex divorces and domestic partnership dissolutions in California. Since 2009, Moradi Saslaw has been committed to helping people across California resolve their family law matters.

• We understand more than family law: Experienced in the high-asset landscapes of Orange County, we know the best way to effectively support our clients, from doing an analysis of dividing stock options and restricted stock, untangling limited partnership interests, or even working with a forensic accountant.
• We’re well-versed in custody matters: Our strategies are all about your children’s best interests, including helping you and your partner become successful co-parents when possible.
• When we say team, we mean it: We have weekly roundtable strategy sessions to review our client cases. Being able to talk through strategy options with the entire team helps us think creatively, ensuring that our clients receive the best possible solutions for their complex situations.
• We are straightforward with our clients: We tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear. Our attorneys will guide you through the process and answer any questions before, throughout and after the journey of your case.

Meet Moradi Saslaw

Your Newport Beach Family Law Attorneys

Moradi Saslaw is comprised of premier divorce lawyers with a strong record of courtroom success and negotiated settlements. Whether your needs are simple asset division or a basic custody agreement, or more intricate matters such as an analysis of dividing stock options, limited partnership interests, or a contested custody dispute, we develop creative strategies to meet your goals. Our organized and thorough approach achieves results.

Awards & Memberships

Prenup and Postnuptial Agreements

Many couples once looked at prenuptial and postnuptial agreements in an unfavorable light, worrying that it signaled a lack of trust. However, today’s well-informed couples understand that a prenuptial agreement protects both parties by setting up the best possible outcome for each party should the marriage ultimately end. When engaged couples make decisions for the separation of assets while they are in love and have the best intentions for each other, it protects their mutual futures during the marriage and should the worst occur. Moradi Saslaw Family Law Attorneys understand the sensitive nuances involved in developing a well-executed prenuptial or post-nuptial agreement. Your prenup attorney at Moradi Saslaw will do the following:

• Ensure your California prenuptial or postnuptial agreement follows the state’s Uniform Premarital Agreement Act (UPAA) so it’s irrefutably enforceable
• Ensure the agreement clearly outlines each spouse’s rights to property and assets
• Lay out a plan for spousal support or waiving spousal support
• Ensure the language of the agreement is in writing, precise, and signed by both parties

Your Newport Beach family law attorney will ensure that your prenuptial agreement is well-executed and enforceable under California law.

Divorce

Accepting that divorce is inevitable for you and your spouse is difficult, but after you’ve made the decision to file or your spouse has filed and you’ve been served with papers, you need an assertive divorce lawyer on your side throughout the process. To qualify for a California divorce, either you or your spouse must have been a resident of the state for at least six months before the filing date and have resided in the county in which you are filing for at least three months. The state also requires a six-month waiting period between filing for divorce and the finalization of the divorce. During this time your attorney will do the following:

• Assist you with your financial disclosure
• Carefully scrutinize your spouse’s financial disclosure
• Engage in the discovery process by responding to document requests from your spouse’s attorney and making requests for your spouse to produce any missing or required documents and financial records
• Strategize the best way forward for achieving your desired goals for child custody and parenting time schedules
• Engage in meetings and mediation attempts with a resolution-based approach to achieve a settlement agreement with the least amount of adversarial disputes
• Prepare for court should you and your spouse fail to reach a mutually acceptable agreement on one or more terms of the divorce

California has exacting divorce laws that require meticulous attention to detail. Your attorney from Moradi Saslaw Family Law Attorneys will work tirelessly toward achieving the best possible outcome in your divorce case on all matters, including child custody, child support, the division of property and debts, and spousal support if it applies to your case.

Don’t leave your future up to your ex-spouse, their attorney, and an impartial judge who isn’t familiar with your family. You need aggressive advocacy and experienced legal counsel throughout your divorce with a Newport Beach divorce lawyer from Moradi Saslaw Family Law Attorneys on your side.

Property and Debt Division

During a divorce or dissolution of a domestic partnership, your Newport Beach family lawyer from Moradi Saslaw will defend your rights and work toward the best possible resolution for property and debt division under California’s equal division of community property laws. In California, divorcing spouses retain their separate assets and must equally divide and distribute all assets belonging to the marital community.

Separate assets in Newport Beach divorces include:

• All real estate properties, bank accounts, investment accounts, businesses, and valuables belonging to one spouse before the marriage
• All assets inherited by one spouse during the marriage
• All assets gifted to one spouse alone during the marriage

Determining separate assets becomes confusing due to the commingling that commonly occurs during marriage. For example, if a spouse invests their time or money into improving the other spouse’s property, they may claim a portion of the improved value. Commingling also occurs when one spouse grants the other spouse access to an account, such as a bank or investment account that was previously their separate asset.

Community assets in California include:

• Real estate properties including the spouse’s marital home, vacation homes, and rental properties
• Businesses
• Investment and retirement accounts
• Bank accounts
• Vehicles
• Boats and RVs
• Artwork, antiques, collectibles, and other valuables
• Intellectual property
• Household items like electronics, appliances, and furniture

Asset division may become hotly contentious, especially for divorcing spouses with high assets or diverse portfolios and businesses. A Newport Beach high-asset divorce attorney from Moradi Saslaw protects your share of marital assets and ensures you keep your separate assets. Our goal is always a low-conflict settlement agreement whenever possible, but we won’t hesitate to take any disputes to court to defend your rights.

Child Custody, Child Support & Spousal Support

In the best-case scenario, divorcing parents reach an agreement for child custody that meets the state’s requirement for deciding in “the best interests of the child.” California family courts begin with the premise that continued close contact with both parents is best for children. However, a parent may provide evidence and testimony that their desired outcome for child custody is what’s in their child’s best interests. Your lawyer from Moradi Saslaw Family Law Attorneys will help navigate your child custody and parenting-time case for the best possible outcome.

The state’s formula for child support considers both parents’ gross incomes and the amount of parenting time each parent has in their share of the custody schedule. Your lawyer will help you understand what to expect for child support orders in your unique circumstances.

If you think spousal support is or isn’t appropriate in your case, your Newport Beach child custody attorney from Moradi Saslaw will gather evidence to make a compelling case on your behalf.

Domestic Violence

Domestic violence is a very real problem in Newport Beach divorces. According to the California Department of Public Health, about one in every five women report experiencing violence in their marriage, and one out of every seven men. Despite California’s no-fault divorce laws, the courts do not award spousal support to domestic abusers. Substantial evidence of domestic abuse perpetrated by a spouse also shows the court that continued close contact with that parent is not in a child’s best interests.

If domestic abuse is a factor in your divorce, Moradi Saslaw Family Law Attorneys can help you gain a temporary restraining order to prohibit the abuser from coming within a specific distance of you and the children and limit all contact through attorneys during the divorce process.

Modification of Existing Orders

California courts take a judge’s orders seriously. Disregarding orders for child support, custody schedules, and spousal support payments can result in enforcement measures and contempt of court charges. However, judges know that circumstances sometimes change, for instance, when an individual becomes disabled, ill, or unemployed. If you need a modification of existing court orders due to a significant and lasting change in circumstances, or you are facing an ex-spouse’s request for a modification of existing orders, you need legal representation to guide you through the process for prompt action.