Pasadena Divorce Judgment Rejected | A Review Of Issues With Divorce Paperwork

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

About half the time when people call me they have tried to handle their own divorce case and got hung up and had their divorce judgment or other documents rejected by the courts.

The below is an email I sent to a client after reviewing their divorce paperwork which had been rejected by the court. While the court only cited 1 or 2 issues, upon my review, I found the following major issues with her case.

 

The reason this happens is because the clerks, when they see it is prepared by the parties themselves, look for only 1 or 2 issues and don’t review the entire case. This is why people end up getting their divorce judgment rejected multiple times, each time for different reasons.

I want to preface this email with saying don’t take anything the wrong way (sometimes I hate email). There was no way you guys would know not to make the mistakes that were made. Some may require a hearing with the court. I will explain everything in detail so you understand the issues and challenges.

First, I have to redo every single form. The only form I did not redo was the petition and that is because it was already amended and you only get one amendment, otherwise I would be amending that form as well.

Second, when the Amended petition was filed, it was filed by itself. When you amend the Petition you also have to file an amended Summons and an amended UCCJEA (FL-105) even if there are no changes to them. (Again, you would not know this… And remember our conversation about the courts not being helpful)

2 problems here. Number one is the original petition listed your names as first, middle and last. The amended Petition only had first and last names. This needed to remain the same. I cannot file another amended petition without filing a motion to get you a court date to get approval for the additional amendment. Number two is aforementioned issue of not filing the amended FL-105 and summons with the Amended Petition.

So, I am going to file the FL-105 and Summons and attempt to file them. I say attempt because they were supposed to be all filed together. If they don’t allow this, motion will need to be filed.  (NEEDED SIGNATURES) ** Please have XXXX sign the FL-105 and fax or scan back to me. This is the first order of business.

Third, and you really won’t like this unless you’re not in a hurry to finish the divorce. Because an amended Petition was filed it would have had to be  re-served. Because the FL-105 and Summons were not filed with it, even if it was served would be bad service.

SO, if the court allows us to file the FL-105 and Summons, service cannot occur until those have been filed. Therefore, we are starting over from the very beginning.

Forth, I need you to also complete and income and expense declaration. I have attached above and will also need 2 months of paystubs. I will also need 2 months of pay stubs from XXXX as well.

As you can see there was much more to fix than what the reject sheet said. This is very common. Even with the way I am trying to do this may not work. The correct way would be to file a motion with the court, get a court date in 2 months (soonest) get the approval for the 2nd amended Petition, file that, get it served and then 30 days later, file the judgment. In the interest of time, I want to spare those 2 months and once the FL-105 and Summons are filed, I can have you sign a notice of acknowledgment of receipt of the petition (attached as well which will count as me serving you) wait 30 days and turn in your judgment.

I Received My Filed FL-165 For My Divorce | Is My Divorce Over?

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

When we handle a divorce case we file the FL-165, Request To Enter Default along with the judgment. It is just easier that way. That said, the Request To Enter Default form goes to the default clerk and processes those before the judgment clerk processes the judgment.

Every time my clients receive this filed FL-165, Request To Enter Default, they call or email me to ask if this is their final paperwork and if they should expect to receive anything else.

 

The Request To Enter Default form FL-165 is just the first part of your divorce judgment being processed. Generally, you can expect to receive your final judgment package back about 30 or so days after you receive the filed FL-165. I figured if my clients are asking about this, others have the same questions so hope this helps clarify.

How Do I Find My Los Angeles County Divorce Case Summary

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Many people are not aware that you can look up your Los Angeles divorce case summary online. This is a useful tool when you want to verify that certain documents have been filed with the court. I use the court’s website daily when interacting with our divorcing clients. In this video I explain where you go to find your case summary for your divorce in Los Angeles County.

 

Van Nuys Divorce Paralegal Firm Forges Court Forms

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

One of the most frustrating things about my business is my supposed competitors. The majority of paralegal companies are not licensed and this industry is not regulated. Most people don’t know that you have to be a Legal Document Assistant in California to provide legal services. This takes a college degree, experience working with the court’s and training under an attorney.

