In this episode we talk about what unbundled legal services are and what limited scope representation is. Both of these services can save you money if you do in fact need an attorney for your California divorce.
And this is more of an instructional episode. We’re going to be informing people about what Unbundled Services are. And what it means to hire an attorney in a limited scope representation situation.
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In this episode, we will discuss if we have been mislead on the true rate of divorce. For a very long time, it has been common knowledge that the divorce rate is around 50%, meaning that 50% of all marriages will end in divorce. Recently we read a statistic that says this is wrong and that current research shows the divorce right around 20% to 30% which is much lower than we thought.
So what we’re talking about today is–what is the true rate of divorce in the United States? What is the true rate of divorce? What percentage of people of marriages and in divorce?
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Join us live for our next live broadcast this Thursday, May 29, 2014, where we will be discussing the process of filing for divorce, from the documents needed to what you need to have in place before filing for divorce. We will discuss the process from start to finish and will be taking your calls live.
In this episode, we will talk about “California Is A No Fault Divorce State”. What exactly does this word, “No Fault” mean when it comes to divorce in California and how does that compare to other states where you must prove a reason why you want the divorce.
I want to talk about the difference between a No Fault Divorce and a Fault Divorce. So in California, as far as divorce is concerned, we are a No Fault State. Now, we focused primarily in California. That’s our specialty, California divorce.
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In this episode, we talk about how divorce affects your friends and family. It is not just about you, your spouse, your kids and your property. A lot more people are affected by your divorce than you might think.
We’re going to talk about, who, and what is affected when you go through a divorce.
The reason I brought this up is a lot people think that when they get divorced that all it has to do is with themselves, their spouse, their children and their property. And that’s just not true. There is a lot more that is going on behind the scenes.
There are a lot more people in your life that are going to be affected by your divorce.
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In this episode, we talk about a company that is offering training to folks who would like to become a divorce coach. We talk about the need people have who are going through divorce to have someone to talk to for guidance, outside that of attorneys and mediators.
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Today, we’re going to talk about substituted service.
When you file for divorce in California, those initial documents, in most cases need to be served in person.
There are some other ways that can go about that, but generally speaking it needs to be served in person by someone other than you over the age of 18.
Now one of the problems that can may come up is that you’ve attempted to serve your spouse multiple times or maybe you a hired a process server to serve your spouse multiple times, but they are either never there or they’re trying to avoid service for some strange reason, or they won’t come to the door for instance.
Let’s say that your spouse lives with their parents or some other person. And they never come to the door.
And we’ve had that happened in cases, we go there, we know they live there, that’s where their address is.
They’re living with their relative or spouse maybe family member something like that. But that person never comes to the door.
What you can do is you can do something called substitute service, where you can serve another person, another responsible party.
In this case, let’s say you’re serving your spouse’s mother in law of serving the person and knowing that, that person will take it to the person that you’re really trying to serve.
So I don’t want to complicate that. But in doing so that cannot be your first step.
You can’t simply go to the house Oh, she’s not here. Or she doesn’t come to the door and do substituted service on her.
You have to make multiple attempts and you’re going to have to write declaration indicating that on these dates, at these times, you’ve gone to the properties several times they’ve never come to the door.
And then you’ve done the substitute service by serving in this case the mother who in term should give the documents to the other party.
In these cases when you have substituted service, it’s also going to alter the timeframes in finalizing your case.
What that means is when you go to file or requesting a default, if it’s a default type case, instead of waiting 30 days to file the default, you’re going to have to wait 40 days to file the default.
This is both on substituted service and service by certified mails.
So just keep that in mind.
Today we’re trying something different. We’re recording both a podcast and a video at the same time.
So you may be listening to this on iTunes or Stitcher Radio of you may be watching this on YouTube or one of the other various video channels.
In today’s episode, what we’re talking about is an article I recently read, this was at the United Kingdom actually.
And what they were talking about as pertains to divorce is that the courts are looking at overhauling the law and in essence trying to give more rights to couples living together but not married.
Because they are finding that people are in long term relationships yet not getting married. And then when they have a split that there’s no benefits to the parties that are splitting as you would in a regular marriage.
Now the issue that comes up is, if you’re not married, let’s say this was something that happened in California.
If you go a through divorce in California, and you are in a short term marriage it’s going to affect how spousal support, if it’s going to be given or provided.
The length of marriage is one of the determining factors on how much and how long you’ll get spousal support.
