California Divorce Use Court Forms For Judgment Not Marital Settlement Agreement

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

California Divorce Use Court Forms For Judgment Not Marital Settlement Agreement

Today we are talking about the easiest way of preparing your judgment.

And the reason I bring this up is because yesterday I had a client in my office that came in and they had this long written agreement it’s called the marital settlement agreement or settlement agreement.

And it was a long drawn out settlement agreement. And some of these you’ll find through other online services, they provide these 10 or 15 page legal documents and a lot of them are legally insufficient so we got away from using those.

And then we also have people who come in who have a written agreement were they basically took out a piece of paper and said, this is what I want to keep, this is our agreement, this is what the other parties are going to keep, and this is the agreement

And a lot of those are being rejected by the court because they need to have specific legal language in them.

You can’t just hand-write or type up an agreement, there has to be a specific language in those agreements. So what we’re doing is we’re getting away from doing those.

In fact we haven’t done them in years. Because the courts now have the court forums that you can use that already have all the legal language and all you need to do is check the check boxes that are applicable. So let me give you an example.

We are talking about the judgment, when you have a judgment you have to have the FL-180, you have the judgment form, and then you just have your attachments for the applicable fields that you have.

So for instance, if you look at the judgment on page 2 you’ll see that you have issues of child custody, child supports, spousal supports, and property.

All of those have specific order forms that you can attach to the judgment which have all the specific language already in them.

So let’s talk about if have children you attached the child custody and the child support order form, and then you just go to this forms and check the boxes that are applicable and you don’t have to worry about is the language correct because it already has the correct court language.

Again, with spousal support and with property all you have to do is check the boxes it indicates which property is community property, which property is separate property, and who’s getting what.

So this is how we do our judgment, we just use the court forms because it doesn’t leave room for chance where you’re going to make a mistake and not put the correct legal language in your documents.

So where the lady came in yesterday she had a fifteen page agreement, we turned that into five pages of just forms.

Did it in about ten minutes just checking the boxes and it was a done deal.

So there is definitely a streamline way of doing this.

Unfortunately the courts do not make this very apparent and if you are looking at forms online and software services online, they’re going to misdirect you and it’s going to end up more difficult than just hiring a service like ours from the very beginning and letting us take care of your divorce for you here in California.

Tim Blankenship, divorce661.com, I hope that was helpful. Please call me.

I’ll be happy to give you a free consultation and explain what we can do for you and we will be happy to help. Please go to our website on the screen here at divorce661.com for more information.

California Divorce The Court Orders Good Cause Appearing

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

California Divorce The Court Orders Good Cause Appearing

Today we’ve been talking about a lot different areas where people have trouble with their divorce judgment here in California.

Again we are talking about the FL-180 and in this particular case we are talking about what you put where it says the court orders good cause appearing on the FL-180 so we are going to talk about that quickly.

First up, I want to let you know we are a full service divorce paralegal firm specializing in divorce in California.

So if you have been  working on your own and you may be because you are now watching this video and you are at the judgment phase which by the way is going to be the most difficult part of your divorce in California.

So give us call if you need assistance, we’d be happy to pick up where you left off and wrapped things up for you, again anywhere in California.

But on this specific area what do we mark, what do you put down where it says the court orders good cost appearing.

So what you are going to mark is the first box that says judgment of dissolution as entered marital or domestic partnership status is terminated and the parties are restored to the status of single person and then you are going to mark on a specific date.

Number one, that is what we always mark, that is what the court tells us to mark on a specific date. But then you don’t put that date in there you are going to leave that date blank.

And the court will fill in that date. But what we see is folks putting in a date and what their usually doing is the six months after the reserved date.

But does not necessarily going to be the date specially if you get your judgment submitted late, specially the courts here in Los Angeles County are backlogged their taking quite a while to get these reviewed.

So leave that blank at number four on the judgment form and you are just going to mark box A1 and the court will fill in the date.

I hope that was helpful in processing your judgment form, again a lot of folks have difficulty with that.

Tim Blankenship specializing in divorce in California and feel free to give us call.

We’d happy to help you with your divorce, 661-281-0266 or go to our website which is on your screen for more information.

