Santa Clarita Summer Beach Bus Service 2017 Begins June 3rd

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Summer Beach Bus Service Starts June 3

Santa Clarita Transit brings back its annual Beach Bus to Santa Monica

I have never taken the bus to the beach from Santa Clarita, but it does seem like a fun idea. Hard to believe that for only $3 each way or just $6 round trip can get you down to the Santa Monica pier.

No driving the 405, no looking for parking, no paying $15 to park near the beach sounds good to me. And you can bring coolers, beach toys and even surfboards. Where do they put all that?

Anyways, has anyone ever used the Santa Clarita Summer Beach Bus service? Wondering if it is a nice ride or cramped with crying, hungry kids.

Below is from the City of Santa Clarita’s website.

Beginning Saturday, June 3, 2017, residents can board Santa Clarita Transit’s Summer Beach Bus to travel to Santa Monica on Saturdays and Sundays. Santa Clarita Transit is excited to once again offer the popular service which allows residents to ride to the beach with ease on one of the City’s comfortable, air-conditioned commuter express buses. The Summer Beach Bus runs through Sunday, September 3.

Summer Beach Bus fares are $3.00 each way for children and adults and $1.50 each way for Senior Citizens and persons with disabilities. Riders may pay using stored value on their TAP card or in exact cash; monthly passes will not be accepted.

Buses will depart at approximately 8:40 a.m. and return at 4:30 p.m., ensuring a full day of beach activities without the stress of freeway driving and finding parking.

Two bus routes will depart on each Saturday and Sunday from various stops in Santa Clarita and take residents to the Santa Monica Pier. Shuttle departure stops include Canyon Country Park, Soledad Canyon Road and Solamint Drive, Soledad Canyon Road and Shangri-La Drive, Via Princessa Metrolink Station, McBean Regional Transit Center, Railroad Avenue and 15th Street, Newhall Metrolink Station, Newhall Avenue and Valle Del Oro, and Newhall Avenue and Sierra Highway.

Travelers may bring their beach chairs, coolers and surfboards.

Thanks Santa Clarita for putting together a way to get down to the beach affordably and safely. For more information you can visit the Santa Clarita Website Here.

Notarize Santa Clarita Divorce Papers Required?

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Notarize Santa Clarita Divorce Papers Required?

Do you need to have your Santa Clarita divorce papers notarized? This is a question I get a lot. In the past I provided the different reasons of when you would need to notarize certain divorce papers and when you didn’t.

For instance, In an uncontested case, you do not normally need to have your final judgment papers notarized. But some of the courts over the last few years have modified this and put in their own rules.

For instance, one court, even with uncontested divorce cases, that where a petition and a response was file in the divorce case one court in Los Angeles County began requiring both signatures to be notarized on uncontested divorce cases when it was a marriage of long duration (over 10 years) and they were asking the court to terminate the jurisdiction over the issue of spousal support.

In another case, a default with agreement (where no response is filed, but the parties enter into a written agreement) normally only the Respondent, who did not file a Response needs to have their signature notarized.

So you can see it can be very confusing on when and when you don’t need to have your signature notarized on your divorce judgment. So instead of trying to explain this to everyone and to make things simpler we simply ask all our Santa Clarita Divorce clients to notarize their signatures on the divorce judgment in all cases.

We are a full service paralegal divorce firm in Santa Clarita. We handle divorce cases throughout California. If you need assistance with your divorce, are stuck in the paperwork or are just getting started with your divorce, give us a call. We  can help.

Santa Clarita Divorce : STRS & PERS Pensions Must Be Listed On Judgment

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Santa Clarita Divorce : STRS & PERS Pensions Must Be Listed On Judgment

Whenever you are going through a divorce in California, part of the process is first disclosing your assets and debts which will ultimately end up on a judgment or marital settlement agreement.

What a lot of people think is that when an asset is in their name only, that it does not count or does not need to be listed. This happens a lot of times when people call me and say they have no assets or debts “together”. What they are saying is that they do have assets and debts, but that they are only in each of their names, and not together.

