Santa Clarita Divorce | When Should Spouse Move Out Of Home? | Divorce661.com

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

When going through an amicable divorce in Santa Clarita and you are still living together, at one point there needs to be a decision of one of the spouses to move out or both move out.  There is no right or wrong answer or time within one needs to move out. This will totally be dependent on your situation such as if you are selling your home, have a lease ending soon or not or at what point in the divorce process you feel like it makes sense for one of you to move out.

We explain more in the video below.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Tim Blankenship here with Divorce661.com and we had a client ask us recently, what is the best time to move out of the house during the divorce process?

So if you have not already moved out, prior to filing for divorce, which seems to be the case for most of our clients, they’re still living together when we file their case, when you guys decide to move out is going to be completely up to you guys.

So if you are in the middle of the process and you guys want to move out, that’s fine. We simply update the court with your new address. Some will wait until the divorce paperwork is signed where both parties have signed the agreement and then they will separate. One person will move out ect.

Others. wait until the six months of up and they are actually officially divorced.  And then we even have some clients that continue to live together past the divorce being finalized.

So there is no rule regarding this. It’s whatever works best for you. If you guys were amicable and using our service then it’s completely up to you what you want to do.

Santa Clarita Legal Separation Divorce

Santa Clarita Divorce | How To Speed Up Your Legal Separation Case | Divorce661.com

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Legal separation and divorce are nearly identical when it comes to going through the process.  All the same decisions are made but there is one big difference.  There is not a 6 month cooling off period with Legal Separation like there is with divorce.

There is a way to speed up the legal separation process as far as getting the court to approve your judgment sooner which we discuss in the below video. You can also read the video transcript below.

Tim Blankenship here with Divorce661.com and I want to talk a little bit about legal separation cases. Keep in mind, there’s no six month waiting period like there is with divorce when you file your paperwork. So if you’re trying to streamline your legal separation case you can file your judgment much quicker.

You can file your case for legal separation. Have it served wait 30 days and immediately submit your legal separation judgment for review by the court. You don’t have to wait the six months, you can turn it in at any time after the time is passed from the 30 days of the of the respondent being served.

Or if you want to do it even quicker file and this is what we do, we filed the petition for legal separation, immediately behind that file a response for legal separation. The very next day and immediately following that you can submit your judgment for legal separation because you’ve already established the jurisdiction by the respondent filing the response.

Just a quick tip from Tim at Divorce661.com

Santa Clarita Divorce File Response Fee

Santa Clarita Divorce | Should You File A Divorce Response? | Divorce661.com

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

If you are going through an amicable divorce in Santa Clarita there are a few ways to get through the divorce process.  We are talking about procedural ways regarding the type of divorce you file.

You probably heard the word, “uncontested divorce”.  Did you know the word “Uncontested” has two meanings?  To you it probably means that you and your spouse are amicable and in agreement. And that is a true meaning of the word.

But, to the Courts, uncontested means that a Response form FL-120 was filed with the court.  That is what we mean about it being a procedural meaning. If a response is filed in your Santa Clarita divorce case, all that means to the court is that a response form was filed in the case.

What this article is about, however, is if you should file a response at all…

Our amicable Santa Clarita divorce service focuses on saving our clients money and helping them through the divorce process and keeping them out of court.

To help save them money, we purposely don’t have them file the response (some courts require it  regardless) but Los Angeles County does not require a response be filed for your divorce case.

The reason we bring this up is because when you file a Response, it triggers a 2nd Court filing fee.  You see, when the divorce is filed, when the Petition is filed, the petitioner pays a filing fee.

A lot of people don’t know that when you go to file the response to the divorce, the court will collect another filing fee to file the response.

People are surprised when we tell them that. But then are glad we are explaining that by using our services you will save that second court filing fee which helps offset the cost of our professional services.

Santa Clarita Divorce Default Judgment

Santa Clarita Divorce | Default With Written Agreement Divorce Judgment | Divorce661.com

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Santa Clarita Divorce | Default With Written Agreement Divorce Judgment | Divorce661.com

If you are trying to do your own divorce in Santa Clarita and you and your spouse are amicable you’re going to want to know that there is a difference between a true default judgment and a default with written agreement divorce judgment.

