How Is Spousal Support Determined During California Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

How Is Spousal Support Determined During California Divorce

Whenever we are handling a divorce for our clients, we always need to know if there will be a request for spousal support from either party. Believe it or not, many of our clients choose not to request spousal support from the other party, even where the income differences between them would suggest they could ask for spousal support.

You see, spousal support is one of those things that is not mandatory.  Compare that with Child Support which the court enforces at least minimum guideline amounts be paid, a spouse can decide to waive their right to spousal support.

But for determining the amount of spousal support there are a couple ways you can go about that.  If you are working toward an agreement with your spouse, as is the case with many of our clients, we usually will start with using the court’s software system called a “dissomaster”.  The dissomaster takes your income and your spouses income and considers the disparity between the two to come up with a number. The idea is that if one party makes more than the other, money would be paid to the lesser earner to help move on with life.

What i tell our clients is to use the dissomaster as a guide in helping to determine what the needs of the spouse are for spousal support.  For instance, when you divorce and ultimately move out into separate residences, what are going to be your needs for money and what is the ability to pay for the other spouse.

It can be as simple as sitting down at the kitchen table and going through your finances and expenses to work together to come up with a number for spousal support that works for both of you.

The next article will discuss the question of for how long should you pay spousal support to the other party.  You can read that article by clicking on How Long Should I Pay Spousal Support.

We specialize in providing affordable divorce solutions throughout California.  Please call for a free consultation.

The Cost Of Doing Your Own California Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

As I am sure you are aware that technically you can do your own California Divorce divorce.  I say technically because many try and many fail.  While it is possible to do it yourself, the percentage of actually completing is very low.

I understand that the decision to attempt to do your own California divorce is most likely a financial decision or you may have been told by someone else that it is easy to do.

In discussing this, I want to talk about what doing your own divorce will cost you.  Not so much in actual dollars, but in time spent in doing so in an effort to shed some light on making the decision to do it yourself or hire us to prepare your divorce case for you.

Folks who decide to attempt to do their own divorce run into several problems.  First of all, you will need to complete your own divorce forms.  I am sure this is your first time so the forms are going to be very foreign to you. You will need to then file these forms with the court, who by the way will not review them for accuracy, they will just take your money and stamp the forms. (it is not their job to review documents)

Just on this first step of filing the forms here are some things you will have to decide.

  • What forms do i need to file to initiate the case?
  • Did I fill them out correctly?
  • Now that there filed, how do I serve them?  Can I serve them?

Okay, so lets assume you filled out the initial court documents, filed them with the court and had them served properly.

Let me ask you a question. How much time did you spend on this?  Did it take you away from your work? Family? TV time?  You get where I am going.

Now you have only just begun the process.  It only gets more difficult as you proceed.  Now you need to complete your financial disclosures.

Here you will need to decide:

  • Which forms do I need?
  • Do they get filed with the Court?
  • Do I need to serve them? Personally served or mail served and by whom?
  • What do I need to disclose?

Lastly, you will need to complete the judgment.  By far the most tricky of parts.  There are multiple forms that comprise the judgment and a certain way to prepare the forms.

The point here is that you are going to spend more time than you like trying to complete your own divorce.  And if you are working, you are going to need help on occasion and probably try to use the court’s self help centers.  Good luck with that. They are on a a first come, first serve basis and usually are only able to help about 30 people per day.

You will end up spending several full days if attempting to use the court’s self help center.

So I again pose the question of what is the cost of doing your own California divorce?

My guess is that it may cost you more financially, but will cost even more in your time. Time you can never get back.

If you have the resources to hire our firm to complete your California divorce, we definitely recommend it.  Spare yourself the nightmare of trying to complete your own divorce.

Trust me, much of our business comes from people who have spent months on their own, without success, only to come to us to fix what they have started and take them to the finish line.

 

Understanding The Steps To Your California Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

I know that going through the divorce process can be a daunting task.  That is why we have made it as simple and painless as possible when using our service for your divorce.

We take pride in helping our clients and potential clients who call for information to understand the divorce process.

In this article I will break down the divorce process so you can understand the different stages you will go through.  Keep in mind, when you hire us for your divorce, we take care of all of this for you.

Let’s get started.