(Watch video or continue reading below)

But what they are not aware of is how California’s community property laws work. Essentially, community property is anything that was acquired during the marriage (with some exceptions). What this means in plain English is that it does not matter in whose name an asset or debt is in, it depends on when it was accrued.

So speaking of pensions and STRS and PERS specifically, this is where people say they have no assets to divide, but then later i find out they have pensions. When I ask why they didn’t state this, they say, “we’ll it’s only in my name”. You can see how this is not correct.

Here is a few issues. First, you may think you don’t have to disclose a particular asset because it is in your name only. That is not how it works. When you do your disclosure, you are listing all assets and debts, community and separate.

Second, if you don’t list your assets and debts on your judgment or marital settlement agreement, then you have no court order stating who is keeping that particular asset or debt and leave yourself exposed for future issues.

Third, is specific to STRS and PERS. We had a client who forgot to list his STRS pension on his disclosures and therefore it did not end up on his judgment. When he went to call STRS (State Teacher’s Retirement System) they said that his STRS pension was not listed on the judgment. The issue this caused is that they required language in the judgment that addressed his STRS pension. Specifically, they needed the judgment to say he was being awarded 100%. Otherwise, they were not going to be able to disburse his pension upon retirement and would not allow him to change beneficiaries. You can see how this is problematic.

This was all fixed by us filing a stipulation stating he was awarded his STRS pension, but this is an issue that could have been avoided.

The short story is that if you have assets and debts, no matter in whose name, you should disclose and those assets and debts need to be confirmed to one party or the other. This will keep you safe and help avoid problems down the road.

Original Signatures Required On Santa Clarita Divorce Forms?

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Original Signatures Required On Santa Clarita Divorce Forms?

Do you need original signatures on your divorce paperwork? For the most part the answer is yes. However there are many forms where you can file a fax or scan signature.

The reason this is important to know is that many times you can file your paperwork with a scan or just a fax of your signature. Now, if you are doing your own divorce, likely this is not an issues as when you go to file your divorce paperwork with the court, you will be walking in your paperwork, so you will likely have original signatures. (keep reading below video)

However, the folks that use our Santa Clarita divorce service it is important to know that you don’t need original signatures on certain divorce documents.

Here is how it works when you use our Santa Clarita Divorce service. When you get started with us, we don’t need original signatures on the Petition, Summons (no signature on that form anyways), UCCJEA – FL-105 or the Family Law Case Cover Sheet form FAM-020.

The reason I have gone to the trouble to explain this is that if you are using our full service divorce we can get your Santa Clarita divorce started via email or fax. When folks hire us we get started immediately and send out the initial court documents for signature. We ask that you simply fax or scan these documents back to us so we can file with the court.

Yes, we can file these initial court documents with the court with just a fax of scan signature. This allows us to get started with your divorce case without delay.

The other forms that the court will accept with a fax or scanned signature are the financial disclosures which are the following forms FL-141 and the FL-150.

When it comes time to submit your divorce judgment forms, you will need original signatures on all of those documents.

Santa Clarita Divorce : How To Serve Divorce Papers : Petition & Summons Service

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Santa Clarita Divorce : How To Serve Divorce Papers

There are several ways to serve your Santa Clarita divorce papers.  When people here the word “served” they automatically think of “personal service”.  And while personal service of your Santa Clarita divorce papers is what people commonly think of, there are other ways to have your spouse served divorce papers. Let’s discuss a few ways to serve divorce papers.

Personal Service Of Santa Clarita Divorce Papers

First, you have what we were just talking about, personal service. This means that you have someone, other than yourself, over the age of 18, and not a party to the case, literally hand the divorce papers being served to the person being served.

Many people think that when they personally serve someone divorce papers that the person receiving them needs to sign something. This is not correct. When you personally serve someone divorce papers, you literally just hand them to them and walk away.  Even if they look at them and drop them or throw them, they have been served.