Tim Blankenship speaks on this issue in the video below. You can also read the video transcript below.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Remember there’s two types of defaults default with written agreement and default without a written agreement. We get lots of calls people asking for help when they start their own divorce and they want us to find lies and get them through the process.

Just got off the call of the gentleman who found himself in this very predicament, they filed for divorce. Said there an agreement but then try to do a true default judgment submission which means the other party’s not signing.

So I asked, are they Cooperative? Yes. Well they sign the Judgment. Yes, then why are you submitting a default without a written agreement?

You And ask for things like no spousal support on long-term marriages,  you can’t divide up property other than going 50/50 on everything if you’re due to True default, whereas if you have a default with written agreement, you guys get to call the shots to buy property, how you want terminate spousal support. If you want have custody Anyway you want you have a lot more options with a default with written agreement and that’s how we put our clients through The process is default with written agreement every time.

Santa Clarita Divorce Will I Have To Go To Court

Amicable Santa Clarita Divorce | Will You Have To Go To Court? | Divorce661.com

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Amicable Santa Clarita Divorce | Will You Have To Go To Court? | Divorce661.com

A question we get a lot is, “will we have to go to court if we are in agreement”.  The answer I would give before is that it was virtually guaranteed that you would not have to go to court if you were amicable in your divorce and reached a full agreement.

I’ve had to modify that to a 99.999% chance that you won’t have to go to court.  Watch this 1 minute video where we explain.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

A question that came up the other day was, do we have to go to court If we have a full agreement and used our services here at Divorce661.com and the answer is no 99.999% of the time.

I used to say 100 percent chance, you will not have to go to court, but we have in 10 years, had two people where the court requested the parties appear at a hearing despite the fact that we had submitted a full agreement the court had no issue with the paperwork. The forms were correct, the I’s were dotted. The T’s were crossed, Etc. The issue was it and it usually comes down to this is regarding children and child support.

So, if the court does have a question of clarification regarding the orders or the settlement agreement you have agreed to, the court has the final say, so they can call you in if they have questions, they’re not going to change anything on you, but they usually just want some points of clarification.

So I just wanted to clear that up.

Santa Clarita Divorce | What Is An Equalization Payment? | Divorce661.com

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Santa Clarita Divorce | What Is An Equalization Payment? | Divorce661.com

When going through a divorce in Santa Clarita you get to decide how to divide up your assets and debts and other decisions that have to be made.  And hopefully you are going through an amicable divorce…

When dividing up your assets and debts sometimes one spouse may have more assets or debts in their name and you may need to even out the assets and debts values that each spouse is going to receive in the divorce case.

One reason this may come up is as follows.  Let’s say that you both have a pension. Spouse # 1’s is worth $100k and spouse # 2 is worth say $50k.  And let’s further assume that you guys did not want to prepare a QDRO and divide up the pensions.  Lets also assume that there is some other monies, such as the equity from a home from a sale or potential sale of the home.

What you guys could do in this situation is instead of dividing up the pensions, you could equalize the amounts received through the  equity of the home.  So we know spouse # 1 had $50k more in their pension. So $25k, has to come from somewhere to equalize the amount to be received by each spouse to make it even. (keep in mind, this is not required – if you both agreed that one spouse can keep more than the other, that is fine too)

So what you could do here is spouse #2 could receive an additional $25k in equity from the home to offset or equalize these amounts. Another idea, is one spouse could take on more debt to equalize the total amount received in the divorce.

When going through and amicable divorce in Santa Clarita and using a service such as Divorce661.com you have a lot of options when dividing up your community property.

Divorce661 is located in Santa Clarita, CA and provides a full service divorce solution across California. If you are going through an amicable divorce in Santa Clarita or anywhere in California we would love to assist you.

Santa Clarita Divorce File Response Amicable

Santa Clarita Divorce | No Response If Case Amicable | Divorce661.com

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Santa Clarita Divorce | No Response If Case Amicable | Divorce661.com

If you are trying to do your own Santa Clarita Divorce and going through the Court’s self help centers, they are going to tell you one way of how to handle your case.

