If you live in Santa Clarita and have gone through a divorce or are considering going through a divorce you would have learned that the Santa Clarita Courthouse does not handle Family Law Cases. We have all had to trek down to San Fernando to file for divorce.
In the last few years we have seen several changes with the Los Angeles Superior Courts such as court closures and relocations. The most recent change that affects us here in Santa Clarita is that the San Fernando divorce courts are moving to Chatsworth. The change took place effective November 17, 2014.
How Will This Affect Current Cases?
If you have a current case with the San Fernando Courthouse, your case will be moved to the new department at Chatsworth. For cases filed in San Fernando’s Department L, your case will move to Chatsworth’s Department F-46. For cases filed in San Fernando’s Department K, your case will move to Chatsworth’s Department F-48.
For those folks going through uncontested divorce cases, the only effect this will have on you is where you go to file your court forms.
It appears for now that the Chatsworth Court will still only have two courtrooms dedicated to family law matters. They are, however, opening up a new Restraining Order Court, which will be opened in Department F-51. This Department will be reserved for hearings regarding restraining order requests.
In addition, both the Family Law Facilitator and Family Court Services will also move to the Chatsworth Courthouse.
I don’t think the move is going to have any impact on the gridlock in the family law courts. We are still going to see significant delays on judgments being reviewed and as much as two months for hearings for temporary orders.
As large as Santa Clarita has become, you would have thought we would have our own Courthouse for family law matters. It certainly would be nice. However, things are going in the other direction as they have already moved traffic and civil cases down to Chatsworth as well.
Chatsworth Superior Court is located at 9425 Penfield Avenue, 3rd Floor in Chatsworth. Tim Blankenship is a Legal Document Assistant (LDA) specializing in California divorce. For more information please visit www.Divorce661.com or call us for a free phone consultation at 661-281-0266.