How To Keep Your Divorce Lawyer Honest | Santa Clarita

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

How To Keep Your Divorce Lawyer Honest | Santa Clarita

Always on the hunt for good fodder for my blog, I came across an article written by a lawyer about lawyers.

The article was titled, “9 Questions To Keep Your Divorce Lawyer Honest” and I thought would be a good read for my readers here at home in Santa Clarita and the Los Angeles area.

We all know that it can be in a divorce attorneys best interest to tell you that they will win your case at all odds.  There are more attorneys than you can shake a stick at and they know it.  So when it comes to who you are going to hire to represent you, of course they know you want to hear words of optimism.

So knowing up front that you will probably not be fed bad news during your divorce consultation, this article referenced 9 questions you can ask your divorce attorney to keep them honest.

If you want to be an informed client you are going to have to ask the hard questions.  So here they go.

  1. What is my best case scenario in my divorce case?
  2. What is my worst case scenario in this divorce case?
  3. What’s an optimistic, but realistic outcome?
  4. What would the outcome be if your were pessimistic?
  5. What would you tell my spouse after what you have heard today?
  6. What is the reality of my case?  Forget about all the case law…
  7. Is it worth it to spend the money to defend my rights?  How much do I have to gain/lose?
  8. Given your experience, what is the range of cost to represent me?
  9. Will you put your promise in writing.

We are a licensed and bonded legal document preparation firm specializing in providing affordable divorce legal services.  For more information about our services please give us a call.

 

This post originally appeared in the Huffington Post where you can read the original article.

Raoul Felder King of Divorce Video | Santa Clarita

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Raoul Felder King of Divorce Video | Santa Clarita

I thought it was appropriate to share this video of Raoul Felder who is a celebrity divorce lawyer and who just wrote a new memoir called “Reflections in a mirror: Of Love,  Loss, Death and Divorce.

Appropriate because we were just discussing the costs of divorce in a previous post.  He states that he likes representing the stars because they represent big divorce fees. He goes on to say how he charges $600 per hour and up to represent his divorce clients.

He says that “trouble is his business” has represented the divorce of Rudy Giuliani and has been accused by others of not playing fair and vilifying the other party to divorce.

Known as the “King of Divorce”, he has been married for 49 years and his wife is also a divorce attorney that works with him.

Even he says that it is better to settle in divorce.

 

Uncontested Divorce In Santa Clarita

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Uncontested Divorce In Santa Clarita

The definition of an uncontested divorce is when both parties are in agreement to the terms of the divorce and have been able to come to those terms without the need for a trial and without the need for the judge to make orders. A divorce case can be considered uncontested in three ways.

  1. Your spouse did not file a response and you do not have an agreement.  This is referred to as a true default case.
  2. Your spouse did not file a response and you have an agreement.  This is referred to as a hybrid judgement.
  3. Your spouse did file a Response and you have an agreement.  This is referred to as an uncontested judgment.

If your divorce case proceeded by any of the above means, your divorce case is considered to be uncontested. An uncontested divorce case does not mean that you will not have some disagreements with your spouse.  It just means that at the end of the day you were able to come to an agreement outside of court. It is best that you spend as much time at the kitchen table trying to hash out whatever remaining issues you have before throwing in the towel and allowing a judge to make a decision on the matter. It will probably feel like you are giving more than you are getting when trying to get through the issues related to your divorce.  Any time spent trying to figure things out on your own will be time well spent because the only other way to settle it is to have a judge make decisions about your family. We specialize in preparing uncontested divorce cases.  We can help you get through the divorce process for one flat rate.  Please give us a call for more information about our divorce document preparation service.

How Much Does Divorce Cost | Santa Clarita

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

How Much Does Divorce Cost | Santa Clarita

When I receive a call from a prospective client, one of the questions I ask is, “why did you chose to use a legal document assistant like me instead of hiring an attorney?”  The answer is always because of the cost of hiring an attorney is so outrageous.

Many of my clients first sought out an attorney.  After having paid $300 to $500 just for the consultation, they learn that just to retain the law firm they are looking at $5,000 just to get started.

So this leads us to the point of this article which is, “how much does divorce cost?”

I did a little research online to see what I could find as far as what other people estimate the cost of getting divorced to be.  Having worked at a law firms for some time, I will also advise you what I saw in the form of costs for divorce.

I found several articles about how much a divorce costs and it seems there that most people estimate the cost to be around $20,000.  In a recent article by Rachel Small called, “6 Ways to Minimize Hourly Attorney Fees When Getting Divorced” indicates that the average cost of getting divorced in the United States is approximately $15,000 with attorney’s fees that range but can be as high as $500 per hour.

Some sites estimated divorce costs to range from $53,000 on the low end to $188,000 on the high end for divorce.

No doubt it is expensive to get divorced.

When I worked for a law firm it was customary to pay $5,000 just for the initial retainer.  The retainer was billed against at the hourly rates until it was extinguished.  After that, the client was responsible for the the new charge each month for the continued representation.  And I will tell you that $5,000 goes really fast when you are being billed $500 per hour.

At that rate you are only getting 10 hours of work done toward your divorce case.