But how does the court know they have been served? Because the person who served the divorce papers will fill out a proof of personal service of summons and file it with the court.

Service By Notice and Acknowledgment Of Receipt of Divorce Papers

Second, is the way were prefer to have our clients served. It is simply by having the person being served, also known as the Respondent, sign a form FL-117 which is a notice of acknowledgment of receipt. This is a form that gets signed where the Respondent is saying they received a copy by mail.

This is our go-to-way of serving our amicable divorce clients who are using our service. Why? Because people going through amicable divorce cases in Santa Clarita don’t want to have their spouse embarrassed at work by having someone come into their place of residence or business and have someone hand them divorce papers. That’s why!

For that reason, we don’t do that unless the divorce case we are handling is not amicable, or where the other party is not returning the notice of acknowledgment.

Service Of Divorce Papers By Certified Mail

Third, you have certified mail. Yes, you can serve divorce papers by certified mail, but only if the other party is living out of state. And, there are different rules on what you use for the date of service on the judgment when you are using service by certified mail and specific instructions.

How you ultimately serve your spouse the divorce papers will be based upon if your Santa Clarita divorce is amicable or not. We always try the easy way first and people are glad to hear that their spouse will not be getting personally served.

Santa Clarita Divorce : Will I Have To Go To Court For My Divorce?

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Santa Clarita Divorce : Will I Have To Go To Court For My Divorce?

Whether you have to go to court or not for your Santa Clarita divorce depends much on what you have going on.

What I mean to say is that if your case is contested and you have attorneys and cannot come to an agreement for your divorce out of court, then you likely will end up in divorce court.

However, if you are working with our Santa Clarita divorce service, you will not have to go to divorce court.

The reason you won’t have to go to divorce court if you our Santa Clarita divorce service is because if you are using our divorce service your divorce is likely amicable or at least somewhat amicable.

When you use our Santa Clarita divorce service, we handle all the paperwork and go to court for you. We don’t go to court to handle contested divorce cases or represent you in court, rather we handle all the filing of the divorce paperwork and preparation of all the forms to finalize your divorce.

People often think that it is mandatory that they go to court. They will say something like, “What will the judge say about our agreements” or “At what point to we go to court for our divorce”? And they are often surprised when I tell them that they won’t be going to court if they use my Santa Clarita Divorce service and end up coming to an agreement.

You see, the only reason people end up in court is because they could not figure things out on their own and need to have a judge make a decision for them.

The folks that use our Santa Clarita divorce service utilize us to help them draft their divorce marital settlement agreement so we can submit their agreements to court.

Again, just to be clear, if you use our service, all paperwork is completed by us and no appearance in divorce court is required.

Santa Clarita Divorce : How To Look Up Your Divorce Case Online

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Santa Clarita Divorce : How To Look Up Your Divorce Case Online

Did you know that you can look up your Santa Clarita Divorce online? You can’t actually see the divorce forms that were filed, but you can see them listed by the form number.

When people call me about their Santa Clarita divorce and have questions about either the process or procedure, one of the first things I will ask them for is their divorce case number. The reason I want to see their divorce case number is because I can see what divorce forms were filed which gives me an idea of where their case is at.

Below is an older videos I did in 2012 which explains more. (keep reading below video)

This is important because it allows me to help figure out what needs to happen in order to finalize their divorce case.

Many times people call me about their Santa Clarita divorce because they need help finalizing their divorce.  Many times people try to start their own divorce on their own and run into trouble. When they call me in the middle of their divorce case, it is easier for me to figure out what is remaining by looking up their case number online.

If you are doing your own Santa Clarita Divorce, you will want to check on your online case summary frequently. The reason I say this is because when people are representing themselves, such as your spouse, they may not know what forms they need to serve on you. If they don’t follow proper procedure and don’t serve you it may turn out that your divorce gets finalized without you knowing it.