The way they have you handle your divorce is by assuming your case is NOT amicable and that you will be going to court or to trial at some point.

So based on this, their process is to have you file paperwork with this assumption. That said, the courts process states that once you have filed for divorce and served your spouse, your spouse is required to file a response within 30 days.  This is the standard process for what is known as an uncontested divorce.

That said, there are ways to get through the divorce process and not have to file a response. If you and your spouse are amicable, there is a way to finalize your divorce without the Response being filed and yet still be completely involved in the divorce process and both parties sign a written agreement.

This is how we handle our Santa Clarita divorce clients amicable divorce cases. Why? Because if you are amicable, no response is needed AND it saves you having to pay the 2nd court fee that is triggered when you file the Response.

Divorce661 is located in Santa Clarita, CA and handles amicable divorce cases throughout California.

santa clarita divorce file response

Santa Clarita Divorce | Can You File Divorce Response Form FL-120 After 30 Days? | Divorce661.com

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Santa Clarita Divorce | Can You File Divorce Response Form FL-120 After 30 Days? | Divorce661.com

There is a lot of misunderstanding on the whole, “You have 30 days  to file a Response to your Divorce”.

While it is true that you technically only have 30 days to file a Response to your Santa Clarita Divorce, there are a few things you should know.

First, the 30 days does not start until you have been served the divorce papers, not when the case was filed. So if the Santa Clarita divorce case was filed 2 months ago, but you were just served yesterday, the 30 days begins yesterday.

Second, nothing automatically happens after 30 days.  The Petitioner to the divorce would have to take the specific action of preparing and fling a Request To Enter Default Form FL-165.  Until this form is filed, you always have the ability to file the Response.

With our amicable Santa Clarita divorce clients this is never an issue. We don’t file the request to enter default until we are submitting the judgment. We do this so we can provide a full agreement to the court. You see, the benefit of not filing a Response for our amicable clients is that you don’t have to pay the 2nd court filing fee which is triggered when the Response was filed.

So just know that until the request to enter default has been filed, you can always file your Response if you choose to do so.  You can do this even years later after you’ve been served.

Divorce661.com is a full service divorce paralegal firm located in Santa Clarita, CA and assist with parties going through an amicable divorce.  We serve clients across California as our services are provided remotely and no court appearance is required.

santa clarita divorce cost

Santa Clarita Divorce | How Much Does A Divorce In Santa Clarita Cost? | Divorce661.com

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Santa Clarita Divorce | How Much Does A Divorce In Santa Clarita Cost? | Divorce661.com

Okay, so the video below was meant to be funny and hopefully you see it that way.

The point being is that divorce in Santa Clarita can be very expensive depending on how amicable or not you two are.

If you have an amicable divorce, as with the clients we work with here in Santa Clarita, your costs for divorce can be very low.  However, if you have contested divorce in Santa Clarita, once where you require divorce attorneys and court and multiple hearings, etc., you could be looking at 10’s of thousands of dollars.

Now, I know you don’t always control how amicable you and your spouse might be.  It does take both of you to try to be reasonable and amicable and find solutions so you can reach an agreement.

And we understand that is is not always possible.  But if it is possible that you and your spouse can reach an agreement, Divorce661 is a great resource to assist you with your amicable divorce in Santa Clarita.

Divorce661.com is located in Santa Clarita, CA and handles amicable divorce cases across California. No office visit is required and no court is required when you use our services.

Santa Clarita Divorce | Is There An Advantage To Being The Petitioner? | Divorce661.com

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

We get asked all the time if there is an advantage to being the Petitioner in your Santa Clarita Divorce.  My answer is always the same. If you are going through an amicable divorce in Santa Clarita, there is no advantage to being the Petitioner to the divorce vs. the Respondent.

Keep in mind that California is a no-fault state, which means it does not matter who or what is the cause of your divorce. You could be the party who does not even want the divorce, but your spouse does and you can still be the Petitioner.

You notice they call it “Petitioner” vs. “Plaintiff” and “Respondent” vs. “Defendant” for a reason.  You are either petitioning for divorce or responding to the divorce.

Divorce661 is Located in Santa Clarita, CA and provides a full service divorce solution across California for parties going through and amicable divorce.