Filing For Divorce Does Not Mean You’re Divorced

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

I can’t tell you how many calls i get every week where someone tells me that they filed for divorce years ago only to learn they never completed their divorce.

I bring this up because I want to tell you how this can happen.

Today i got a call from someone who said they already have all the divorce papers completed and just wanted me to file and serve them for them.  ( I already suspected this would not be the case) but said go ahead and send over what you have and i will take a look at it.

She emails me “all” the divorce papers she completed.  What did i find?  All she had completed was the initial divorce papers that need to be filed and served.  I told her that this is just the first set of forms to get the divorce case filed.

She said she was told that these were the only forms that she needed to file for divorce.  Ahh! That makes sense.

These are the only forms that you need to “file” for divorce, but are far from all the forms you need to complete your divorce.

And so begins the confusion about divorce and the divorce process.  This person only had the initial divorce forms needed to get the case started, not finished.

I was discussing our fees for us to provide our service and she asked why she would have to pay the fee if she “already completed ALL the divorce forms?”

I had to tell her that she has not completed ALL the divorce forms and had only just begun.  She said she must have not understood.  That part i agreed with!

Divorce and the divorce process in California is not something you want to attempt on your own.  Despite my warnings, many still do.

Had i not intervened and helped clarify how the California divorce process works, this would have been another person who “filed” for divorce and assumed their divorce was complete.

Make sure you finish you divorce.  How do you do that?  Give us a call and we will complete your entire divorce from start to finish and help save you money on court filing fees.

How To Avoid Paying Court Fees During California Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

If you are about to get divorced in California you have probably figured out or soon will learn that it costs $435 to file for divorce in most of the Counties in California.  Some are a bit higher and it seems every year the costs go up.

If you are like most folks you are trying to find a way to save money on your divorce.  So i wanted to explain a little trick we use to help you avoid paying court fees during California divorce.

I just got off the phone with someone calling regarding our services and explained this very thing. They were going to attempt to complete their own divorce and were saying that they were going to file the case and then have the husband respond.  The problem with this is that they are going to have to pay the $435 twice.  Once to file and again to file the response.

Now they have paid $870 in court fees and have to complete their divorce case on their own. Many people are not aware that there are 2 fees in a divorce.

But here is how you avoid paying the court fees and how we process our cases.

First, we file the divorce case in the name of the person not working and who does not have an income.  In this case it was the wife.  We would complete a fee waiver to have the court fees waived.

Next, we don’t have the respondent file a response.  Filing a response is not necessary when the parties agree.  Now there are no court fees.

We do this to help offset the costs of our service.  Because we save you money on the court fees, it almost makes the cost of our service free.  Now we can’t do this on all cases if both parties are working, but at the very least we will save you $435 by not having the respondent file the response.

Divorce in California is tricky and you need to know how to navigate the court system.  Don’t try to do this on your own.  You should hire us to complete your divorce case.  In most cases it will cost you very little to have your divorce case professionally prepared and you won’t have to worry about doing it yourself or going to court.

No You Can’t Use Facebook To Serve California Divorce Papers

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Okay, I keep reading articles on the internet which makes you believe you can serve divorce papers using Facebook.  The captions say, “Court approves use of Facebook to serve divorce papers” or some similar heading. If you just read the heading one would think you could now actually serve divorce papers using Facebook.

(watch this quick video where we discuss this)


Facebook is not an approved way to serve divorce papers. There are strict guidelines on how service of divorce papers, known as “process of service” is to happen.  There are a few ways to serve divorce papers, however the way it is supposed to be done is by personal service.  This means someone has to personally hand the divorce papers to the person being served.

The reason personal service is necessary is because it is the only way that the court really knows that the person the divorce papers are intended for actually received them.  The person that does the personal service would then complete and sign a proof of service form which would be filed with the court.  That way if there is any dispute on whether the person was served or not the court could call that person in and ask about the details of the service of the divorce papers.

 

California Full Service Divorce No Matter Where You Live

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

We are a full service California divorce firm and can handle your divorce case regardless of where you live in California. We work with all the California divorce courts and regardless of where you live, we can assist you.

Our main office is in Los Angeles County and we get calls all the time from people in other counties asking if we can assist them.  The answer is yes!  The California divorce process and divorce forms is uniform throughout California so there is no difference in what county we are filing your case.

We have filed in pretty much all the different counties in California.  I know for certain we have filed in all the major counties, but there are some few very small counties in northern California we may not of hit yet.

But how do we do this if you are not located near us?  Easy. We have a systematized process in place that allows us to prepare all your documents via phone, fax and email.  We file directly with your local court with our seamless process and would guess that about half of our business is done remotely without clients ever coming into our office.

Even folks that live nearby frequently ask to have us prepare their California divorce case via email because of their busy schedules. Sad that people are so busy they can’t even get divorced, but that is California for you.

