What Our Santa Clarita Full Service Divorce Firm Does For You

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

When people call our Santa Clarita divorce service, they often want to know all what we do.  Well, we are a full service divorce company which means we take care of everything.  Lets discuss this in detail.

We Prepare All The Divorce Forms

We prepare all the divorce forms for you.  This is as opposed to send you a long questionnaire to have you fill it out. (which is the standard in the industry).  Most companies that provide legal document preparation will place the burden on you to complete a long (sometimes 25 page long) questionnaire.  What they expect you to do it all the work basically.

That is not how we operate.  We will prepare all your documents for you.  You simply provide the information we request and documents we require and sign your name.

We File All Documents With The Court

Did you know that other companies will complete your documents, then tell you to go to the court and file them? Unbelievable.  We operate just like a law firm does, which means we employ an attorney service that files all our divorce papers for us.  This means you never have to go to court and your forms are hand carried to the courts.  This ensures a fast and secure way of getting your divorce forms filed with the court.

We Serve All Divorce Documents

Again, being full service means taking care of everything.  This includes handling the service of all your documents.  This part can be tricky if your not familiar with court procedure.  Some forms have to be filed, others do not.  Some divorce forms have to be personally served, while others can be served by mail.  We take the guesswork out of the divorce procedure and handle this for you.

We Prepare And Submit Your Final Divorce Papers

When all the procedural steps to the divorce have been completed and documents done, we will prepare your final judgment or agreement.  Once the parties agree on the terms of the divorce, we will prepare the final agreement.  After your judgment is signed, it needs to be submitted to the court.  We do this for you. We will have your judgment hand delivered to the judgment clerk at the court.  This will ensure your case is reviewed quickly by the court and approved.

This was just a glimpse of what we provide with our Santa Clarita full service divorce.  Of course we always available for questions along the way. Because we have worked for large Santa Clarita law firms and the courts, we understand the forms and divorce procedure like the back of our hand.

When you are ready to file for divorce, don’t make the mistake of trying to do it yourself or spending thousands of dollars using an attorney.  Just give us a call and we will take care of your divorce from start to finish.

More Layoffs Announced For LA Courts | Divorce To Take Longer

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

It was announced this week that the Los Angeles Superior Courts were going to get rid of more than 500 jobs this week.

Here is the numbers.

  • 511 Jobs cut by the end of this week.
  • 177 people to lose their jobs.
  • 139 people will receive demotions and pay cuts
  • 223 people transferred to new work locations

For those of us in the business of divorce, this will most certainly result in slower service, longer waits for cases to be heard and for divorce cases to be approved by the court.  Hard to think it could get worse.  As it is now, it takes up to 6 months to get a divorce judgment approved…

Since 2008, some courts have closed and there have been almost 900 people let go.

So as the level of service goes down, the costs to get divorced go up.  What an amazing business model.  If anyone else ran their company like this, they would not last long at all.

So what does this mean for those going thorough a divorce?  First of all that 6 month waiting period or “cooling off” period you hear about simply won’t matter.  There will be no way to complete your divorce in 6 months anyways.  The file will never see a judges eyes in that time-frame.

For those in a hurry to finalize their divorce, one recommendation is to get your judgment in as soon as possible.  For those who work with us and have mostly amicable divorce cases, we can complete your paperwork in 30 days and submit it to the court.  Then, at least, we are in line for approval.  Don’t make the mistake of waiting the 6 months before submitting your divorce judgment.

So it will take longer to get divorced in Los Angeles County.  Let’s hope this is the last round of layoffs for the Los Angeles Superior Court system.  Only time will tell what these layoffs translate as far as service is concerned.

 

Are You Working With A Divorce Solo Practitioner Attorney | Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

When it comes to family law attorneys in the Santa Clarita valley, you only have a handful of choices.  Don’t get me wrong, there are still plenty out here, but it is still a small community.

Many divorce attorneys in the Santa Clarita Valley are what you call “Solo Practitioners”.  This means that they practice alone without a partner attorney.  In most cases, this also means that they do not have any staff such as a receptionist or paralegal to assist them.

This brings me to the topic I wanted to address.  If you are working with a solo practitioner who does not have a staff or paralegal assisting them, you are going to end up paying the attorney’s hourly rate for everything that is done on your divorce case.

