Should You Use A Divorce Self Help Book | Santa Clarita Divorce

There are tons of self help divorce books on the market these days.  But is a book the best way to get through a complicated divorce process even if you are using the self help divorce book to complete your own divorce?

I recently went to the Santa Clarita Library and checked out at least 10 different “How To Divorce” books to see if they would be helpful to someone who was trying to complete their divorce on their own.  Here is what I learned.

First let me say that I know a lot about filing out divorce forms and divorce procedure.  That said, these do-it-yourself divorce books were super confusing.  I had to double check several times to see what they were talking about.

First off, they all start off by talking a little bit about California Law.  They give you a few tidbits about spousal support and child support and other general information.

Then comes the worst part.  The part where they show you how to complete the divorce forms.  This was very funny to me because it the pages looked more like a geometry lesson.

There were lines drawn from words of instruction  on one page to spots on the form they were talking about.  There were lines and arrows all over the page explaining what goes where and a lot of “if this, then that” scenarios.   It was very confusing and i would feel bad for anyone that spent money on these books.

Most of the self help divorce books included a CD (that was missing because I went to the library) but the common theme throughout each of the books was that their was a phone number you could call if you needed help.  They are all written by lawyers and the number you would call was to their law firm or lawyer referral group.

It makes me wonder, due the confusing nature of the books, if they really want to help people going through divorce or just want to make a little money on the sale of the book and hope people call for divorce assistance when they can’t figure it out form using the divorce self help book.  Sort of a lead generation tool if you will.

If you are looking for assistance with your divorce, there are better ways than using a book.  Books are so old fashion anyways.  For instance, how about blogs or videos about divorce.  We have both blogs and videos about divorce and the process and how to fill out the divorce forms.  Don’t you think a video will be much easier to understand?

And if you get tired of watching our how-to-divorce-videos, you can always give us a call, and we can assist you in preparing your divorce for a flat fee.  No attorneys here to charge you by the hour.

We are a licensed and bonded legal document preparation company that specializes in divorce in Los Angeles County and look forward to helping your complete your divorce.

Should You Do Your Own Divorce | Santa Clarita Divorce

There are a couple of factors you can use to determine if you should do your own divorce or if you should hire a company to complete your divorce for you.

The first thing to figure out is if you have the money to hire a divorce service in Santa Clarita to help you.  When people call, this is what I tell them.  If you have more time than money, then you may want to consider attempting to complete your own divorce.  It can be done, however it will be a long frustrating process.

There are free services out there such as the Court’s self help centers, but the services are limited and they are extremely busy.  Using the self help centers will takes many  trips and you will experience a lot of frustration along the way.  But it is is free.  So if you are short on funds and perhaps unemployed, this may be your only option.

So lets assume you have the money and hiring our service is an option.  But you are still thinking that you could save the money and complete it on your own.  The next thing to consider is what your time is worth.  How much time are you willing to spend on the weekends and on the evenings, researching and trying to figure out what divorce forms to complete?

Some look at the initial divorce forms and feel like they can complete it, and you probably can.  The thing about the divorce process is that the paperwork gets more complicated as you go along.  Sure the initial documents are easy enough, but then comes the financial disclosures.  Those are a bit tougher to figure out, especially with how to serve them and what documents to attach.  Which forms to file and which ones get served.  You will have lots of questions, trust me.

If you get through the first two phases of the divorce paperwork, the most difficult part is the judgment.  The judgment consists of about 25 pages of attachments.  There is a lot of information you have to cover and it is easy to make mistakes.  Many people fail to complete the judgment correctly several times which causes significant delays and frustrations on your part.

I have clients that come to me at various stages of the divorce process.  Those just starting out that that immediately realize that they cannot or do not want to attempt this on their own.  Then there are those that start the process and later realize they need help.  Then there are those that attempted to complete the entire divorce process by themselves and submit the judgment.

I will be honest with you, there ends up being more work when clients come to us after trying to get all the way through the divorce process on their own.  Usually we will have to re file many of the documents from the beginning and amend the divorce forms that were filed because they were done wrong.

