Our Santa Clarita Divorce Service Is More Than Just Filling Out Forms

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

The service we provide, that of assisting folks going through divorce is more than just filling out forms.  We provide our clients with a complete understanding of the divorce process learned from numerous years in the industry.

As a legal document preparation company, I suppose it is easy to assume that all we do is fill out divorce forms.  That is why I wanted to talk about this issue.  If you are one of our clients, you already know how much information we provide about the divorce process and how the courts work.  We are there when you have questions along the way.  That is where are real value is.  Anybody can fill out divorce forms.  Well, not really, but just wanted to emphasize my point.

So what kind of things can you learn when working with us?  Well, for starters, everything there is to know about divorce.

Let me give you an example.  Many times we will have clients come to us and say they have an uncontested divorce.  Then somewhere down the line, things change and now the parties are not in agreement and we have to take another approach.

This other approach may be us talking to them about possible mediation options.  Sometimes, we have to help one of the parties file a motion with the court asking for some type of temporary order.  Really, the sky is the limit.  And when these things happen, you are going to want to be working with a company that has the experience working with divorce courts and divorce law firms so we can guide you through the process.

Even for those of you that think your divorce will be a no brain-er, there are still lots of questions that you will have about divorce that have to answered.  You will be glad you made the choice to work with us regardless if you have the easy uncontested divorce or a more difficult case requiring the use of our extensive knowledge about divorce.

Divorce, Divorce, Divorce Is All We Do In Santa Clarita

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Every day, Day in and day out, we deal with folks facing divorce.  After years of working for the divorce courts in Los Angeles County and Santa Clarita area law firms, our experience continues to grow.  And experience is crucial when it comes to divorce.

Because we speak to so many people every day, we sometimes get a question that we have not had before.  Or a question about divorce that is just slightly different because the person asking has a slightly different scenario.  When this happens, we are able to give specific direction on how to tackle their particular situation because of our previous knowledge.

I am amazed at how much there is to know in this industry.  We have been immersed in the culture of divorce now for several years which allows us to provide our clients with an insight into the divorce process like nobody else.

When you are considering hiring a company to help you through the divorce process you need to make sure to use someone with experience.   Not just someone experienced with filling out the forms, but someone like us who can answer specific questions about the process of divorce as well as court procedure and navigating the court systems.

If we had not worked for the divorce courts or in a law firm setting as we have for all those years before opening this business, I don’t see how we could provide this service.  In fact, I don’t see how anybody else could hold themselves out as an expert in divorce without the type of experience we have.

When clients call us or come to our office, they have so many questions about divorce in Santa Clarita.  Many of the questions we answer are based completely on the experience we had with the family law court or while working for a family law firm in Santa Clarita.

I guess what I am saying here is that you need to use a divorce company with experience and not just someone who knows how to fill out the forms.

If you have questions about divorce, please give us a call.

 

How To Get Other Party To File Disclosures | Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

I have a few divorce cases where one of the parties to the divorce is not complying with the necessary steps of the divorce.  In this case we are talking about when one of the parties does not complete their financial disclosures.

The financial disclosures are necessary for both parties to complete when a response has been filed.  It is not required by the Respondent in default cases, however.

So what do you do when this happens?  If you are trying to obtain a divorce when there has been both a petition and response filed in your case and the other party has not yet completed their preliminary declaration of disclosure, you will have to make a formal request to complete them.  The preliminary declaration of disclosure is mandatory.

Of course, you will want to make sure that you have complied and served your financial disclosures before making a demand for theirs.  What you can do is serve the demand letter at the same time you are serving your disclosures.

But what do you put in the letter?  Fortunately, I have found a template letter which is perfect for this.  All you have to do is add your information to the form and check the appropriate boxes.   Click this link for a copy of the demand letter for preliminary declaration of disclosure.

In the demand letter for Preliminary declaration of disclosure, you will want to state the amount of time the other party has to comply. Most agree that if you are just serving your disclosures, that you should give them 30 days to response and complete their disclosures.

If the other party complies and files and serves their disclosures, then the letter served its purpose.

But what if they still don’t complete their disclosures?  As you will notice in the letter, it says that if they do not comply with the demand for disclosures, you will file a motion with the court asking that they pay your attorney fees and filing fees and compel the other party to complete their disclosures or allow you to continue with the divorce without them doing their disclosures.

Make sure to keep a copy of your letter for your records.  It is likely that you will need to offer it as proof if you end up having to go to court.

If this happens to you, please know that we can help you file the motion to compel the other party to complete their preliminary declaration of disclosure.

Taking On More Challenging Divorce Cases In Santa Clarita

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

When I first started this business, my idea was that I would handle the cut and dry divorce cases. Ones where both parties agree on all aspects of the divorce and it is more of a transaction.

While the majority of our cases fit this mold, we are starting to see a large influx of clients who have contested divorce cases or cases where there is no agreements.

These are people who would normally hire an attorney to represent them in their divorce. However, this new bread of people coming into our office who don’t want to spend the money on an attorney or find the costs of hiring an attorney prohibitive.

