Divorcing In Santa Clarita | We Take Care Of That | SCV Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

If you live in Santa Clarita and are planning on divorcing, you should give us a call.  We can help you take care of your divorce in Santa Clarita.

We are a licensed and bonded legal document preparation service that can take care of preparing all the divorce documents from start to finish.  We file all the documents, serve all the forms.

We operate on a fixed fee schedule which means you know how much your divorce is going to cost you before you ever get started.  No retainer fees here and we don’t charge by the hour.  You know what your getting into before you ever get started and there are no hidden fees.

You will have 2 costs when getting divorced.  You will have the court filing fee. Currently this is $435.00 and you will pay that fee whether you do your divorce yourself or have us do it for you.

The other cost you will have is our cost for preparing your divorce for you.  The fee you will pay will depend on how much work there is to do on your file.  We generally will ask you just a hand full of questions and quote you a firm price right over the phone.  You can also go to our pricing page and see where you fit in.

Here are some of the questions we ask to determine the costs for preparing your divorce.

  1. How long have you been married?  This lets us know if there might be a request for spousal support.
  2. Do you have minor children? Then we will know if we need to draft a parenting plan and child support.
  3. If there are any pensions to divide.  Pensions have to be divided by a QDRO Attorney.
  4. Amount and type of property to divide?  This will let us know how much property is at stake.

The divorce process is complicated.  It is not something you should attempt on your own.  Give us a call so we can discuss your options for getting completing the divorce process.`

Divorce Judgment Gives People The Most Trouble | Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

If you have tried to prepare your own divorce or are considering doing so, you will learn how confusing and difficult the divorce paperwork can be.  But the worst is yet to come.

Most people will have some problems with the initial divorce documents.  They will have items rejected, not file them correctly and not fill them out right.  But the final test will be when you go to prepare the divorce judgment.

The divorce judgment is the last set of divorce documents that can be up to 25 pages long or more.  These final judgment documents give everyone  a problem.

But there is a bigger issue when completing the final divorce judgment forms and doing them wrong.  When you submit the final judgment documents, they will go into a huge pile of judgments that are also waiting to be approved.  The current wait time for your divorce judgment to be reviewed is 3 months to as long as 6 months.

This means that every time you submit your final divorce judgment, you will have to wait several months before your learn if it was done correctly or not.  I know people that attempted to complete their own divorce and have submitted their judgment 3 times.  They have been trying to complete their divorce for over 3 years.  They have been trying to get their final divorce paperwork approved for over a year.

Some people figure it out really fast that they need help and others are a glutton for punishment and keep asking for more rejection.  That was an attempt at humor, but you have to hand it to these folks that keep on trying.

Whether you have not quite gotten to the final divorce judgment phase or are one of these folks that have had the judgment rejected numerous times and are ready for help, please give us a call.

We do a lot of judgment reviews where we will take a look at your entire divorce case from beginning to end and complete and correct all the documents so they can be submitted and approved by the court.

Divorce Process Starts When Spouse Is Served | Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

One of the things that keeps coming up when I am helping clients with divorce is explaining when the divorce process actually starts.  There is some confusion on this as well as what document to file to let the court know your spouse has been served.

The divorce process does not start when you file your divorce case.  When you go to the court and turn in all your papers and pay your filing fee, you will receive a comformed “stamped” copy of your divorce filing.  You and everyone else in this world feels like they have filed their divorce and therefore the divorce process has started.

The divorce process actually starts when your spouse is served, not when you file.  Everything is hinged off the day your spouse is served.  Even the 30 days to file a response or when you want to file a request to enter default.  None of these things can occur until your spouse is served.

When you file a lawsuit (which filing for divorce is) you have to give the other party notice.  Notice that you have filed for divorce and what you are asking for such as your requests in the divorce Petition.

So three things I want to clear up here.

  • The six month waiting period does not start until your spouse is served.
  • You can’t file for a default unless 30 days have passed since your spouse was served.
  • The Court won’t know your spouse was served unless you complete a proof of service and file it with the court.

