Do You Have Unanswered Questions About Divorce | Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

I just had a client in the other day who had a ton of questions about divorce.  At one point in the conversation, he breathed a noticeable sigh of relief.

I knew what was happening, but still asked him what was going on in his head.  He said that he had so many unanswered questions about divorce that they just kept rolling around in his head.  He went on to say that he had tried to figure things out by researching online, etc but that without someone actually explaining them to him, he was having difficulty making sense of it all.  After speaking to me for about 15 minutes, he had all the answers.

So even though I write tons of content on our blogs about divorce, there is still that void of information. What I think it is, is that you can read about certain aspects of how divorce works, but it is difficult to apply what you read to your own situation.

There are also a lot of “What if’s” that people have about divorce.  Again, this goes back to applying the divorce process to your own particular situation.

So what do you do if you have unanswered questions about divorce.  Well, for starters, you can get a lot of information off this blog your reading right now.  Make sure to do some searches on our blog (not Google) and you will find more than 1000 articles that we have written.  In addition, we have over 100 videos and podcasts we have done.

But even after you do this, you are still going to have questions.  The best part is that we have the answers to your divorce questions and help answer them and apply the divorce process to your specific situation.

So after spending some time reading and learning, make sure to give us a call so we can discuss what exactly is happening and address your concerns so you have a better understanding of the divorce process in Santa Clarita.

How To Get Affordable Access To Divorce Services In Santa Clarita

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

I have spoke about the issues surrounding the high costs of obtaining legal services for divorce.  The costs are outrageous and folks going through divorce are no longer willing to pay these high costs.  Why?  Well, for one, they don’t see the value in what attorneys are offering.

Divorce attorneys are starting to feel the heat as more and more attorneys enter the marketplace and more and more potential clients opt for other solutions to assist them with their divorce.

Take our divorce services for example.  What started as a simple divorce document preparation firm now resulted in our handling even the most complex divorce cases that go to trial.  Of course, our clients are representing themselves, but they are saving countless thousands in legal fees.

The benefit is that they have professionally prepared divorce documents and access to our legal document assistants that have worked in the courts, for large law firms and in the self help centers who can provide information on court procedure and how to get through their divorce.

Demand for our divorce service in Santa Clarita is very high right now and I believe that divorce attorneys are losing business to us.  Of course, there will always be a need for legal advice and representation in court, but outside of that, we are able to take a divorce case from start to finish.

The interesting thing is that attorneys are trying to find a way around this and not lose business to companies like ours.  There is a lot of talk about unbundled divorce services, otherwise known as limited scope representation.

Whenever a client of mine has to use an attorney, I always advise them to use an attorney for in a limited scope fashion instead of an outright retainer for their services.  This is a more cost effective way of hiring an attorney for your divorce.

Attorneys have realized the need to provide limited scope divorce services because of the high cost of full attorney representation.  They realize that many people are unwilling to pay the high fees or flat out can’t afford it.  And if they want to capture some of that revenue they are going to have to figure out a way to offer services that are a little more affordable.

 

Requesting Post Divorce Judgment Financial Information | Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Did you know there was a way to obtain post judgment financial information on your spouse without having to go to court?  I didn’t until recently and neither do  a lot of attorneys.

This article will discuss how to request  your spouses financial information when there has already been a judgment in your case.  Why would you need to do this, you ask?  Well, if you have an order for spousal support or child support, there may be a time when you want to request a modification of the amount of money you are paying.

Generally, there needs to be a change of circumstances to request a hearing to modify either child support or spousal support.  A change in your spouses income would qualify for this.  But how do you know if your spouse is making more money?  That is where this tool is easy and does not require you to file your motion first or any formal discovery.

Here is what the family code section says on this.

“At any time following a judgment of marital (or domestic partnership) dissolution or legal separation, or a determination of paternity that provides for payment of support, either the payer or payee may serve a request on the other party for the production of a completed current income and expense declaration form, without leave of court. Fam C §3664(a). This statutory right to obtain financial information from the other party provides for the inexpensive discovery of facts before a party seeks the modification or termination of an order for child, family, or spousal support. See Fam C §§3660–3668. There is no requirement that an order to show cause or motion for modification of support be pending. Fam C §3662. This discovery technique may not be used more than once every 12 months. Fam C §3663.”

