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.

 

Should You Use A Divorce Self Help Book | Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

There are tons of self help divorce books on the market these days.  But is a book the best way to get through a complicated divorce process even if you are using the self help divorce book to complete your own divorce?

I recently went to the Santa Clarita Library and checked out at least 10 different “How To Divorce” books to see if they would be helpful to someone who was trying to complete their divorce on their own.  Here is what I learned.

First let me say that I know a lot about filing out divorce forms and divorce procedure.  That said, these do-it-yourself divorce books were super confusing.  I had to double check several times to see what they were talking about.

First off, they all start off by talking a little bit about California Law.  They give you a few tidbits about spousal support and child support and other general information.

Then comes the worst part.  The part where they show you how to complete the divorce forms.  This was very funny to me because it the pages looked more like a geometry lesson.

There were lines drawn from words of instruction  on one page to spots on the form they were talking about.  There were lines and arrows all over the page explaining what goes where and a lot of “if this, then that” scenarios.   It was very confusing and i would feel bad for anyone that spent money on these books.

Most of the self help divorce books included a CD (that was missing because I went to the library) but the common theme throughout each of the books was that their was a phone number you could call if you needed help.  They are all written by lawyers and the number you would call was to their law firm or lawyer referral group.

It makes me wonder, due the confusing nature of the books, if they really want to help people going through divorce or just want to make a little money on the sale of the book and hope people call for divorce assistance when they can’t figure it out form using the divorce self help book.  Sort of a lead generation tool if you will.

If you are looking for assistance with your divorce, there are better ways than using a book.  Books are so old fashion anyways.  For instance, how about blogs or videos about divorce.  We have both blogs and videos about divorce and the process and how to fill out the divorce forms.  Don’t you think a video will be much easier to understand?

And if you get tired of watching our how-to-divorce-videos, you can always give us a call, and we can assist you in preparing your divorce for a flat fee.  No attorneys here to charge you by the hour.

We are a licensed and bonded legal document preparation company that specializes in divorce in Los Angeles County and look forward to helping your complete your divorce.

Should You Do Your Own Divorce | Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

There are a couple of factors you can use to determine if you should do your own divorce or if you should hire a company to complete your divorce for you.

The first thing to figure out is if you have the money to hire a divorce service in Santa Clarita to help you.  When people call, this is what I tell them.  If you have more time than money, then you may want to consider attempting to complete your own divorce.  It can be done, however it will be a long frustrating process.

There are free services out there such as the Court’s self help centers, but the services are limited and they are extremely busy.  Using the self help centers will takes many  trips and you will experience a lot of frustration along the way.  But it is is free.  So if you are short on funds and perhaps unemployed, this may be your only option.

So lets assume you have the money and hiring our service is an option.  But you are still thinking that you could save the money and complete it on your own.  The next thing to consider is what your time is worth.  How much time are you willing to spend on the weekends and on the evenings, researching and trying to figure out what divorce forms to complete?

Some look at the initial divorce forms and feel like they can complete it, and you probably can.  The thing about the divorce process is that the paperwork gets more complicated as you go along.  Sure the initial documents are easy enough, but then comes the financial disclosures.  Those are a bit tougher to figure out, especially with how to serve them and what documents to attach.  Which forms to file and which ones get served.  You will have lots of questions, trust me.

If you get through the first two phases of the divorce paperwork, the most difficult part is the judgment.  The judgment consists of about 25 pages of attachments.  There is a lot of information you have to cover and it is easy to make mistakes.  Many people fail to complete the judgment correctly several times which causes significant delays and frustrations on your part.

I have clients that come to me at various stages of the divorce process.  Those just starting out that that immediately realize that they cannot or do not want to attempt this on their own.  Then there are those that start the process and later realize they need help.  Then there are those that attempted to complete the entire divorce process by themselves and submit the judgment.

I will be honest with you, there ends up being more work when clients come to us after trying to get all the way through the divorce process on their own.  Usually we will have to re file many of the documents from the beginning and amend the divorce forms that were filed because they were done wrong.

We recommend that you hire us from the beginning.  In most cases the cost will be the same, regardless of where you are at in the process.  But we can pick up where you left off.

Give us a call if you would like more information about our Santa Clarita Divorce Service.  We are headquartered in Santa Clarita, California and serve all the courts in Los Angeles County.

Non Stipulation To Commissioner During Divorce | Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

This is not something that comes up to often for clients representing themselves as it does for attorneys during a divorce, but it just happened to one of my clients so I wanted to address it.

This has to do with the parties agreeing to a Commissioner presiding over their divorce case instead of a Judge.

When you file for divorce, you have the right to have your divorce case heard by a judge.  However, may of the Judges in the courtrooms are not full-fledged Judges, rather they are Commissioners.  We won’t go into to detail regarding the differences here.

So when you go to a hearing where there is a Commissioner instead of a Judge, you have to sign a stipulation saying you agree to have your case heard by a Commissioner instead of a Judge.

If you don’t want to have your case heard by a Commissioner, you would sign a form saying you don’t agree to have your case heard by a Commissioner.  This is called, “Non-Stiping” a Commissioner.  Non-Stipulating a judge is common practice among attorneys in family law.  Not so much because they don’t want to have their case heard by a Commissioner, but because they don’t like the Commissioner in general.