So we have been taking on these more difficult divorce cases. These are divorce cases where it takes more than just filing out divorce documents and requires an expertise as to court procedure and how to maneuver a case through the courts.

We are able to do this because we have, and continue to, work closely with the Los Angeles Superior Courts and have worked for large law firms in family law.

We have been taking cases where clients are representing themselves in their divorce and we are taking them all the way through the court process. From filing the initial petition, to filing motions for support and custody, all the way to trial. We have concluded several cases that went to trial.

Of course, we are not a law firm and are not attorneys, so cannot give you legal advice, but we can advise you the steps that need to be taken as far as court procedure is concerned and complete the necessary documents to get you into court and help you complete your divorce case in Los Angeles.

If you find yourself among this growing population of people who need assistance with your divorce, but find the costs of hiring a divorce attorney prohibitive, then give us a call. We would be happy discuss how we can help you through the divorce process.

Can I Mail The Divorce Declaration Of Disclosure? Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

I had another great question about divorce come through our “ask Tim a question” on our blog and, as I always do will answer by writing an article about it. Why? Because is one person has this question, so do others.

This question was in regards to who can serve the Declaration of Disclosure. This is referring to the FL-140 which essentially is the cover sheet advising the other party that you are serving them with the income and expense declaration and schedule of assets and debts.

I have talked a lot about who can serve what during divorce and which has to be personally served and which forms can be mailed. But i don't think I have ever answered this specific question.

So here is the question. Can you as one of the parties serve your own declaration of disclosure? As this person says, there is nothing on the form that says otherwise nor is their even a place for anyone to say who served it.

In regards to the Declaration of Disclosure, you can mail serve this yourself. You do not have to have someone else do this for you and you do not have to do it personally, but you can if you want. You can either mail this to your spouse or hand it to them.

But don't forget this one critical step that I find self represented clients make. Don't forget to file the FL-141 with the court. This is the Declaration Regarding Service of Declaration of Disclosure. This form needs to be filed with the court.

Here is the video on how to file the FL-141.

Make sure you check the appropriate boxes on the FL-141. For instance, if you are the Petitioner you will mark the box indicating that and that you are serving your forms on the other party either by mail or in person. Don't forget to put the date you served them or the form will be rejected. (everyone misses this) Then simply date and sign your form and file it with the court.

Keep this filed copy handy because you will have to re-submit it to the court when you file your judgment.

I hope this has been helpful. I have also recorded a video on how to complete this form. Now you will know how to serve your declaration of disclosure and how to file the appropriate documents with the court.

 

Warning To Santa Clarita Divorce Clients Regarding San Fernando Court Legal Services

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

I wanted to issue this warning of types. It is come to my attention through my existing clients, that there is a legal services company standing outside the San Fernando Courthouse offering legal services.

Apparently their game is to approach you and ask if you are representing yourself in your divorce. What they are attempting to do is identify folks who are going to the self help center in an attempt to lure them to their local legal services offices.

I guess this works as a business plan to get new clients, but what has happened is that it seems they will look at your paperwork and say that there is something wrong with it. They are doing a quick review of your divorce paperwork and then pointing out things that are wrong.

Where this has caused a problem is with my clients who i send down there for hearings or to see the facilitator or some other such function.

I received a few calls from my clients who said they were advised by someone who identified themselves as a paralegal and offered to review their paperwork. They quickly pointed out supposed issues with the paperwork that I had completed.

My clients called me to make sure the paperwork was correct. After telling them that their paperwork was, in fact correct, they were able to finish their business at the courthouse.

I don't have an issue with a legal services poaching customers outside the court, but i do have an issue with someone telling people that their paperwork is incorrect when it isn't.

If you are my client, please simply walk past these folks who are doing nothing more than hunting for business dressed up as “free help” from some random stranger standing on the street.

At first I thought it was a pretty good idea to have folks standing out and asking people if they needed help. But after a few moments i realized that is just does not provide the professional image we wish to portray to our clients.

People find us by looking for answers to divorce which we have answered in our over 700 articles on divorce and over 120 videos about divorce in Santa Clarita.

 

Both Filed For Divorce – What To Do – Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

It does not happen very often, but often enough to write an article about. What do you do if both husband and wife file for divorce. Meaning, you both went down and filed a petition for divorce.

The times I have seen this happen have been when both parties are upset and they run out and hire an attorney and both of them are in a rush to file for divorce first.

Many issues can arise when two petitions are filed and we will discuss what to watch out for and how to correct it.

Recently a client called me with this exact problem. They both had filed for divorce over a year ago and two petitions were filed and thus, two cases were assigned for the same divorce proceeding.

The first problem comes down to one of the parties being served or filing a response on one of the cases. As happened here, because both parties filed a petition, neither party had ever been served in the other case and nobody had responded to the other case.

Essentially, the divorce had never started, despite over a year having gone by.

So how do you fix this. Well, the first thing they needed to do is get one of the parties served so they could start the clock on the 6 month cooling off period. Generally, you could just pick the case that was filed first. But in this case, many documents were filed under the later filed case, so we decided to use that case instead.

So now that the service is complete, you will need to draft a stipulation to combined the cases and have one of the Petitions to be treated as the Response. Of course, you could always just file a Response, but you would have to pay the filing fee again.