We recommend that you hire us from the beginning.  In most cases the cost will be the same, regardless of where you are at in the process.  But we can pick up where you left off.

Give us a call if you would like more information about our Santa Clarita Divorce Service.  We are headquartered in Santa Clarita, California and serve all the courts in Los Angeles County.

Non Stipulation To Commissioner During Divorce | Santa Clarita Divorce

This is not something that comes up to often for clients representing themselves as it does for attorneys during a divorce, but it just happened to one of my clients so I wanted to address it.

This has to do with the parties agreeing to a Commissioner presiding over their divorce case instead of a Judge.

When you file for divorce, you have the right to have your divorce case heard by a judge.  However, may of the Judges in the courtrooms are not full-fledged Judges, rather they are Commissioners.  We won’t go into to detail regarding the differences here.

So when you go to a hearing where there is a Commissioner instead of a Judge, you have to sign a stipulation saying you agree to have your case heard by a Commissioner instead of a Judge.

If you don’t want to have your case heard by a Commissioner, you would sign a form saying you don’t agree to have your case heard by a Commissioner.  This is called, “Non-Stiping” a Commissioner.  Non-Stipulating a judge is common practice among attorneys in family law.  Not so much because they don’t want to have their case heard by a Commissioner, but because they don’t like the Commissioner in general.

What happened to my client today is that they went to a hearing on a motion for child support.  When the other party found out that he could delay the case simply by not agreeing or stipulating to the Commissioner, that was exactly what he did.  Not because he did not like the Commissioner, but simply to stall the case.

What happens next is that your case has to be reassigned to another division.  This happened to be at the San Fernando Courthouse where there is only 2 family law courtrooms.  There is one Judge and one Commissioner.

Due to the amount of folks non-stipulating the commissioner in San Fernando they are transferring some cases to Van Nuys.   At least that is what happened to our client.

No Need To Figure Everything Out Before Filing For Divorce | Santa Clarita Divorce

Are you one of those people that have to have everything figured out before you do something.  Well, when it comes to getting a divorce, that is not something you have to worry about so much.

When folks call me, many of their questions are about the end game.  Meaning that they are thinking about how they are going to reach a final agreement on their divorce.  While it is good to have an understanding of how you want the divorce to conclude, it is not necessary to have every single detail figured out before filing for divorce.

If you are trying to figure out every last detail of your divorce before you file, you will never end up filing for divorce.  I recommend that you break down the divorce process into a couple of steps so the divorce process is more manageable.

This is how we operate our divorce files for our clients.  The first thing we do is only complete the necessary divorce documents that are required to get a case number issued.  There will generally only be 3 or 4 forms you have to complete in order to file your divorce with the court.  That is all you should be focusing on at first.

Then, after the divorce is filed, focus on getting your spouse served.  These  two steps are the first thing you should do.  Having your spouse served is what will start the 6 month cooling off period.

Now that this is done, you can start on completing your financial disclosures.  This is your preliminary declaration of disclosure and is where you will list all the assets and debts of your marriage.  This will be used as a template so the parties understand what there is to divide.  Until you have completed your financial disclosures, there is no sense trying to come to an agreement on the division of property.

I have some clients who call me and say they are waiting to file for divorce until they have a complete agreement.  Again, while it is a good idea to be thinking of what you want out of the divorce, don’t let this stop you from filing for divorce and getting the process started.

We are a licensed and bonded legal document assistant company in Santa Clarita and serve all the courts in Los Angeles County.

How To Streamline Your Divorce | Santa Clarita Divorce

The more I talk about it and write about it, the faster word is spreading on how to streamline your divorce using the Hybrid Divorce Judgment.

The hybrid divorce is simply that.  A cross  between a Uncontested divorce and a Default divorce case.  So lets back up a little first and talk about these two types of divorce cases which will help you better understand the Hybrid divorce.

An uncontested case is one where both parties have entered the case.  One party has filed the Petition for divorce and the other party filed a Response and they will enter into a written agreement regarding the terms of their divorce.