Case in point.  I had a new client that had me file their divorce case.  She just wanted to file the petition and get things started with our company because she felt there was a good chance she would need a divorce attorney down the road.

So we filed the summons and petition and had her spouse served.  She then went on a consultation with a divorce attorney in Santa Clarita.  The divorce attorney was a solo practitioner with no staff or paralegal to assist him.  So she asked what his hourly rate is.  He responded that he charges $300 per hour.

The next step for her was to complete her financial disclosures.  This is hardly a process that requires and attorney to prepare.  What shocked me was that the attorney actually advised her to continue working with us to prepare her financial disclosures because it would be cheaper.

If she was to use this attorney’s services at this point, she would be looking at spending around $1,500 to complete her financial disclosures.  We can do that for a fraction of that cost.

I have talked about this many times in the past.  There is no reason to hire an attorney until you need them for legal advice or to represent you in court.

This client did exactly what someone should do who is looking to save money on their divorce, even if they need an attorney.  She hired our divorce legal to get the process started.  She had us file the summons and petition and have her spouse served.  We are preparing her financial disclosures and serving those as wel and are completing the filing with the court.

Now she can take her completed documents over to her attorney who can now litigate her divorce if necessary.  For more information you can read the article where we discuss having us start your divorce in Santa Clarita even if you know you will need an attorney by clicking on this link.

Important To Remember What Happened In Court | Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

We have had several of our clients go to court lately.  No matter how many times I tell them to remember what happens in court, they often forget.

I don’t blame them.  There is a lot going on and they are nervous and in unfamiliar territory.  The problem is that we need to know what orders the judge made so that we can do what they said to do.

Most recently we had a client go to court and the judge made some orders.  Our client called us to inform us that he was not sure exactly what the judge said he had to do.

All he could remember is that a new trial date was set and that he was supposed to complete his judgment before the trial date.

When this happens, we want to make sure what was said in court so we can complete whatever the judge informed us to.  So what we did was have our attorney service go to the department and ask for a copy of the minute order.  Click on this link for more information of what a minute order during a divorce hearing is.

When we received the minute order, it said that he was supposed to give his spouse notice of the next hearing.  He did not hear that part.  Here is the problem with that.  If he had not contacted us to help him with his divorce, he would have not known about giving notice of the next hearing.

Seems harmless enough, but had he shown up to court without giving notice of the hearing and trial, he would have shown up and the court would have realized that the other party was not informed of the hearing and had to continue the case to yet another court date.

Representing yourself during your divorce can be very challenging and have significant setbacks.  No wonder it takes people representing themselves during divorce so long to get through the process.

We recommend you use a competent divorce firm to help you with your divorce paperwork.

SCV Legal Doc Assist

27240 Turnberry Lane, Ste. 200 Valencia, CA 91355

Self Help Divorce Legal Representation In Santa Clarita

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

What does it mean to work with a self help divorce legal representation company in Santa Clarita?

Essentially it means that we provide a self help service.  As a self help divorce service, you are technically representing yourself.  We are here to assist you in preparing your divorce documents, explain the process of divorce and to keep your case moving.

We do just about everything, however we are not allowed to give you legal advice and we cannot represent you in court.  What this means is that if you do have legal questions that we cannot answer you simply need to have a consultation with an attorney, get your questions answered and then we can proceed as normal.

Many times, we will ask the divorce attorneys down the hall from our office a question here or there on your behalf if it is something that is pretty straight forward.

What started out as a divorce service where we only handled straight forward and simple divorces in Santa Clarita, we are finding that people have contested divorce cases that they are trying to get through, but just don’t have the financial resources to hire an attorney.

Sometimes this means helping them to file a motion for attorney fees so they can get a judge to order the other party pay so they can hire an attorney, and sometimes we will take them all the way through their contested divorce case.

We can get you through complicated divorce matters, but just realize the you will be the one going to court.  Surprisingly our clients are not bashful and do a great job appearing in court and representing themselves.

It works out pretty good actually and is a huge costs savings.  You work with us to prepare all your divorce documents and when you need legal advice you just need to seek out an attorney on a consultation basis only.  Then, when it is time for court, you simply show up and handle the matter on your own.