If you are looking for an affordable easy solution to have your California divorce completed for you, please give us a call.  We do handle California divorce cases anywhere in California.

Are Divorce Rates Higher When You Marry Due To Pregnancy?

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Are Divorce Rates Higher When You Marry Due To Pregnancy?

I was recently reviewing and approving the complete divorce judgments we were submitting to the divorce courts for approval and noticed that several of the divorce judgments were divorce cases which the date of marriage was about 1 month prior to the date of marriage.

This caught my attention, not only because i came across 3 in a row, but because it made me think if the divorce rate is higher for those who get married only because they were pregnant and did not want to have a baby together without being married.

For these couples that we completed their divorce case for them, the relationship obviously did not work out and I wonder how many people get married for only this reason.

I wouldn’t think that being pregnant as the only reason to get married would be a good idea. I can certainly see that there may be pressures from parents and even society that says you should be married if you are going to have a baby.  But it almost seems that it is adding insult to injury.

Meaning you accidentally got pregnant while dating and maybe had no plans on getting married.  You might be young and just made a mistake.  So you decide that you better get married.  For the couples we helped with their divorce, this just added an additional layer of stress now having to get a divorce after just a few months or years of marriage.

I am sure there is no right or wrong answer and that there are some of these marriages that wind up happily ever after.  But i will say that I am noticing a change in how our culture looks at divorce, especially from the younger generation, say in their 20’s and 30’s.

They are taking a much lighter approach to divorce in most cases and calling it quits quickly after marriage.  I often comment that they treat it similar to returning a automobile you would lease.  It just didn’t work out and it’s time to return it.  I know this is not the best analogy, but i think it makes the point.

We are a full service divorce paralegal company headquartered in Santa Clarita, CA and serving all of California with our affordable divorce service.  Please give us a call for a free divorce consultation at 661-281-0266.

How Long Do You Have To Be Married To Get Spouses Social Security

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

How Long Do You Have To Be Married To Get Spouses Social Security

Tim: Now there are some requirements as far as length of marriage, is that correct? Can you give us some details on that?

Janelle: Yes. You have to be married at least ten years to be able to claim this in both situations.

So if you’re close to the ten year point, you might want to delay a little bit just to give yourself the option as being able to claim that their benefits as well.

Tim: So with these ten years rules, ten years in a day and this is applicable to them?

Janelle: Yes.

Tim: Okay.

Janelle: Uh-huh.

Tim: So it’s definitely something they’ll want to consider when going through divorce if you’re over ten years to see how that place out.

Can you get copies from the state as far as your disability payments will they give you?

Janelle: For this Social Security go to the Social Security website—

Tim: For Social Security. Uh-huh.

Janelle: So they’ll go in the website and you can get a copy of yours and your spouse’s benefits, and so they’re going to be—

Tim: You can. This is as simple as going online?

Janelle: Yeah you have to create an account for yourself but yeah you can go online.

Tim: Okay.

Janelle: or else call the Social Security Department but it’s easier to usually go online.

Tim: Got yeah. Okay.

 

How Social Security Spousal Benefits Work During California Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

How Social Security Spousal Benefits Work During California Divorce

Tim:  Okay so let’s talk about a Social Security Benefits specifically there are two types of benefits, right?  There are Spousal Benefits and then there’s Survivor Benefits, is that correct?

Janelle: Correct. So you get these Spousal benefits if your divorced spouse is still alive. And then the Divorce Survivor Benefits are if they have passed away. So they’re a little bit different.

Tim: Okay, let’s tackle this into a chance here. Let’s first talk about a Divorce Spousal Benefits. So this is both parties are still living.

Janelle: Right.

Tim: Let’s talk about some of the like rules and requirements.

Janelle: Okay. Well the earliest you can receive the benefits is if you’re a 62 years old. You wait ‘til your full retirement age which depends varying on when you’re born.

So yeah, if you have any questions you can give me a call on what exactly your full retirement age is.   But then you are entitled to a 100% of your benefits or 50% of your divorce spouse benefits.

Tim: Okay, and I’d ask you some specific questions off camera, what would make—why would one want 50% of the other spouse’s or of their spouse’s versus 100% of their own.

Janelle: On some cases the divorce spouse was making a lot more money and has a higher Social Security Benefit than you’re going to have, so, you want to look at that if for some reason maybe they’re making $2000 and you’re only making $500, you’re entitled to half their benefits which will be a $1000 a month instead of the 500.

So it’s a case by case. You want to go in and get statements for both of your Social Security Benefits and determine which one would be better for you.

Tim: Okay, and so particularly if you have a family where a husband perhaps worked and maybe the wife took care of the kids there’ll be a scenario where this would you know could possibly be a factor.

They’d want to take a look at this.

Janelle: Definitely or if the husband made a lot more money and then the wife did or she had a lower paying job as well.

Tim: Okay. Now there are some requirements as far as length of marriage, is that correct? Can you give us some detail on that?

