When Yanic Chan and Vanessa Van split up in 1995, they couldn't afford a lawyer. So, like thousands of other people without money, they filled out the divorce paperwork themselves, with help from a friend.
In November 1997, Van went to the Riverside County Courthouse to enter a final judgment. "The clerk put the stamp on it," Van said. "I asked, 'Everything finished?' She said 'Yes.' "
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Saturday January 06, 2007 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 3 inches; 118 words Type of Material: Correction
Divorces: An article in Section A on Monday about problems with do-it-yourself divorces misstated an attorney's explanation as to why a divorce was not completed for a Riverside couple, Yanic Chan and Vanessa Van. The article reported Chan's lawyer, Faith Nouri, as saying a judge had asked for additional information about child visitation. Rather, Nouri said the divorce was not completed because a family law examiner noted that provisions for child support had not been made. The article also said Nouri did not know how to help her client bring his new wife to this country. Nouri said there is a solution that requires her client to complete a divorce from Van and then remarry his third wife.
Chan returned to his native Cambodia and married again. Then, in 2006, he tried to bring his new wife to this country. And that's when Van and Chan got a nasty surprise, one that court officials fear could be awaiting thousands of other former California couples: Their divorce had not been finalized.
Driven by rising legal fees, a shortage of legal aid lawyers and a do-it-yourself philosophy, about 80% of people in California handle their own divorces, according to court officials.
Many of them are not quite as divorced as they think they are. Some of them, like Chan, are even accidental bigamists, carrying not only hopes and dreams but also an earlier marriage to their new one.
Tens of thousands of others have some understanding that their divorces are not done. But stumped by complex paperwork and court procedures, and unable to afford thousands of dollars for attorneys, they simply let their cases languish.
Court officials across the state say they suspect the problem is vast. In Los Angeles County, Kathleen Dixon, who heads the Superior Court's programs for self-represented people, estimated that a third or more of all divorce petitions filed in the county in the last several years have not been finalized.
Neither state nor county officials have statistics because they don't monitor cases to make sure they are finished. But the evidence they have worries them.
One L.A. County Superior Court judge, Mark Juhas, found that about a third of the roughly 3,600 divorce cases filed in 2001 and 2002 and assigned to his courtroom remain open. Some of those couples may have reconciled, but Juhas suspects that many more are stuck or may even think they are divorced when they are not.
Bonnie Hough is supervising attorney for the Center for Families, Children and the Courts, a division of the state Judicial Council's Administrative Office of the Courts. She noted a study in Placer County in the 1980s that found that 30% of people there who filed for divorce did not complete the process.
