Getting a divorce in Santa Ana

Orange County Court offers bounty of guidance–but no legal advice

mto read about the role

Please see “Updated: Divorce in California” to read about the role of an attorney, benefits of professional counseling and the need to urgently address any domestic violence issues that may be a part of your situation. The article also includes statewide links to domestic violence resources, legal self-help, residency requirements and other basic information.

Local resources for help with domestic violence

Residents of Santa Ana and Orange County have several agencies and facilities that can help with domestic violence, including these online resources:

• Santa Ana Police Department, “Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault“;
• Santa Ana Police Department, “Victim Resources“;
• Family Violence Prevention Center;
• Orange County’s “Domestic Abuse” page;
• Laura’s House.

Superior Court: Orange County

The court you or your attorney will use is the Superior Court of California, County of Orange, and the following information is either quoted or derived from its Web site.

The two main links related to divorce or domestic violence are:

• Family Law, and
• Family Court Services.

Family Law Clerk’s office

The Family Law Clerk’s Office is where you come to “File” your court documents on family related matters, such as divorce, separation, nullity, paternity, family support and domestic violence. We perform clerically administrative functions such as requests for copy work, schedule dates on the courtroom calendars based on availability, accept payment for filing documents and fees and process other documents such as appeals, transfers, writs, abstracts and stipulated judgments.

Location of Clerk’s office, tips for public

Superior Court of California, County of Orange
Lamoreaux Justice Center
341 the City Drive
Orange, CA 92863

The clerk’s office is on the seventh floor of the building, which is between Garden Grove Boulevard/Memory Lane and Chapman Avenue; business hours are 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday (excluding court holidays.)

Further, the court advises: “When visiting our facility, be prepared to pay for parking and allow sufficient time as you will be required to go through weapon screening before entering the building. Recording devices, including cameras are prohibited and you will not be allowed to bring them into the building.” More info is found at the court’s Web page on dissolution.

Family Law Facilitator

Another page explains the Office of the Family Law Facilitator:

Every court in California has a lawyer that will help you with family law problems for free. These lawyers are called “family law facilitators.” The facilitators can’t be your lawyer, but they can help in other ways, such as showing you how to fill out court forms and telling you about other places to get help, like lawyer referral services, legal aid clinics, and self-help law centers.

Caveat regarding Family Law Facilitator

Just remember that as helpful as the facilitator may be, you can not receive legal advice. For example, the facilitator’s role is to be equally helpful with basic information to either party in a divorce action. Furthermore, your conversation with the facilitator “is not private or confidential.”

Free evaluation

No matter your marital situation, we can help. If you’re ready to begin the search for a compatible, well trained, experienced divorce attorney, you can start with our free case evaluation. If you need more information, please browse our site, using the tabs at the top of the page.