Janelle: Yes. You have to be married at least 10 years to be able to claim this in both situations.

So if you’re close to the 10 year point you might want to delay a little bit just to give yourself the option of just being able to claim that their benefit as well.

Tim: So with this 10 year rules 10 year in a day and this is applicable to them?

Janelle: Yes.

Tim: Okay. So it’s definitely something they want to consider when going through a divorce if you’re over 10 years to see how that place out.

Can you get copies from the State as far as your disability payments will they give you?

Janelle: For the Social Security go in the Social Security website.

Tim:  Social Security– uh-huh…

Janelle: So they’ll go on the website and you can get a copy of yours and your spouse’s benefits.

Tim: You can?

Janelle: And so they’re going to be –

Tim: It’s as simple as going online?

Janelle: Yeah you have to create an account for yourself but yeah you can go online.

Tim: Okay.

Janelle: Or else call the Social Security Department but it’s easier usually to go online.

Tim: Got you! Okay.

How Does Remarriage Affect Social Security Benefits After Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

How Does Remarriage Affect Social Security Benefits After Divorce

Tim: I just want to touch on one topic if you’re going to claim the divorce spousal benefits what is the rule in regards to being getting remarried, you would loose it if you get remarried? Am I reading that correctly?

Janelle: Yes. If you remarried you can’t get this unless your second marriage ends into divorce. If your second marriage ends then if it was longer than ten years then you have a choice of whose you want to claim. You can claim either spouse.

Tim: So oh interesting! So I–you get divorced you’re collecting let’s say and you remarried that would terminate the collection of Social Security from the prior marriage?

Janelle: Yes, it would.

Tim: Okay. And then if they divorced again then they have—well they have to be married for at least another ten years?

Janelle: Right and then makes the action and if they do get divorced before ten years they can claim the first spouse’s social security.

Tim: They go back or either back and claim it.

Janelle: Right.

Tim: Okay.

Getting A Divorce | Review Your Finances Using The Financial Divorce Checklist

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Getting A Divorce | Review Your Finances Using The Financial Divorce Checklist

Tim: So you with Edward Jones you’ve come up with a divorce checklist and I liked it the check boxes and all that.

You’re suggesting that you know of course this is a good time to do a lot of things, the Auto Insurance, Life Insurance, Financial Planning and so forth.

This is the time where you need to sit down regardless of what’s into this divorce you’re on if you’re the working spouse or not the working spouse to do a financial review and that’s a service that you offer for Edward Jones, is that correct?

Janelle: Yes, that’s correct.

Tim: Okay, let’s talk about a little bit about that. I don’t know if you want to talk about the checklist first, you want to talk about just the financial review in general?

Janelle: Oh well, let’s talk about the checklist.

Tim: Okay.

Janelle: Because it leads into that the financial review.

Tim: Perfect!

Janelle: So this is a checklist that we put together just with the basics. It’s a difficult time. It’s easy since there’s so much paper work in everything to think about.

It will help you go through and take a look at the different things you need to think about.

Some of the big ones on here are making sure that you change your beneficiaries on your Life Insurance.

If you have an IRA that you’re going to keep and it’s not going to be divided you want to make sure that, that beneficiaries changed as well.

You don’t want something to happen to you and the money going to the wrong spouse.

Tim: Okay.

Janelle: I’m also in here talking about, you know, setting up trust and living will, [durable 2:26] powers of attorney.

Tim: Uh-huh…

Janelle: All these and the things that go along with that as well.

 

Free Divorce Financial Review With Janelle Percy At Edward Jones

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Free Divorce Financial Review With Janelle Percy At Edward Jones

Tim: Why don’t you let people know how they can get a hold of you?

Janelle: Yes, my office is in Stevenson Ranch of the Old Road and you can get a hold of me at 661-799-2789.

Tim: And give Janelle a call and she will provide a free financial review. We’re also going to be recommending Janelle to all of our clients going through the Divorce process with us. It doesn’t hurt whether you’re going through divorce or not, it’s probably once a year—

Janelle: Exactly!

Tim: …you could sit down and do something like this and this is a major life turning or life changing event rather and you know you’re going to be dealing with finances and the kids and all these other stuff you don’t enjoy, so, mind as well take this time to sit down with Janelle and do a financial view and review at the same time I don’t see why any of our clients would turn this down.

Janelle: No, exactly.

Tim: I think it’s a great service you provide. And you know people would say to me thank you for serving and same to you thank you for serving and I don’t ever know how to respond to that.

Janelle: I know.

Tim: It’s like yeah okay thanks you know this is what we did.

Janelle: Exactly!

Tim: So but anyways thanks for coming and please give Janelle a call if you would like your free financial review or talk about life insurance or if you have questions about the Social Security that we discussed in these videos. Other than that thanks for tuning in and we’ll talk to you soon.