If you are looking for self help divorce legal representation in Santa Clarita please give us a call.

We Only Handle Divorce In Palmdale & Lancaster

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

If you are going to get divorced, shouldn’t you use a company that specializes in divorce?  I believe your should.  Like I have said in the past, if you are going to have surgery, wouldn’t you want the most experienced you could find?

That said, I was doing a routine Google search to see who is offering divorce services in Palmdale and Lancaster.  I noticed there are a handful of companies that market themselves as document preparation services.

I further noticed that these document preparation companies offer all sorts of legal services.  They are saying that they can do just about any type of legal filing you need.

Here is my question.  How can you be good at any one thing when you offer so many different services?  The answer is that you cannot.

Look, we only do divorce cases.  Day in and day out it is divorce.  Divorce is a complex and difficult process to get through and the rules are changing all the time.  You have to know much more than just which boxes to check off.

We have worked for the Los Angeles County Superior courts and understand not only how to expertly prepare the divorce forms, but we understand the why behind them.  We also know how the actual procedure of divorce works with the court.

All we are saying is that if you are going to get divorced anywhere in Palmdale or Lancaster, you should be using our service.  We don’t cost anymore than the other folks.  So it is not going to cost you any extra to work for the best divorce company in the Antelope Valley.

Our main divorce offices are in the Santa Clarita Valley and are now offering our services in the Antelope Valley.  Most of our divorce cases are handled completely online or over the phone.

Don’t Fall Victim To Cheap Online Divorce Document Providers | California Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

If you are searching for online for divorce assistance in California you will undoubtedly find many cheap and low cost services.

I want you to understand the difference between a professional document preparation service and what these online services provide so you can make a decision on which is best suited for you.

I am looking at a Google search I just did for “cheap divorce”.  What you will find is divorce document preparation companies offering services as low as $89.95 for do-it-yourself kits.  Others are selling what is referred to as “automated document assembly” where you fill out an online questionnaire which will auto populate the divorce forms.

So let’s discuss a couple of these options.

Do It Yourself Divorce Kits 

Do it yourself kits are exactly that.  You pay for them to send you the divorce forms.  You will receive a box with a lot of  forms, many that you will never need.  By the way, all the divorce forms are available at the Court House or online completely free.  There is absolutely no reason to pay for your forms, but many do all the time.

Automated Document Assembly

Automated document assembly is where you answer questions online and your answers are automatically populated into the divorce forms.  It seems like a good idea at first glance, until you realize the limitations.

Here are the problems with this type of service.

  1. There is nobody there to tell you if you are providing the correct information.
  2. The divorce forms are usually not updated to the correct version.
  3. They don’t provide you with the local forms for your County.
  4. Nobody reviews your documents.  Once you save and print, you are on your own.
  5. There is no assistance with the “process” of filing and serving your documents.

I actually purchased the licensing rights at one point to sell an automated document assembly.  I had people use it and realized immediately the pitfalls and shortcomings of the software.  These types of systems have not place in a complex process such as divorce.

Full Service Divorce Document Preparation

This is what we provide, a full service divorce document preparation service.  We are licensed and bonded legal document preparers that specialize in divorce in Los Angeles County.  We have worked for the courts and for large law firms and are familiar with the process and how to correctly complete the paperwork.

Here is what you get with our service.

  1. We complete all your documents. No Questionnaires.
  2. We file all your documents with the court.  You won’t go to court.
  3. We inform you step by step of the procedure along the way.  Trust me, you will have lots of questions.
  4. We are available by phone and email to answer all your questions.

I provided this run down of the different services because I was getting too many people calling me for help with their divorce who had already wasted their money on purchasing their forms or the automated document assembly service only to be left with nothing more than paper for their trash.

So You Want To Learn About Divorce In Santa Clarita

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

If you want to learn about divorce in Santa Clarita you have come to the right spot.  We are Santa Clarita’s authority on divorce.

If you are considering getting a divorce you will want to do your homework to learn about the process and what it is going to take to get through the process.

We have provided many tools for you to use to conduct your research about the divorce process.  We feel it is important that you understand the process of divorce so you can decide how you are going to go about it.