We have this legal document assistant certification.

 

What is frustrating is that these unlicensed paralegal companies only marketing tool is to offer cheap discounted prices. Then what they do is forge fee waiver court forms so that the money that is supposed to be paid to the court in filing fees is pocketed by the company.

The True Cost Of Getting Divorced In California

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Unless you know someone who has gone through divorce who has talked about how much money they have spent on their divorce, you won’t believe me. But I am just going to come out and say it. The average cost of divorce is $30,000. That is $30,000 per person. Go ahead, do your own research and Google it… When you’re done with this book that is.

The thing is, it does not matter if it is $30,000, $20,000, or $50,000, it is just a lot of money. I am not trying to argue my point for the $30,000 either, I just want to make sure I caught your attention at how much a divorce can cost. Now, you may be saying, “We’ll, that is for highly contested cases that go to court”.

Some might be, but usually those types of cases go upwards of $60,000 to $100,000. I know you don’t believe me. It’s okay. Let’s just agree that divorce can be expensive. I can live with that and we can still be friends.

In this chapter I am going to explain to you why using an attorney for your divorce can be so expensive. I am going to discuss ways of saving money (in the event you do actually need an attorney) and how attorneys bill you. I am going to walk you through the process of calling an attorney, going to the consultation and reviewing the attorney retainer agreement.

What I am about to share with you is one of the most widely misunderstood issues of hiring an attorney. And this is the topic of how attorney retainers work.

Now, we are talking about divorce attorney retainers here as that is where my experience has been first hand. I am going to share with you how people quickly get in over their heads, spend way more money than they wanted or knew was being spent and how all that happens. Essentially, I am going to pull back the curtain on how the process of working with attorneys works.

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How To Fill Out California Divorce FL-150 When Self Employed

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

When You fill out the FL-150 for your California divorce and are self employed, you are going to fill out the FL-150 differently that you would if you were an employee. Essentially, you will not be completing the top of page 1 of the FL-150 as that is for people that are employed. Under the employer information, you can just write self employed. Make sure to fill out the rest of page 1 of the FL-150. Then on page 2 of the FL-150 you will see where it asks about business and self employment income. This is where you will indicate you are self employed or a business owner on the FL-150.

 

Do I Need A Specified Child Custody Schedule For My California Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

When you are going through divorce in California and have children, you are going to need to have a child custody order which is form FL-341. This is a 3 page form where you can get very specific about the custody arrangement.

Some people believe that because the child custody order goes into so much detail that they need to have a detailed child custody agreement. This is not the case. You can have a child custody agreement that simply says joint legal and joint physical custody.

 

You see, many of our clients don’t want a specified child custody schedule. Sometimes they don’t want the court’s involvement and sometimes they are amicable enough to figure out child custody schedules on an ongoing basis in the best interest of the children. Other times, the work schedules of the parents change so often that to have a specified child custody schedule would not make sense.

California Divorce FL-150 & Using Profit & Loss When Self Employed

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

If you are a small business owner and going through a divorce, you will complete the FL-150 Income & Expense Declaration slightly differently. First, you will not state your income on page 1 where is asks for employer information, rather you will use page 2 where it talks about business income.

I have found that many small business’s don’t keep monthly records up to date. So what do you do when you need to provide evidence of your income. Well, you are going to have to create a profit and loss statement.

 

This could be as simple as you going through your finances and using excel to show your income, cost of goods and expenses line item’d out so that it can be determined what you net income was each month. At a minimum you will likely need to do this for at least the last few months if going through a divorce in California for anything where you need to show income such as when one spouse is asking for spousal support.

How We Finalize California Divorce Cases Fast

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

We often have clients ask us how long the divorce process takes. I always say, “As fast as you can get me the information”. When parties going through divorce in California have all their agreements in place (i.e., custody, property division, etc.) I often have their entire California divorce completed the same day.

If both parties to the divorce are available to meet at the same time, we can usually get the divorce completely done in about 2 hours.

 

Keep in mind that even though we may get all the divorce paperwork completed and signed, we still have about 30 days of work behind the scenes to get the case filed, served and processed with the court.