These are the big three things to watch out for.  And make sure to complete your proof of service correctly.  There are several boxes you need to complete and many the person who will be doing the serving needs to complete.  I see a lot of people who do this wrong or forget to put the dates and times of service, etc.

I hope this clears up the issues of when the divorce process actually starts.  When does it start?  When your spouse is served!

Divorce Can Be A Tough Business In Santa Clarita

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Being in the business of helping people divorce can be tough sometimes.  Most of our divorce cases are amicable, but we do have a few that have clients that are upset and get angry at each other.  I think this is normal.

We definitely don’t get as many angry or upset clients as I did when I worked at a law firm here in Santa Clarita.  By its very nature, when you get n divorce attorney involved, the divorce case is going to have a much higher emotional impact.

Most of our clients are at least someone in agreement and are somewhat trying to work together to complete their divorce case.  Lets put it this way.  Our clients are not mortal enemies like you find when they hire attorneys.

So that leaves us to work between the clients to facilitate the divorce process.  Because we often help both clients we will hear the complaints on both sides.  Our job is not to mediate your divorce, but we are here to make things easier and keep the divorce process moving.

Divorce is a tough business because we don’t sell widgets that make people happy.  Most people purchase products or services that make them happy.  However, the second biggest purchasing motivations is to reduce pain.  And I think that is where our divorce service comes into play.  We reduce pain, meaning that we help you complete a process, that when finished, will hopefully relieve some pain and stress in your life.

Some of my clients are funny in that they can’t wait to celebrate completing their divorce.  Maybe it was a very short divorce or that “Vegas wedding”.  Yeah, we get some of those.

In any event, people just want to get their divorce over and done with a fast as possible and with as little problems as possible.  And that is what we do.

We are a professional divorce service that will help facilitate the completion of your divorce.  We complete all the necessary forms, file all your documents, go to court for you and complete the entire divorce process from start to finish for one affordable flat rate.

I Need Help With My Divorce Papers | Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

If you have thought or uttered the words, “I need help with my divorce papers“, you are not alone.

The divorce process is confusing and frustrating at best, if you are trying to self prepare your own divorce.  While not recommended, it is possible.

Many people need help with their divorce.  Some realize that right from the get-go and others struggle through many phases of the paperwork before throwing in the towel.

Getting help with your divorce papers is a smart thing to do.  Not only because I own t his business, but because I see so many people struggle for months and sometimes years attempting to do their divorce papers on their own, only to realize they have wasted  countless hours and days of their life and  still are no closer to finishing  their divorce.

We recommend you get help immediately.  But if you started the divorce process and then later realized that you need help with your divorce papers, that is okay too.  It is never to late to get help with filing your divorce papers.

The folks that have come to us after spending several grueling months attempting it on their own feel a great sense of relief when they turn their divorce over to us to complete.  Some of the best compliments we receive are during the first meeting in our office or conversation on the phone with our clients. They can’t believe how much time they have wasted trying to complete their own divorce.

They say they are so glad the talked to us and are using our service.  They realize how much they really did not know about the divorce process and how we made it so clear and understandable and broke things down in plain English for them.

If you find yourself needing help with your divorce papers in Santa Clarita or anywhere in Los Angeles, please give us a call.  We would be happy to discuss helping you prepare your divorce and pick up where you left off.

SCV Divorce Service Serves All Divorce Courts In Los Angeles

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Just because our divorce service is headquartered in Santa Clarita does not mean we only assist people in Santa Clarita.

Our SCV divorce service serves all the courts in Los Angeles County.  Did you know there are 10 district branches in Los Angeles County with the Central Court House in Downtown LA being the main branch?  We serve all of these divorce courts.

We have filed divorce cases in all the district branches in Los Angeles.  From Antelope Valley to the North to Long Beach to the South and Pomona to the East and San Fernando to the West and everything in between.

So how exactly are we able to serve clients everywhere in Los Angeles?  Easy!