For those of us that don’t ready legalese, here is what it says in plain English.  After a judgment in your divorce you can request your spouses income information without going to court no more than once per year. (Couldn’t they have just said that?)

So, if that is the case, how do you go about doing this?  As the requesting party you should serve a Request For Production of an Income and Expense Declaration After Judgment Form (FL-396).

The party served has 35 days to complete the income and expense report and return it along with the prior years federal and state tax return and 2 months of pay stubs.

If the responding party fails to return them or is incomplete regarding any wage information, you can then serve a request for income and benefit information directly on their employer using the Request for income and benefit information from employer (Form FL-397)

Here is a link to the FL-396 Request for production of income and expense after judgment

Here is a link to the FL-397 – Request for Income and Benefit Information from Employer

If you would prefer to have our company prepare and serve these documents for you, please feel free to contact our office.

Divorce Service The Buzz Of Santa Clarita

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Lately I have heard from several different sources that our divorce services are being talked about by many people in our Santa Clarita community.  And yes, the talk is all good.

This past week I was at BJ’s Brewery in Santa Clarita and sitting at the bar.  I struck up a conversation with 2 younger guys sitting next to me.  Long story short, they both worked for web developers here in Santa Clarita.  One worked for Scorpion Designs and the other for NextClient.  These companies provide a variety of web services for attorneys.

After mentioning who I was and what I did, they stated that they had recently been contacted by someone that does family law and told them that I was their competition.  I was quite fascinated to learn that another person in the legal industry had noticed my site and to the point that they told their web developers that I was their competition and that they wanted to have a website like mine.

It felt good to be acknowledged for the hard work that goes into writing my blogs and providing the divorce information in Santa Clarita.

The second time I heard folks talking about me was from one of my clients.  They said they were at a Santa Clarita hair salon having their hair done and in the chair next to her, she could hear them talking about my company and mentioning me by name.  The said the were explaining what a good, valuable service we provide.

So it was nice to hear, on two occasions, that people are talking about our divorce service.  We have certainly met a demand for providing a professional, affordable divorce service in Santa Clarita.

To those that are out in Santa Clarita talking about our divorce service and spreading the word, we thank you.  Please continue to talk about us and send us your friends, family and acquaintances.  We will take good care of them.

 

Filed For Divorce But May Want To Reconcile | Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

I had a newer client call me today and ask if it was possible to slow down the divorce process because they were thinking they might be able to reconcile.

We had filed their divorce earlier in the month and had mailed out the divorce documents to his wife.  We were doing a simplified service where the spouse only need sign saying she received the documents.  Their question was whether they should sign the notice of acknowledgment of receipt or just hold off on everything.

Here are your options if you fall into this situation.  First, you can simply not sign anything.  Just hold off on having your spouse served and wait to see if things work out.  This is what the 6 months cooling off period is for.  The only issue you may run into is this.  If you don’t serve your spouse within 60 to 90 days, the court will set a case management conference to have you appear in court and explain the situation of what is going on.

So this first option is good idea if your spouse knew you filed for divorce.  Why do I say this?  Because if you filed for divorce and your spouse has no idea and then received a notice in the mail from the court addressed from you and opens it, they will see that you filed for divorce.  This will not be a good day for you if this happens.

The next option is to use the notice of acknowledgement of receipt of divorce form and have them sign it.  They can sign in and then just don’t file it.  Hold onto it until you are sure you are going through with the divorce.  This will not slow anything down if you later decide to move forward.  The date your spouse was served will be the day they signed it, even if you file it months later.

One more option would simply be to complete the process of service of your divorce.  Then you don’t have to worry about the court setting any court dates.  But serving your spouse can be kind of official and if you are trying to reconcile, you may want to avoid serving your spouse as that almost always sets a negative tone.

Divorce661 Meets Growing Demand For Affordable Divorce In Santa Clarita

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

As our business continues to grow by leaps and bounds, it is only because we are meeting a growing demand for affordable divorce services in Santa Clarita.