What happened to my client today is that they went to a hearing on a motion for child support.  When the other party found out that he could delay the case simply by not agreeing or stipulating to the Commissioner, that was exactly what he did.  Not because he did not like the Commissioner, but simply to stall the case.

What happens next is that your case has to be reassigned to another division.  This happened to be at the San Fernando Courthouse where there is only 2 family law courtrooms.  There is one Judge and one Commissioner.

Due to the amount of folks non-stipulating the commissioner in San Fernando they are transferring some cases to Van Nuys.   At least that is what happened to our client.

No Need To Figure Everything Out Before Filing For Divorce | Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Are you one of those people that have to have everything figured out before you do something.  Well, when it comes to getting a divorce, that is not something you have to worry about so much.

When folks call me, many of their questions are about the end game.  Meaning that they are thinking about how they are going to reach a final agreement on their divorce.  While it is good to have an understanding of how you want the divorce to conclude, it is not necessary to have every single detail figured out before filing for divorce.

If you are trying to figure out every last detail of your divorce before you file, you will never end up filing for divorce.  I recommend that you break down the divorce process into a couple of steps so the divorce process is more manageable.

This is how we operate our divorce files for our clients.  The first thing we do is only complete the necessary divorce documents that are required to get a case number issued.  There will generally only be 3 or 4 forms you have to complete in order to file your divorce with the court.  That is all you should be focusing on at first.

Then, after the divorce is filed, focus on getting your spouse served.  These  two steps are the first thing you should do.  Having your spouse served is what will start the 6 month cooling off period.

Now that this is done, you can start on completing your financial disclosures.  This is your preliminary declaration of disclosure and is where you will list all the assets and debts of your marriage.  This will be used as a template so the parties understand what there is to divide.  Until you have completed your financial disclosures, there is no sense trying to come to an agreement on the division of property.

I have some clients who call me and say they are waiting to file for divorce until they have a complete agreement.  Again, while it is a good idea to be thinking of what you want out of the divorce, don’t let this stop you from filing for divorce and getting the process started.

We are a licensed and bonded legal document assistant company in Santa Clarita and serve all the courts in Los Angeles County.

How To Streamline Your Divorce | Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

The more I talk about it and write about it, the faster word is spreading on how to streamline your divorce using the Hybrid Divorce Judgment.

The hybrid divorce is simply that.  A cross  between a Uncontested divorce and a Default divorce case.  So lets back up a little first and talk about these two types of divorce cases which will help you better understand the Hybrid divorce.

An uncontested case is one where both parties have entered the case.  One party has filed the Petition for divorce and the other party filed a Response and they will enter into a written agreement regarding the terms of their divorce.

A default case is where one party has filed for the divorce and the other party does not respond. This can be intentional or because the other party is not going to participate or has not participated at all and you want to move on.

Now, on to the hybrid.  The hybrid divorce is one where the Petitioner files for divorce and the other party is not going to respond and default (purposely) but the parties are still going to enter into a written agreement.

So you can see it has the elements of both the default divorce and the uncontested divorce.  The difference between a true default and a hybrid is that in the true default, you can submit the request to enter default after 30 days where with the hybrid divorce, you will submit the default along with the written agreement and judgment.

The only difference between the uncontested case and the hybrid divorce case is that there will be no response filed with the hybrid divorce.  Aside from not completing a response, you will do all the same paperwork as the uncontested divorce case.

The reason this streamlines you divorce is because you do not have to file a response and once the case if filed you can start working on your financial disclosures and toward a written agreement.  The other aspect of the hybrid divorce is that you avoid paying that second filing fee for filing the response.  This saves you $435.

How To Amend Your Divorce Paperwork | Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

I get a lot of clients coming in for our divorce service who have already started the divorce process in Santa Clarita.  One thing that I frequently find is that the initial divorce paperwork that they have filed in incorrect.

For instance, you may have spelled one of the parties names incorrectly or perhaps used the wrong date of marriage on the Petition. (Don’t worry, you’re not alone). If you have made a mistake on any of the divorce documents and have already filed them with the court, you will have to correct the issue and re file them. And if you have already served the documents, you will have to re-serve them as well.

So I thought I would discuss the proper way to amend your divorce paperwork.  Let’s talk about the initial documents, the Summons and Petition.  On the Petition itself, if you make a mistake and need to amend the form, they already have a box for you.  In the box that says “Petitioner for” you will see there is a big “Amended” box there as well.  So this form is easy.  Simply fill out the Petition correctly and mark the “Amended” box. Re-file it with the court and you are good to go.  But wait, if you amend the Petition, you have to file another Summons.

So make sure to also file an amended Summons.  There is no box on the Summons, so you can simply write the word “amended” above the word summons.  Now because these are the initial documents to be served, make sure you serve them again together, even if you had already served the first Petition and Summons.

And one last thing on this.  Don’t for get to file the amended Proof of Service of Summons.  If you fowled up these initial forms, you will have to wait another 30 days before moving forward after serving them again on your spouse.

You can amend any of the divorce documents that you file just like this by following the instructions above.

If you ran into trouble on these initial documents, you are not alone.  But so you know, these are the easier of the documents to file in your divorce.  That said, you are a good candidate for our divorce service if you had trouble with your divorce forms right out of the gate.

Please give us a call to discuss how we can help you make your divorce as pain free (and error free) as possible.