We also see a lot of spouses intentionally trying to trick their spouse and tell them everything is fine, while behind the scenes they are trying to finalize the divorce without them, trying to gain some financial advantage.

This is why it is important to use a professional divorce service like us. Give us a call for a free consultation and we can take a look at your case and help you finalize your Santa Clarita divorce case wherever point you are at.

Santa Clarita Divorce Process : Divorce 661

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Santa Clarita Divorce Process : Divorce 661

When going through a divorce in Santa Clarita, California there are several things you should know. There are the rules your need to know about as far as California law is concerned and you need to have an  understanding of how to properly prepare your divorce papers if you are thinking of doing your own divorce.

In this video we discuss what the divorce process looks like in California. (keep reading below video)

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When I say you need to know the law, I mean to say that you at least need to have a basic understanding of how community property works and how spousal support is addressed at a very minimum.

For instance, for community property, you need to know at the very basic level is that community property is simply those things you have acquired during the marriage and that generally they are divided equally during divorce.

And for spousal support, you need to know the rules related to short term marriages vs long term marriages and how spousal support is calculated, how much it will be and for how long your should pay or receive spousal support.

Now, when it comes to the process of getting a divorce in Santa Clarita, we are talking about form completion and the different types of divorce you can go through procedurally.

Meaning are you going to have a contested divorce? An uncontested divorce? Maybe a true default or default with agreement. These are all different ways to complete your Santa Clarita Divorce.

As far as how you are going to get your divorce done.  You have choices to make here as well. Are you going to try to do your own divorce? Hire a professional divorce paralegal company like us? Or, are you going to decide to hire an attorney.

Your specific situation is going to dictate who you use to complete your Santa Clarita Divorce and by what process you will complete it.

If you need assistance with your divorce, please feel free to schedule a free phone consultation with us.

Santa Clarita Divorce Paralegal Service : Divorce 661

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Santa Clarita Divorce Paralegal Service : Divorce 661

Back in 2012 when I started my divorce paralegal / LDA business, I knew video was the way to get my message across, but when I look back I can’t help but cringe on what I thought the message should be.

The first videos I did appear to be more advertisement, instead of what I am more known for which is providing more “how-to’s” and help videos more than anything else.

So honestly, this video does not do much else but tell you what my name is and what we do. I guess a little informative, but think you would expect to see this on a tv commercial or something like that.

And I don’t understand why these videos are now so blurry, because they were not when they first went up.

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Santa Clarita Divorce Paralegal vs. Divorce Legal Document Assistant

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Santa Clarita Divorce Paralegal vs. Divorce Legal Document Assistant

In this video I discuss what a divorce legal document assistant is and how we are different than a divorce paralegal service.

The biggest different between a legal document assistant and a paralegal is this. A legal document assistant is allowed to work directly with clients to assist them with their Santa Clarita divorce. A paralegal cannot do this. A divorce paralegal has to work for an attorney and be supervised by that attorney.

What this means is that you cannot just hire the paralegal, you have to hire the divorce attorney or law firm. So if someone is representing that they are a divorce paralegal, technically they are in illegal business and should not be providing these legal services.

I decided to go through some of my old YouTube videos from over 5 years ago and it was interesting to see my early video beginnings.  What is funny is that the camera is slightly out of focus, but hey, at least I got out there and was creating content! (Read More Below Video)

But you as the consumer would not know that divorce paralegals cannot technically assist you and by and large, this industry is not monitored and there is no recourse for these unauthorized paralegal practices in Santa Clarita, so they are allowed to stay in business.

The reason these people do this is because there are requirements to becoming registered as a Legal Document Assistant and because they don’t have the property training, background and / or education, they cannot meet the requirements to become registered Legal Document Assistants in California.

So the short story is you need to verify that they are a Divorce Legal Document Assistant and not just a paralegal.

How do you tell? Ask to see their Legal Document Assistant registration card. I have mine right on the front of our website to show we are a company that can be in business.