Are you going to hire and attorney?  Are you going to attempt to complete your divorce on your own?  Or maybe you want to use a divorce service like we provide.  Either way, you should know what your options are before you decide to do anything.

So, we have lots of tools for you to use when researching information about divorce.

First, you have our blog. You are on it right now.  We have written over 500 articles about divorce, the divorce process including self help tips and “How To” articles.

The next thing you can utilize is our YouTube channel.  We have done lots of videos about divorce.  You will find a link on our website or you can use this link. Santa Clarita Divorce Videos.

Now, if you are driving your car or don’t have access to your computer, you can always listen to our podcasts.  We try to duplicate a lot of the material we write about and do videos on and include them in our podcasts so you can listen to the information instead of reading it or watching it.  You can visit our PodCast by going to this link.  Santa Clarita Divorce Podcast.  You will also see a link on our site to our SoundCloud podcasts on divorce.

So whether you enjoy reading, watching or listening, we got you covered.  When you are ready to talk and have your questions answered please give us a call.

Join Our Santa Clarita Divorce Service Community On Google Plus

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

We continue to find ways to help people going through divorce in Santa Clarita.  As we dive into the social media scene we have decided to build a community on Google Plus.  We have created the first Santa Clarita Divorce Service Community on Google+.

To check out our Santa Clarita Divorce Service G+ Community Click This Link.

Google Plus has not seen a very large audience yet.  We are definitely getting in early on this and hope that it eventually develops into something.  As it stands now, we are the only company that posts our divorce self help articles on Google+ anywhere in the Los Angeles County Area.

If you hashtag #SantaClaritaDivorce or #LosAngelesDivorce or even just #Divorce, we are one of the only companies that comes up.  We have posted videos, podcasts and our blog posts to Google Plus which can all be found by searching by hashtag or by joining our Santa Clarita Divorce Service community.

This is just one more way for us to get the word out about our affordable divorce service in Los Angeles County.  We are still the only non-attorney legal service in Santa Clarita and are the only legal service that specializes only on divorce in all of Los Angeles County.

Were not sure if the whole divorce community thing will take off or not.  I mean, will people really post their questions there so we can help them out.  Because you have to have a Google account there may be a lack of privacy.  Divorce is a private matter and I am not sure if people will post questions if their profile can be seen by others.  Only time will tell.

At the very least, we can post our own comments and link our blog articles there so people can simply visit the G+ community.

If you have questions about divorce, we would love to hear from you whether you join our Sana Clarita Divorce Service Community or simply give us a call.

 

 

How To Dismiss Your California Divorce Case | Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

I had two clients in the last 2 months decide they wanted to reconcile with their spouse.  This article will discuss how you go about dismissing or cancelling your California Divorce case.

The six month cooling off period in California is there for exactly this reason.  Imagine if you could divorce in one day.  How many people would have to get remarried.  People do decide to try and make their marriage work after one of the parties have filed for divorce.

Before we talk about the exact way to file for a dismissal to cancel your case, you should consider this.

If you cancel your divorce case, and later decide it is not going to work out, you will have to re-file for divorce.  This means paying the filing fee again and having to do all the paperwork again.  Essentially, you will have to start over.

One thing you may want to consider is to just let the divorce case sit with the court while you attempt to work things out.  If your spouse has been served already then it is unlikely that the courts will send you anything in the mail or request you to go to a hearing.  However, if you have not had your spouse served, you can expect that they will set a hearing to follow up on how the process is going.

If after reading this you still want to file for a dismissal of your California divorce, here is what you do.  You will need to file a form CIV-110 – Request For Dismissal.  This is a generic form that is used for many types of cases, not just divorce cases.  If you need to get a free copy of the form, simply search for “Fillable CIV-110” and you will be able to download a copy.

Here is a couple of rules to follow when filing a CIV-110 – Request For Dismissal of your family law case.

If you have filed and your spouse has not filed a response then only you (the Petitioner) need complete, sign and file the dismissal.  If your spouse has filed a Response in the family law case, they too will have to sign the consent to dismiss the case.

The reason for this is because your spouse can decide they want to continue with the divorce, even if you want to reconcile your marriage.  So you will have to get your spouses agreement to dismiss your divorce if there has been both a Petition and Response filed with the court.