I believe the demand for affordable divorce services has always been present. The problem was that, until we arrived, there had not been anyone providing this service.

Furthermore, there has not been anyone talking about or marketing this business model.

People are starting to realize that they do not need an attorney to get divorced. Even in cases where folks were traditionally hiring attorneys for their divorce case, they are turning to us for an option that will not break the bank.

We are finding ourselves handing more and more complex divorce cases where people are interested in saving money, but at the same time receiving a high quality divorce service. Our clients are able to negotiate the divorce process and represent themselves due to our expansive knowledge on divorce and family law matters.

Where traditional document preparers stop at simply just filling out forms, we have taken it several steps beyond and assist people further by explaining the divorce process, how things work and prepare people to go into court when necessary.

We are the only ones to do this, because we are the only divorce service in Los Angeles County who have worked for the Los Angeles Superior Courts, Self Help Centers and major area family law firms. Nobody else has the experience we have therefore they are limited in the information they can provide.

Despite the fact that we provide a superior divorce service, we have kept our pricing model consistent with that of our competitors. We did not think raising our prices would make much sense. Instead, we felt that with our knowledge and expertise, we would simply provide a more valuable service for the same price.

If Santa Clarita Divorce Attorneys Trust Us, Shouldn’t You?

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

When you decide to work with a divorce service to prepare your divorce forms in Santa Clarita, you should use a company that you trust.  There is simply too much at stake here.

I get a good portion of referrals from divorce attorneys in the Santa Clarita Valley.  I think this speaks volumes about the level of trust they have for me to send me their clients that either can no longer afford their services or from potential clients that don’t really need an attorney.

The point I am trying to make here is that if divorce attorneys in the Santa Clarita valley trust me enough to refer business to me, then that should be a good indicator that we are a company that can be trusted to do a good job in preparing your divorce papers and helping you through the divorce process.

We have a great relationship with divorce attorneys in the Santa Clarita Valley.  We refer clients back and forth.  We sometimes have clients that start working with us and then the case goes sideways and we need to refer them out for an attorney. Sometimes just to get a consultation for legal advice and sometimes they end up retaining them for one reason or another.

We don’t compete with attorneys so we are not a threat to them.  We provide a valuable self help divorce service in Santa Clarita and don’t give legal advice and don’t represent people in court.  That is what the divorce attorneys are for.

But as far as trust, there are many ways you can determine this.  There is this thing called “Social Proof” which is a fancy word for being recommended or having someone reviews written about a company.  For instance, we have lots of 5 star reviews on Yelp.  This is social proof as our clients have reviewed our business.

Attorneys sending us business is another type of social proof.  They would not send us business if we did not do a good job.

We also get lots of emails and sometimes letters from our current and past clients thanking us for helping them out. We post those on our own website which you can find under our testimonials page.

We are a divorce service in Santa Clarita that you can trust.  We have helped hundreds of clients through the divorce process in Santa Clarita and also help the clients sent to us from Santa Clarita Law Firms.  If divorce attorney’s trust us, shouldn’t you?

Our Santa Clarita Divorce Service Is More Than Just Filling Out Forms

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

The service we provide, that of assisting folks going through divorce is more than just filling out forms.  We provide our clients with a complete understanding of the divorce process learned from numerous years in the industry.

As a legal document preparation company, I suppose it is easy to assume that all we do is fill out divorce forms.  That is why I wanted to talk about this issue.  If you are one of our clients, you already know how much information we provide about the divorce process and how the courts work.  We are there when you have questions along the way.  That is where are real value is.  Anybody can fill out divorce forms.  Well, not really, but just wanted to emphasize my point.

So what kind of things can you learn when working with us?  Well, for starters, everything there is to know about divorce.

Let me give you an example.  Many times we will have clients come to us and say they have an uncontested divorce.  Then somewhere down the line, things change and now the parties are not in agreement and we have to take another approach.

