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.

Like Our Santa Clarita Divorce Service On Facebook

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

We have been working on our Facebook pages lately and have begun a marketing campaign using Facebook pay per click.  We have done Facebook marketing in the past, but it has been difficult to determine if there is any benefit in doing so.

We do a lot of online marketing with our blogs and pay per click on Google, but those people are conducting a search for us purposely. The Facebook ads are more like a commercial in that they just appear whether your are looking for us or not.  So I would imagine that it is more of a branding and letting people know we are here and may result in future business, but no direct correlation between them clicking our ad which results in business.

This is much different than our pay per click ads on Google search, as those people are specific looking for our service.  The costs of our Google adwords each month can be directly tied to the amount of business we get in a given month.

So we are trying to raise our marketing efforts on Facebook to have a greater presence and hope that people find us and, of course, later use our divorce service in Santa Clarita.

That said, make sure to “Like” of Facebook page.  You can find our Santa Clarita Divorce Service on Facebook by clicking the link we just highlighted.  We are hoping be getting more likes on Facebook that we can gain additional exposure to our divorce service and eventually earn the trust of folks who will later use our service or refer our divorce service to their friends and family.

 

We Got Your Back In Your Divorce | Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

I came into the office this morning and as usual already had messages from new potential clients who wanted to get started in their divorce.  Most people give a little explanation regarding what is going on.

The message I received today was from a gentleman who said he had started his divorce but now felt he needed a little “backup”.  I know exactly what he is talking about when he says he needs backup.

Here is what generally happens.  Folks are told that they can complete their own divorce, which is true.  But what they are not told is that it is a long, complicated and painful process if you are undertaking it on your own.

So folks will start their divorce and begin to prepare the legal documents.  At some point, they realize that they need help and begin to get frustrated with the process.  What started off with as just filing out a few forms can quickly turn ugly.

I get these types of calls from people at different points in the paperwork.  Some call immediately after picking up the paperwork and take one look at it and give us a call.  Others will attempt to fill out the initial filing forms and file them with the court.  And still others will try to complete the whole thing and even submit the judgment.

There is one common situation among all these folks.  That is how much of their own time they are going to waste before they decide to call me.  In most cases the more work the person does, the more issues we have to fix and re-file and amend forms.

Our recommendation is to call us before you ever get started on your divorce.  Of course, that wont always be the case but you can call us at any point in your divorce.  Regardless where you are at in your divorce we can pick up where you left off, complete a review of everything you have done and get it finished up for you.

As the person who called this morning, we will have your back in your divorce. Call us when you need assistance with your divorce.

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.

 

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?