About Us
The Jewish Divorce Assistance Center of Los Angeles (JDAC) provides Jewish divorcing couples in Los Angeles with a pro bono legal resource center.
We offer in-person emotional and logistical support, along with advice and guidance through the Beit Din process. JDAC does not provide direct legal representation to individuals.
Our mission
Our mission is to help Jewish divorcing couples effectuate peaceful divorces, so that they and their children can move forward with dignity, intact mental health and without sunken costs.
How we help
We help families navigate the dual religious and civil divorce processes:
- Mediating divorces, and finalizing and formalizing agreements that can be filed in California State court
- Securing a Get through the Beit Din
Through the mediation process, JDAC helps parties reach amicable resolutions. We also connect families with relevant professionals, including financial planners, social workers and psychologists, who donate their time throughout the mediation process. JDAC offers referrals to social service agencies, legal services and other professionals as well.
Our impact
JDAC is the first and only nonprofit in North America to treat Jewish divorce as a front-door issue.
Since 2015, we have serviced over 300 families in the Los Angeles Jewish community.
We have shifted the conversation away from the outdated binary of divorce versus reconciliation, toward the more realistic choice between high conflict divorce and peaceful divorce.
Our Partnership with Pepperdine Caruso School of Law
In 2017, JDAC partnered with Pepperdine Caruso School of Law, where we are housed as the Faith and Family Mediation Clinic.
Each semester, approximately ten law students receive training in Jewish and California law and provide 8 hours of clinical work per week for JDAC. The partnership shortens wait times and lets the Center help more families at the same time.
JDAC works in partnership with Pepperdine Caruso School of Law, thereby:
- Ensuring continued future access to JDAC's essential services in the Los Angeles Jewish community.
- Funding courses on Jewish Law, Antisemitism and the Law, and engagement between American and Israeli scholars.
- Investing strategically in a Christian university that is uniquely supportive of its Jewish faculty and students and that stands with the State of Israel.
- Providing models for other Jewish communities and law schools around the country to adopt similar programming.