When you decide to get divorced, you will have to “file” for divorce.  This simply means filling out the initial court forms to notify the court that you are asking for a divorce.  These documents need to be completed, then filed with the court where a case number is issued.  Once the case is issued, the documents are ready to be served.  This is how you initiate a divorce.

Once the divorce has been filed and served, the next step is to complete your financial disclosures.  The court’s require that you and your spouse “disclose” your assets and debts to one another.  The idea here is that each of you will become informed of what property and debt’s you have so you can figure out how you are going to divide up your things.

The next phase is where you write down your agreements.  This is often called a Marital Settlement Agreement or Judgment.  The judgment will address everything from separation of your assets and debts, spousal support, child custody and child support and any other issues you want to address.

There are a lot of moving parts to divorce and I explained the process above in a big picture sort of way.

When you are ready to get your divorce started, please give us a call. We handle divorce cases anywhere in California with our flat fee pricing.  We offer free initial phone consultations and can be reached at 661-281-0266.

Should You Sell Your Santa Clarita Home During Divorce?

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Lately I have had several calls with clients who had questions about the issues that come up on whether to sell or keep the home during divorce.

The issues have been that one spouse wants to keep the home while the other one wants to sell it. It is a fairly common issue that will have to be decided before the divorce can be finalized.

The two main things you should look at to help you come to a decision is 1) Can the spouse who wants to keep it, afford it and 2) If you can afford it, how are you going to offset any equity share that will be going to the other spouse.

What we find is that most clients cannot afford to keep the marital home.  The home is either too expensive and requires the income of both parties to make the payment or the home is entirely too big. You don’t need a 5 bedroom home when you are going from 3 kids and a wife to just you.

I think there sometimes is just a tendency to not want to give up those things that were acquired during the marriage.

Regardless of the reasons, you and your spouse will have to look at this and be reasonable in your decisions. It may be hard, but if someone wants to keep the home, you have to make sure you can afford it and everything that goes along with it such as repairs, property tax and insurance.

The best way to keep the house is to refinance the property and pull any cash out if you are dividing this asset.  This is the only way to totally remove the other spouse from the loan and from title.

While is is possible to remove one from title only via a quit claim deed, doing so leaves you on the loan and open to possible negative credit rating if your spouse failed to make the mortgage payment.  In addition, it may make it more difficult to purchase another home if the existing mortgage shows up in your credit history.

We specialize in divorce in California.  If you have any questions about divorce please feel free to give our office a call.

Emergency Custody Orders During California Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Emergency Custody Orders During California Divorce

We had a client come to us for what he thought was going to be an uncontested divorce case.  At first everything seemed to be going fine, but then things turned sour.

We received a call from our client who said his wife was in the hospital and had overdosed on medication.  His concern, aside from the condition of his wife, was that of his minor child.  He felt that in her current condition that he should probably ask for emergency court orders that he have temporary full custody until his wife is in better condition.

So what we did was prepare what is called an “Ex-Parte” (pronounced “partay” and not “party”) which is where you go into court on a day of your choosing after giving only 24 hours notice to the other party that you are going to court to seek emergency orders.

It is ultimately up to the court if your issue is considered an emergency and worthy of being heard as such.  In this case, the judge did hear our clients motion for full custody and did so make an order that he have full custody until further order of the court.

They will normally set another court date for the parties to return to court to re-assess the order and possibly to hear the other persons side of things, especially where the other party did not appear which is what happened here.

If you are going through a divorce and you need to get temporary emergency orders we can certainly help you achieve getting into court and letting the judge know why you need what you need. Of course, it is always up to the judge to make the orders.

The key to getting your point across is to write a declaration with your motion to explain your side of things.  We have gotten really good at preparing and filing motions and getting our clients into court to obtain orders.  Whether you need to file a motion or respond to a motion your spouse has filed, we can help.

Free Divorce Financial Review With Edward Jones | Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

When you get divorced, it is a good time to have a financial review done so you can see where you are at.  A lot changes after divorce and you will want to look at your investments, life insurance and other finances to see where you are at and possibly make adjustments post divorce.

I interviewed Janelle Percy with Edward Jones about this and she indicated that she would provide a free financial review for our clients who are going through divorce.