The stipulation would simply request that the petition in one case be treated as the Response. It is not entirely difficult, but both parties must sign and submit for the courts signature.

We are a licensed and bonded legal document preparation firm in Santa Clarita, CA and serve all the courts in Los Angeles County.

 

Do You Have Better Chance At Divorce Hearing With Attorney Present | Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

I know this is a very open ended question, so let me clarify a bit what I am talking about.  I had a client call me who said he contacted an attorney because he needed to terminate spousal support.

His child had turned 18 and per the terms of the divorce judgment, he no longer had to pay child support.  In many cases, as with his, before the employer would stop taking the spousal support payments out of his check, they wanted an order from the court that said so.

Because an order was made when child support was ordered, you will need an order to terminate child support as well.

In order to do this you need to file a motion with the court. This would be a Request For Order and you will probably want to go in Ex-Parte so you can get the order signed faster.

If you want more information about how to terminate child support, please give us a call.  But for purposes of this article I want to discuss something intersting this client was told by an attorney.

This attorney essetially told him that he would have a better chance getting the child custody order signed if he had an attorney present. The reason he gave was that he (the attorney) would show up in court and testify that they gave proper Ex-Parte notice.  That is that they called the other party and let them know they would be going to court to request the termination of child support.

I thought that was an intersting sales pitch.  A Request For Order is simply a form you fill out and file with the court to ask for a hearing.  Giving Ex-Parte notice is simply a procedural process.  It requires you call the otherp party, generally 24 hours in advance, and let them know you are going to court.  This gives them a chance to appear.

What the attorney was trying to say is that without an attorney present, the judge may not hear the case because there would be nobody to testify that the Ex-Parte notice was given and there would be a chance the court would not hear the motion.

When you are representing yourself, In Pro Per, you do not have to hire an attorney simpy to give Ex-Parte notice and show up in court.  This attoreny was going to charge him $1,500 to fill out a single form and show up to court.

It is not necessary to hire an attorney for these types of divorce motions.  For an attorney to use the sales pitch that he will testify that Ex-Parte notice was properly given is hardly a reason to use an attorney for thi

We Make Divorce Understandable – Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

The process of divorce is complex and has many moving parts. Even with all the information out there on the internet about divorce, it is still confusing to most. Even the Los Angeles Superior Court's websites attempt to explain the process of divorce, but even they have trouble making it clear.

Day in and day out we speak to clients who are trying to understand the divorce process. They are trying to wrap their head around how everything comes together. They have spent time on various websites and talking to friends who have been divorced, but still have lots of questions.

If you follow our blogs, you know that we write, talk and make videos about everything we can think about in regards to divorce. We have made the process of divorce just little more understandable.

But that can only take you so far. You see, the divorce process can change or be slightly different in each case. There is not a one size fits all process for divorce. There are lots of “what if's” that can drastically change the direction you need to take when going through your divorce.

That is what makes our divorce document preparation company so good. It is not just that we prepare, file and serve all your divorce documents, but the information we give you about how the divorce process works. When you work with us, you have someone in your corner, every step of the way, helping you understand the divorce process and answering all your “what if” type questions.

The information we give you, you just can't get out of a self help book. The information just is not specific enough to your exact situation.

People who call us or visit our office often say this. They say they have talked to an attorney and left their office more confused than when they walked in. When they leave our office, they say we made the divorce process understandable and took the confusion of the process.

We are licensed and bonded legal document preparation firm that specializes in divorce. We are headquartered in Santa Clarita and serve all the courts in Los Angeles County.

Great Customer Service Critical During Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

I am just amazed at the poor service some Santa Clarita business's have. You would think with todays review sites and complaint sites that a local company would take great strides to provide excellent customer service.

As i write this, I have been waiting at home for a service technician to show up for some repairs. Instead of talking negatively about a fellow business in Santa Clarita, i thought i would share my thoughts on the topic of giving good customer service.

Here was what i was reminded of and what we should all be striving for.

First call to the office – When someone calls your place of business, this is your first chance to set the stage and let them know that they are working with true professionals. When you call our Santa Clarita divorce service, you will be greeted by one of our two full time receptionists. We know your decision to use our service or not starts from the time the phone rings.

Initial phone call and consultation – This is your time to shine. To provide information and answers that help your potential client “fix” whatever problem they are trying to solve.

When people call us, they have generally spent quite a bit of time on our blogs and have some follow up questions. We are an outbound marketing company which means we attract clients to our business by providing information on our blogs. This continues on when you call us. It is our job to provide you with all the information on how we can help with your divorce situation and not to try to “sell” or “close” you.

Follow up – Follow up is good way to continue your customer service. The type of service you offer will dictate what kind of follow up you do. We provide a divorce service and we are considerate and understanding that this is not a pleasant issue you are dealing with. Our follow ups are simple. We reach out via email to see if there are any additional questions.

We feel that great customer service is critical in any business to survive. But this should not be the reason you provide great service. You should simply provide a level of service you would expect if you were on the other end of the phone.

We are a divorce service. “service” being the operative word. We are here to serve you and help you through your divorce or other family law related issues.