While many clients come to our office in Santa Clarita, we do a great deal of divorce business remotely over the phone and via email, etc.  We have many clients all through out Los Angeles.  Folks like the fact that we have streamlined the divorce process which allows them the option to come into our office or complete their divorce right over the phone.  It really is your option.

So regardless of where you live, you can use our divorce service.  We are still considering opening another office in Los Angeles or further south, but we are still doing our due diligence research to see if there is enough business that would suggest opening another office makes sense.

Until then, we will continue to serve our divorcing clients in Los Angeles remotely.  Please know that the divorce service we provide is no less professional when done via phone and email.  Because we do so much business this way, we have a smooth divorce process with clients as far away as Africa, Germany and Australia who use our divorce service.

We look forward to helping your through your divorce regardless of where you live in Los Angeles County.  Please give our office a call and we will discuss how our divorce service can help you.

Save $435 On Your Santa Clarita Divorce | Tips & Tricks

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Simply by reading this article you will learn how to save $435 on your Santa Clarita divorce.  I have seen so many people spend money they did not have to on filing fees.  Had they just used our service from the beginning, they would have saved this money.

When you file for divorce, you have to pay the $435 filing fee in Los Angeles County.  Other Counties have a similar filing fee and some are higher.  This is, of course, unless you qualify for a fee waiver for your divorce.

When one party files for divorce, you will notice on the Summons that it says that the other party has to file a Response within 30 days.  The language is very scary and says that if you don’t respond in 30 days you will lose rights and your spouse can move on without you.

So not knowing how the process actually works, your spouse files a response and pays the $435.00 also.  Now you have spent $870 on your divorce.

Would it make you mad to learn that you did not have to file the response and you could have save the $435.00?

In uncontested divorce cases, it is not necessary to file a response.  You can still participate in the divorce and enter into a written agreement without having to spend the money on the filing fee for submitting a Response.

And with uncontested divorce cases, the money being spent is usually coming from the same household.

That said, here is what we suggest.  You should call our office to have us complete your entire divorce.  That $435 you would have spent unnecessarily on the Response filing fee almost covers our cost to prepare your divorce for you.

So if you used our service, you will have saved yourself the $435 filing fee and not have to complete your divorce paperwork on your own.

We wrote this article, because many clients come to us after filing the initial divorce paperwork which included filing a response.  Had they just called us in the beginning, they would have saved that money to apply to having us complete the entire divorce for them.

Don’t Waste Your Time Attempting To Complete Your Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

I am the first to say that it is possible to complete your own divorce.  To say anything else would be a lie.  But the fact that it is possible is far removed from what it will actually take to complete your own divorce if you attempt it on your own.

So why do I say it is a waste of time to attempt to complete your own divorce?  I will give you a few examples of issues and roadblocks you may face when attempting to do your own divorce.  While there are hundreds of issues you can come across when trying to do your own divorce, I will give the most common issues people face.

Believe it or not, completing some of the divorce forms is the easiest part. But many people make tons of mistakes on these forms.  And we are talking about capable people here.  It is just that the divorce forms are so foreign that it is hard to figure out what you are supposed to do in many cases.  So while completing the forms is the easiest part, most will fail to complete the forms correctly.

The next thing I see a lot when people are attempting to complete their own divorce is that they are unaware of how the process of divorce works.  For instance; What forms to complete and in what order, how to serve the divorce documents and which ones can be served by you and which need to be served by someone else.  Which forms have to be personally served and which ones can you mail.  Which forms are filed with the court and which ones are only served on your spouse.

I would consider the two issues above, that of how to complete the divorce forms and being familiar with the divorce process as the two biggest issues people have when attempting to complete their own divorce.  But there are hundreds of issues that can spiral off these to major problems.  There are so many decisions you have to make and so many easy mistakes to make.

This is why we say you should not waste your time attempting to complete your own divorce.  There is just too many things that can go wrong.  I can’t tell you how much business I get where people have tried to do their own divorce for months and sometimes years, only to come to us for assistance after wasting so much of their valuable time.