When faced with the need of going through a divorce, it is important to weigh the costs of hiring an attorney vs. using an alternative service such as a licensed and bonded legal document assistant such as us.

For some, it will be a simple question of whether or not you can afford an attorney.  The real questions is, “do you really need an attorney in the first place?”

We are a licensed and bonded legal document preparation service that specializes in the divorce process.  We offer an affordable divorce solution at fixed prices.  Please give us a call for more information.

Gormon Divorce Legal Service

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Gormon Divorce Legal Service

If you are looking for an affordable way to get through the divorce process in Gormon, CA, you have come to the right spot.

Watch the below video for more information about our Gormon Divorce Legal Service.

How Do I Prepare Uncontested Divorce Judgment | Santa Clarita

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

How Do I Prepare Uncontested Divorce Judgment | Santa Clarita

An uncontested divorce is one where both parties enter into a written agreement regarding the terms of the divorce. An uncontested divorce can happen whether or not the other party filed a response or not. Watch this video for more information about how to prepare an uncontested divorce judgment. When you are preparing the final divorce papers, known as the judgment, many of the forms will be the same, however there will be several forms that will be different depending on whether you are filing a uncontested divorce judgment, hybrid divorce judgment, contested divorce judgment or true default divorce judgement. We cover each of the different types of divorce judgments in separate posts, so make sure to look for them on this site. If you have represented yourself during the divorce process, you have got pretty far in the process.  Unfortunately, now comes the really hard part.  Folks that represent themselves usually run into problems at this stage of the game. Essentially, this comes down to the fact that there are so many forms and attachments that have to be included in the divorce judgment.  Additionally, up to this point, no one at the court has ever reviewed any of your documents.  You will not know if you completed the divorce forms incorrectly until you submit your judgment paperwork. If you have your judgment paperwork rejected you are looking at at least 2-3 more months before your divorce can be finalized.  And if you do it incorrectly enough times, the judge will set a hearing and make you appear in court so they can get it done right. We are a licensed and bonded legal document preparation service that specializes in the divorce process.  For more information about our affordable flat rate divorce service, please give us a call.

How Do I Prepare True Default Divorce Judgment | Santa Clarita

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

How Do I Prepare True Default Divorce Judgment | Santa Clarita

What forms are necessary to prepare your final divorce judgement paperwork depends upon how you proceeded up to this point.

The true default divorce judgment would be filed under the following circumstances.

  1. Your spouse did not file a response &
  2. There is no written agreement between the parties.

Watch this video for an explanation of the forms necessary to file a true default divorce judgment.

Remember, that you cannot file the default until at least 30 days have passed since you served the initial divorce paperwork.  You can file the default along with the remainder of the divorce paperwork if you wish.

We have provided a checklist of what forms are necessary to file the true default divorce judgment.  We use the checklist to mark of the documents just to make sure we have included all the correct documents.  We also submit the judgment checklist to the court when we submit the judgment.  This accomplished two things. First, it lets the courts know that we have used their checklist and understand the process.  Second, each of the checklists indicate what type of divorce judgment we are submitting, therefore it gives the court a heads up about what forms to be looking for.

The paperwork you submit for the true default is different than that of the uncontested hybrid divorce judgments and contested divorce judgments.

There are a lot of forms that need to be submitted when completing your divorce judgment.  We don’t recommend attempting it on your own. We have spoke to folks who have submitted their judgment 6 times and still get them rejected.

Please give us a call to discuss having us professionally prepare your entire divorce so you don’t have to try and figure out all the confusing divorce forms.  We have helped hundreds of clients get through the divorce process.

We are a licensed and bonded legal document preparation service that specializes in divorce.

How Do I Prepare Uncontested “Hybrid” Judgment | Santa Clarita

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

How Do I Prepare Uncontested “Hybrid” Judgment | Santa Clarita

When you file for divorce and go through the divorce process, you  eventually have to prepare a final judgment.  The final judgment wraps up all your agreements into a single document.

In the cases that proceed in an uncontested matter and where the other party does not respond but enters into a written agreement, you can prepare a Hybrid divorce judgment.

The Hybrid divorce judgment has some specific forms you will need to file.  In the video above, we go into detail on what forms are needed to file a uncontested Hybrid divorce judgment.

The difference between the true default divorce judgment and the hybrid is that with the hybrid divorce, the other party has to complete and file their financial disclosures, namely their income and expense declaration and schedule of assets and debts.  Additionally, the non-responding spouse will need to sign the final divorce judgment paperwork.

We will show you the Courts hybrid- uncontested divorce judgment checklist which you can use to check off the documents that you need to submit to the court.  We routinely use the judgment checklist on all the judgments we submit to the courts.  There are so many forms necessary to submit when preparing the divorce paperwork, that it is good to use the checklist.  

It also helps the court to submit the checklist so they can also verify that you submitted all the correct paperwork. Because each of the checklists indicate which type of divorce judgment you are preparing, you reduce the chances of having the uncontested divorce judgment rejected by the court.

It is also important to remember that when representing yourself during the divorce, that both parties will need to sign the divorce judgment and have their signatures notarized, otherwise the court will reject the judgment.

For more information about the hybrid divorce judgement, please give us a call.