This other approach may be us talking to them about possible mediation options.  Sometimes, we have to help one of the parties file a motion with the court asking for some type of temporary order.  Really, the sky is the limit.  And when these things happen, you are going to want to be working with a company that has the experience working with divorce courts and divorce law firms so we can guide you through the process.

Even for those of you that think your divorce will be a no brain-er, there are still lots of questions that you will have about divorce that have to answered.  You will be glad you made the choice to work with us regardless if you have the easy uncontested divorce or a more difficult case requiring the use of our extensive knowledge about divorce.

Does Your Divorce Paralegal Work For The Courts? Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

As it stands now, we are the only licensed and bonded legal document preparation company in Santa Clarita.  In fact we are the only legal document preparation company in all of Los Angeles County that specializes in divorce.

For now, we enjoy not having any competition in the Santa Clarita Valley.  However, there are lots of paralegal companies in the San Fernando Valley, many of whom are not licensed.  But there is certainly more competition in the San Fernando Valley regardless.

One thing we focus on and talk a lot about is regarding our experience in this industry of divorce and family law.  Our claim to fame is that not only are we the only legal document preparation company in all LA County to specialize in divorce, but we are also the only company that has ever worked for the Los Angeles Superior Courts.

That’s right, we have worked for the courts and completed the Los Angeles Counties family law paralegal internships.  We actually still volunteer there to  this day.

Why do I bring this up?  Again, because experience counts.  Don’t you want to work with a company that has the most experience.?  Well, you are probably thinking, “Yes, but how much does that cost?.  The funny thing is, despite the fact that we are the most experiences divorce service in Los Angeles County, our prices are still very low.  In fact we charge what you would pay with one of these other unlicensed companies.

Here is why our work with the courts is so important to you as a potential customer.  We know and understand the process of how the courts work and use that knowledge to help our clients navigate the court system.  We have worked with the Courts. We know the people that work there and are familiar with the landscape of the court.

When we send our clients to court we can tell them exactly who to talk to, where to go and how to get there.  This takes a huge burden off of you trying to figure things out and lessens the stress load considerably.

If you are faced with divorce, consider using the only divorce service in all Los Angeles County that specializes in divorce and has the experience of working with the courts.

Using Our Santa Clarita Divorce Service When Your Spouse Has An Attorney

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

I have been getting more and more clients coming to our office for assistance with their divorce where their spouse has an attorney.   I wanted to address what the benefits are of using our service when your spouse has hired an attorney to represent them.

Just yesterday, I had a new client in this situation.  Her husband hired and attorney and filed for divorce.  When this new client came into our office, she said she had been to a few attorneys, but because she did not have money to retain them, they would not help her.

So she came to my office and we discussed what we could do for her and I wanted to share that with my readers.

Her husband had filed for divorce and she needed to file a Response.  Because she had taken so long trying to find an attorney, we were down the the last day to file her response.  We completed her response and then determined that she needed to file a motion for child support and to ask the court to have her husband pay her attorney fees.

So we drafted a declaration and the Request for Order, filed it with the court and obtained a court date.  We also completed all the necessary documents that go along with filing a motion with the court.

The amount of paperwork we completed that day would have taken a law firm several days to complete and cost her upwards of $2,000.  That is a lot of money just to complete the paperwork.  That money is better spent on the attorney if you need them to give you legal advice or represent you in court.  Not to complete paperwork.

In the end, we were able to get her Response filed and file her motion.  Something a divorce lawyer would not touch because she did not have the $3,500 to $5,000 she was quoted to help her.

I can tell you one thing.  In our request for attorneys fees we asked the court to have her husband pay $5,000 towards her attorney fees.  If she gets this award for attorney fees I would bet she won’t be going back to the divorce lawyers that turned her down when she did not have the money.

You can still use our divorce service, even if your spouse has hired an attorney.  We can get all the paperwork done that you need to complete for a fraction of the cost.  And if you are using our service because you don’t have the money to hire and attorney and want to ask the court to award attorney fees, we can help you prepare the appropriate motion so you can have your day in court to ask the court for attorney fees so you can hire an attorney.

We are a licensed and bonded legal document preparation service in Santa Clarita and divorce is all we do.