Anytime we can provide additional services to our clients we are happy to and glad that we have this connection with a financial advisor here in Santa Clarita.

Watch this short video to learn more.

We are a full service divorce paralegal firm serving California.  We take care of your entire divorce from start to finish and work directly with your local court.  Give us a call for a free consultation.

California Divorce & Claiming Your Spouse’s Social Security Benefits

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

California Divorce & Claiming Your Spouse’s Social Security Benefits

When going through a divorce in California, one of the things you will have to discuss is the issue of social security benefits.

please watch the video below for full explanation.

Did you know that if you are married more than 10 years that you have rights to your spouse’s social security?  Furthermore, claiming your spouses social security does not impact them at all.  The amount of social security that your spouse receives is not reduced if you request to collect off of their social security benefits.

Another thing we discuss in this interview is that if you remarry and are married for less than 10 years you can go back to the prior spouse and again claim their social security.

Use Divorce Court Judgment Forms Not Marital Settlement Agreement

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

The divorce process is difficult, no doubt about it.  From the form completion to ensuring you properly serve and file papers, many people who attempt to file their own California divorce will fail.

This is why we write so many articles about divorce and the process that will hopefully help folks getting through their divorce.  There is something in it for me, of course, and that is that i hope you will come across our divorce articles and videos and then reach out to us and hire us to prepare your divorce case for you.  I figure if i was helpful at some point, and then you need help or decide to hire someone, that you will come to me for help with your divorce.

This article (and video below) will discuss how to prepare your final divorce judgment, also known as Marital Settlement Agreement or MSA.

(watch video for full explanation)



The last part of a California divorce is to prepare the judgment.  This is where you incorporate all your agreements regarding the terms of your divorce.  In addition, there are numerous additional court forms that you will have to prepare along with the agreements.

This is the part that give people most of the trouble and here is what we recommend.

Instead of trying to use a Marital Settlement Agreement type of form where there is drawn out narrative that you probably found online and which wont be accepted by the court, instead use the court judgment forms.

If you look at the FL-180 which is the judgment face sheet, you will notice on page 2 that there are boxes you can check that relate to the type of order.  For instance, lets say child support and child custody as they are at the top. You can check those boxes then use the corresponding form for those orders.  In this case it would be the FL-342 and FL-343.

By using the court judgment forms instead of a MSA you will greatly increase your chances of having your California divorce judgment accepted and approved by the court.

If you need professional assistance with your divorce case please give us call.  We provide full service California divorce services at affordable rates.

 

Already Divorced And Now Need To Modify Judgment

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

When you complete your divorce in California and have your final judgment, there may come a time when you need to make modifications to your judgment.  This may be to modify things such as child support, child custody or spousal support which are the most frequently changed things.

Watch this short video where i explain how to divorce motions after your divorce is finalized.



This can be accomplished by filing a stipulation with the court if the parties agree to the changes.  Otherwise, you need to file a motion with the court (called an RFO) and have it served on your spouse.

When it comes to serving divorce judgment modifications on your spouse after you divorce is finalized, you will usually have to serve it personally on the other party.  When i say you, i mean you have to have someone else personally serve them and have the proof of service filed with the court.

 

California Divorce – Serving Divorce Papers When Spouse Out Of Country

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

We come across clients who have spouses living out of Country and out of state pretty often so wanted to write this article which discusses how you can serve your spouse when going through a California divorce when they are living out of state or out of country.

(watch this short video where I explain)



Lets first talk about when your spouse lives out of state. If you spouse lives out of state, the easiest way to serve them would be to send via certified mail, return receipt.  This is an acceptable method of serving your spouse when they are out of state.  Just don’t forget to use the return receipt, that little green card, because you will need that to file your proof of service form.

Now lets talk about out of country.  I would suggest you simply serve this by mail.  You can have a copy of the divorce papers mailed along with a form called a notice of acknowledgment of receipt.  The other party would sign this form and return it and you would file the notice of acknowledgement with the proof of service.  This form lets the court know that the other party voluntarily accepted the divorce papers by mail.

We are a full service divorce paralegal firm specializing in providing affordable divorce services throughout California.  Let us help you with your divorce case and make sure it gets done correctly the first time.