Legally Speaking Military Focused Family Law Facts By Tana Landau, Esq.
ATROS: What are they?
When a Petition for Dissolution of Marriage, Nullity of Marriage, Legal Separation is filed in California, Automatic Temporary Restraining Orders come into effect. Family law attorneys use the term “ATROS” to refer to these automatic temporary restraining orders which are summarized on the back of a summons for a Petition for Dissolution of Marriage or Domestic Partnership, Legal Separation, or Nullity of Marriage. These are mutual orders that become effective upon the party who files immediately upon filing and upon the non-filing party when the Petition and Summons are served. The back of the summons sets forth the language of the ATROS exactly as stated in the California Family Code. The primary purpose of ATROS is to maintain the status quo and prevent any unilateral actions that could harm the opposing party or the case’s overall proceedings. Most people do not bother to read them. Therefore, a good family law attorney will explain them at the outset of your case as there are penalties for violating them. What do the ATROS prevent? They prevent both parties from removing the minor child or children of the parties, if any, from the state without the prior written consent of the other party or an order of the court. You cannot transfer, encumber, hypothecate, conceal, or in any way dispose of, any 54 WWW.SanDiegoVeteransMagazine.com / February 2024
property, real or personal, whether community, quasicommunity, or separate, without the written consent of the other party or an order of the court, except in the usual course of business or for the necessities of life. This prohibits for example a party from closing accounts and transferring funds to another account, taking out loans on property, or pledging property as security or collateral for a debt with the express written consent of the other party. In addition, the ATROs restrain either party from cashing, borrowing against, canceling, transferring, disposing of, or changing the beneficiaries of any insurance or other coverage, including life, health, automobile and disability, held for the benefit of the parties and their child or children for whom support may be ordered. For example, you would be prohibited from cashing in a life insurance policy or changing the beneficiary on the policy without written consent. You also cannot remove your spouse or children from any health or automobile insurance. Finally, the ATROS restrain both parties from creating a non-probate transfer or modifying a non-probate transfer in a manner that affects the disposition of property subject to the transfer, without the written consent of the other party or an order of the court A “non-probate transfer” is an instrument that makes a transfer of property on death. This most commonly includes a beneficiary designation on a retirement or investment account.