A default case is where one party has filed for the divorce and the other party does not respond. This can be intentional or because the other party is not going to participate or has not participated at all and you want to move on.

Now, on to the hybrid.  The hybrid divorce is one where the Petitioner files for divorce and the other party is not going to respond and default (purposely) but the parties are still going to enter into a written agreement.

So you can see it has the elements of both the default divorce and the uncontested divorce.  The difference between a true default and a hybrid is that in the true default, you can submit the request to enter default after 30 days where with the hybrid divorce, you will submit the default along with the written agreement and judgment.

The only difference between the uncontested case and the hybrid divorce case is that there will be no response filed with the hybrid divorce.  Aside from not completing a response, you will do all the same paperwork as the uncontested divorce case.

The reason this streamlines you divorce is because you do not have to file a response and once the case if filed you can start working on your financial disclosures and toward a written agreement.  The other aspect of the hybrid divorce is that you avoid paying that second filing fee for filing the response.  This saves you $435.

How To Amend Your Divorce Paperwork | Santa Clarita Divorce

I get a lot of clients coming in for our divorce service who have already started the divorce process in Santa Clarita.  One thing that I frequently find is that the initial divorce paperwork that they have filed in incorrect.

For instance, you may have spelled one of the parties names incorrectly or perhaps used the wrong date of marriage on the Petition. (Don’t worry, you’re not alone). If you have made a mistake on any of the divorce documents and have already filed them with the court, you will have to correct the issue and re file them. And if you have already served the documents, you will have to re-serve them as well.

So I thought I would discuss the proper way to amend your divorce paperwork.  Let’s talk about the initial documents, the Summons and Petition.  On the Petition itself, if you make a mistake and need to amend the form, they already have a box for you.  In the box that says “Petitioner for” you will see there is a big “Amended” box there as well.  So this form is easy.  Simply fill out the Petition correctly and mark the “Amended” box. Re-file it with the court and you are good to go.  But wait, if you amend the Petition, you have to file another Summons.

So make sure to also file an amended Summons.  There is no box on the Summons, so you can simply write the word “amended” above the word summons.  Now because these are the initial documents to be served, make sure you serve them again together, even if you had already served the first Petition and Summons.

And one last thing on this.  Don’t for get to file the amended Proof of Service of Summons.  If you fowled up these initial forms, you will have to wait another 30 days before moving forward after serving them again on your spouse.

You can amend any of the divorce documents that you file just like this by following the instructions above.

If you ran into trouble on these initial documents, you are not alone.  But so you know, these are the easier of the documents to file in your divorce.  That said, you are a good candidate for our divorce service if you had trouble with your divorce forms right out of the gate.

Please give us a call to discuss how we can help you make your divorce as pain free (and error free) as possible.

Like Our Santa Clarita Divorce Service On Facebook

We have been working on our Facebook pages lately and have begun a marketing campaign using Facebook pay per click.  We have done Facebook marketing in the past, but it has been difficult to determine if there is any benefit in doing so.

We do a lot of online marketing with our blogs and pay per click on Google, but those people are conducting a search for us purposely. The Facebook ads are more like a commercial in that they just appear whether your are looking for us or not.  So I would imagine that it is more of a branding and letting people know we are here and may result in future business, but no direct correlation between them clicking our ad which results in business.

This is much different than our pay per click ads on Google search, as those people are specific looking for our service.  The costs of our Google adwords each month can be directly tied to the amount of business we get in a given month.

So we are trying to raise our marketing efforts on Facebook to have a greater presence and hope that people find us and, of course, later use our divorce service in Santa Clarita.

That said, make sure to “Like” of Facebook page.  You can find our Santa Clarita Divorce Service on Facebook by clicking the link we just highlighted.  We are hoping be getting more likes on Facebook that we can gain additional exposure to our divorce service and eventually earn the trust of folks who will later use our service or refer our divorce service to their friends and family.

