About this website

About California Divorce Compass

Every important decision begins with a simple question: how do I know I can trust this number?

That question became the foundation for everything here.

Divorce brings a flood of financial questions all at once - what will this cost, how long will it take, can I actually afford to live on my own, what happens to the house. You deserve more than a calculator that produces a number without explaining where it came from.

The purpose of this website isn't to tell you what decision to make. It's to help you understand your options well enough to have a more informed conversation with the professionals who help you make that decision. A calculator should do more than produce an answer - it should help you understand why that answer changes when the assumptions do.

How This Is Built

This website is built around a transparent research and review process - one based on a simple principle: a calculator earns credibility through the quality of its research, the transparency of its methodology, and the honesty of its limits, not through claims of expertise. Every calculator and every article here starts with real California law and real published figures - Family Code sections, court fee schedules, official state and federal guidelines - not guesses. Where sources disagree or a figure depends on individual circumstances, that's shown directly rather than smoothed over into a single confident number. Before anything is published, it goes through multiple rounds of review: the calculations are verified, assumptions are challenged, and figures are checked against their original sources. Independent review tools - including AI-assisted analysis - help catch inconsistencies, outdated figures, or claims that don't hold up. When something doesn't check out, it gets fixed before it goes live, not after.

Why We Show Our Work

Wherever a number depends on an assumption, that assumption is shown, not hidden. Wherever a figure comes from a specific law or published source, that source is named - you'll find a Sources list at the end of every article, not just a vague reference to research. No calculator can predict what a judge will decide, what your specific costs will be, or how your case will unfold. These tools aren't built to promise certainty. They're built to help you see the moving parts clearly enough to ask sharper questions - of yourself, and of whoever you talk to next.

Educational Information - Not Legal or Financial Advice

Everything here is for educational and informational purposes. Nothing on this site is legal advice, and using it does not create an attorney-client relationship of any kind. Use the calculator and articles here to understand your situation, form better questions, and get a realistic sense of what's ahead. Then take what you've learned to a family law attorney, a certified mediator, or your county's free family law facilitator before making decisions that affect your legal rights or your finances. If this site helps you walk into that conversation more prepared, it's done its job.

A Commitment to Improvement

California family law changes - sometimes significantly, sometimes in ways that shift a specific number or process overnight. When something here goes out of date or turns out to be wrong, it gets fixed. If you find something that looks outdated, unclear, or incorrect, contact us - that feedback is part of the process, not an exception to it. Don't trust a number simply because this website produced it. Trust it because you can see how it was calculated, examine the assumptions behind it, and decide for yourself whether that reasoning fits your situation.