California Divorce Spousal Support Stipulations To Show Income

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

California Divorce Spousal Support Stipulations To Show Income

Today we are talking about stipulations, specifically stipulations for say child support or stipulations for spousal support.

Now first thing, let’s describe what a stipulation is during divorce, during the process or even after the divorce is concluded you and your spouse can enter into an agreement, this is also known as a stipulation.

Stipulations are usual if you needed some type of temporary order, maybe one spouse is moving out and they need evidence of income and they want to see some type of court order showing that you’re making some income.

Well, you can do that on a stipulations and then you can file with the court, get the judges’ signature and then that can be your evidence of income and that can be a good way to show income if you are trying to get an apartment or you are trying to move out and they are looking for evidence of income.

So regarding stipulations, if you need to have that done, it is something as simple as drawing up the agreements and there are some specific languages and some specific verbiage that needs to be in there for the court to sign up on it.

So if you need help with the stipulations, we can certainly put that together for you. It’s something we do quite a bit putting together either stipulations for spousal support or child support or combination of both.

029: What Information Is Needed To File For Divorce In California

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

In this episode we talk about what information you need to file for divorce in California. You will be surprised how little information is needed to start a divorce case in California and how little documentation you need as well.

We’re not talking about finishing your entire divorce paperwork. Obviously it’s a lot more forms. We’re just talking about to get your case number issued by the court, what information are you going to need and what documentation are you going to need.

Make sure to listen to the latest podcast.

028: You Only Need Four Forms To File For Divorce In California

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

In this episode, we will discuss what forms you need to start your divorce case. You only need these four forms to file for divorce in California and get a case number issued.

There are only a few forms you need to file to get your case issued. There’s only a couple of documents the court requires you have to file to where they’ll issue the case number which needs to be served and to get the ball rolling on your divorce.

So I want to talk about what those documents are. What’s required to get your case started, what forms do you need to take to the court to get a case number issued.

Make sure to listen to the latest podcast.

027: Do You Need All Agreements Before Filing For Divorce In California

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

In this episode, we talk about whether or not you have to have all your agreements in place before ever filing for divorce in California.

And there are some reasons you’re going to want to get your case started even if you don’t have all your agreements figured out and I want to explain why.

In California we have a cooling off period. The California says it has to take at least six months before you can complete your case. And we’ve already talked about this on another episode.

Make sure to listen to the latest podcast.

026: Should You Take California Divorce Motion Off Calendar If You Come To An Agreement

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

In this episode, will discuss the process of taking a hearing or motion of calendar when filing a divorce motion in California.

If you file a motion to go to court, ask the court to have some type of order and then you later come to an agreement before the hearing actually comes, you don’t need to go to the hearing.

But I want to talk about that more specifically because I want to make sure you don’t take this and say Tim said I don’t have to go to court if we come to an agreement.

Certain things need to happen. So I just want to talk about that briefly.

So when you file a motion you’re asking the court to make an order for something. But that’s only necessary unless you if you can’t come to an agreement with the other party.

Make sure to listen to the latest podcast.

025: How To Modify California Divorce Judgment When You Have An Agreement By Stipulation

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

In this episode, we talk about the ways you can modify your existing divorce judgement when you are in agreement. Is it not always necessary to involve the courts to get a modification of some term of your divorce agreement.

Today I had a question come in from a client. And they had already were divorced. Divorce is finalized. And they wanted to make some changes to the agreement. But they wanted it in writing.

I won’t get in to the specifics of what they are trying to change. But they were just trying to modify some portion of their judgment.

Make sure to listen to the latest podcast to know how we were able to help the client.

024: How To Look Up Your California Divorce Case Number

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

In this episode, we will discuss how to look up your California divorce case number and why you will want to check your California divorce case number and case summary frequently during your divorce.

So if you are going through a divorce, obviously, you’re not going to have a divorce case if you haven’t filed for divorce.

But if you’re going through divorce there is going to be times you’re going to want to pull up your court records also known as a case summary to see that certain documents have been filed.

We will talk about the reasons why you would want to check the case summary.

Make sure to listen to the latest podcast.