 

Using Our Remote Divorce Service | California Divorce

I received an email over the weekend asking if we can provide our divorce service remotely.  This person live out of Country, but had lived in California and wanted to see if we could help him with his divorce.

We have spoke about this in the past quite a bit, but thought I would discuss it again.  We are able to help you with your divorce anywhere in California, whether you are in California or not.

We have helped lots of folks finish their divorce who are out of state or out of Country.  We have helped military personnel serving in the Armed Forces who are deployed overseas to complete their divorce.   Most recently was a gentleman in the Army, serving in Germany and his divorce was completed in Sacramento.  All this while our divorce service is headquartered in Los Angeles.

We have helped clients who were living in Saudi Arabia as well as Africa.  Some places were so remote, that they did not have email and we had to mail them their divorce document to the consulate.

So, as you can see, we can help you with your divorce anywhere in California whether you are living here or not.  For the most part, the divorce process and forms are the same anywhere in California.  Each county may have a few different local forms.  We always check the court’s local website for specific forms and procedures to make sure they are the same as Los Angeles County where we are based.

You can call it a remote divorce service or online divorce service.   In fact, we have completed divorces for clients we have never met and never spoken to.  Because of time changes for folks out of Country, we did everything via email.  The last person that reached out to us for our remote divorce service was from Australia, and they are 17 hours ahead of us.

Regardless of where you live, we can help you complete your divorce in California.  Give us a call or email us for more information.

We Got Your Back In Your Divorce | Santa Clarita Divorce

I came into the office this morning and as usual already had messages from new potential clients who wanted to get started in their divorce.  Most people give a little explanation regarding what is going on.

The message I received today was from a gentleman who said he had started his divorce but now felt he needed a little “backup”.  I know exactly what he is talking about when he says he needs backup.

Here is what generally happens.  Folks are told that they can complete their own divorce, which is true.  But what they are not told is that it is a long, complicated and painful process if you are undertaking it on your own.

So folks will start their divorce and begin to prepare the legal documents.  At some point, they realize that they need help and begin to get frustrated with the process.  What started off with as just filing out a few forms can quickly turn ugly.

I get these types of calls from people at different points in the paperwork.  Some call immediately after picking up the paperwork and take one look at it and give us a call.  Others will attempt to fill out the initial filing forms and file them with the court.  And still others will try to complete the whole thing and even submit the judgment.

There is one common situation among all these folks.  That is how much of their own time they are going to waste before they decide to call me.  In most cases the more work the person does, the more issues we have to fix and re-file and amend forms.

Our recommendation is to call us before you ever get started on your divorce.  Of course, that wont always be the case but you can call us at any point in your divorce.  Regardless where you are at in your divorce we can pick up where you left off, complete a review of everything you have done and get it finished up for you.

As the person who called this morning, we will have your back in your divorce. Call us when you need assistance with your divorce.

Get The Facts About Divorce In Santa Clarita

We are known in Santa Clarita for providing the facts about divorce.  Pretty much that is all we talk about, day in and day out.

The interesting thing is that we have met with clients who have already consulted with a divorce attorney and they always tell us that they learned more about divorce and the divorce process than they did during a consultation with a lawyer.

In fact, we recently had a client write us a nice Yelp comment which basically said that after working and speaking with multiple attorneys,  she learned more from us than she did with them.

We must be really smart, huh?  But here is why there is a difference. When you go to speak to an attorney, they are going to talk to you about the law.  They are not going to tell you how to do things or about the divorce process because if you hire them, you will not be involved in all that goes into getting divorced.

The other reason we go into so much detail about the divorce process is because it answers the “Why” behind why things are being done.  Often an attorney will simply tell you they are going to do something, but not tell you why they are doing it.

We want you to know not only the “Why” behind things but the how, when and where.  You see, when you work with our divorce document preparation firm, you are representing yourself.  So it is important that you understand all that goes into making a decision and so you better understand what is happening at all points along the process.

We will give you the fact about divorce and give your options on how to handle them.  We will do everything except give you legal advice and represent you in court.  Outside of those restrictions, we can do just about everything else.