I’m going to tell you a story. I’ve had clients come in and in one particular case they’ve been living together for 17 years total.
Living together for 17 years but were only married for three. And the question was, well, how long is the marriage considered to be? Because we were together a total of 17 years but are only married for three.
And the issue with that is that they don’t look at the time together while you were not married. It’s only going to be counted for the time you were married.
So for three years and because this particular spouse wanted spousal support, it’s only going to be based on three years as opposed to 17 years which is obviously a huge difference.
Now in the United Kingdom, where this article is based out of, it brings up that point. And it is basically saying “Is it even worth getting married, if they’re going to have the same benefits being unmarried as you do married?”
And I think that brings up an interesting, somewhat ethical viewpoint that would — I’m sure people would have different opinions on depending on who you talked to.
But in California, it does bring up some interesting points. Because if you are unmarried and you have children, one of the issues is going to be with the children and the paternity determination in California.
If you are married then it is the courts figure obviously if you’re the mom there’s going to be where your children, no issue there.
And if the father is married, it is agreed upon that is your child, if you’re married. That’s just how the law works.
If you’re not married that’s not the case. And you have to do what’s called a parentage. And so there are going to be some issues with the children if you’re unmarried.
And if this some similar law came in to effect in United States or California, for instance, it could post some issues with the children. So I thought this was an interesting topic I wanted to bring up. And we’re going to be bringing up more issues that we’re seeing.
And trends and things regarding divorce, not just in California, but across United States and things like out of the country that we’re seeing different things.
I’m just wondering what people see, what people think rather about this particular issue of it, if it’s something you think of good or bad.
And I’ll tell you what. Being involved in divorce on a daily basis with folks here in California, I can tell you that we’re starting to see a lot of short term marriages being ended.
And I think it’s just a change in the culture or this particular the generation younger generations growing up where we’re starting to see, well, they simply it doesn’t have the same effect marriage is now the same effect as dead, for instance, with my parents or with me where that is that true bond.
And you’re going to try and stick it out and find it out. We’re seeing a lot of short term marriages with younger generations.
One year, two years or three years and so on and they’re getting a divorce. It seems like it’s more like trading in a car.
If it didn’t work out at least it’s over, we’ll try to get a new one. It’s an interesting mind set where people kind of are in that younger generation are simply throwing in the towel.
Just because things aren’t working out and for whatever reasons whatever mindset is in this generation, it seems that they have an easier time deciding on getting divorce than trying to work it out and keep their marriage going.
Today, we’re talking about should you change your name if you’re a woman after you get divorced.
So when you’re going through a divorce in California one of the things you’ll have to consider as part of the divorce as part of the paperwork is if you’re going to change your name back to your former name or your maiden name at the end of your divorce.
So this is question that every spouse, every wife, every woman rather needs to think about. And it’s one that most don’t take likely.
I will bring it up but we don’t make people make a decision right through on the spot. We let them know.
It is a decision they will need to make one way or the other going through the divorce process in California.
So some of the things–I just want to share with you some of the things that people tell me that the women tell me their consideration of changing their name.
Number one is if they have young children, their concern is they don’t want to have a different last name than the names of their children for reasons of going to school and things like that.
They want to keep their last name same as their children if they’re in school. And I think it’s one of the biggest factors.
I hear that a lot for women saying, “You know, I want my name to be the same as my children when we go to school.”
Number two when there are long term marriages, we’re talking 20-30 years. Those women tend to keep the same name the married name because the entire world has known them as that last name for so long.
And it would be–they tell me almost awkward for them to go back to a maiden name they haven’t used in so many years. So that’s number two.
Then the folks in the middle, so, those are fairly easy decisions. If you still have young children you want to have the same name that seems to be reasonable.
If you have the name for a long time, it seems reasonable that you’d want to keep it. But what if you’re in the middle?
What if you have no children and you have a 15 year marriage, 10 year marriage something like that. You’ve had the name a long time but not 30 years.
Do you keep the name or do you want to move on?
Some of the women have told me that they want to go back to their maiden name even though they’ve had the name for so long.
More of a freedom thing, more of we’re divorced, why would I want to keep this last name attached to me as a constant reminder of being married I supposed.
So there really is no right or wrong answer when it comes to filing your divorce papers in California. It is one of the check boxes to determine if you’re going to go back to your former name.
You can put it on the judgment, on the final agreement that you want to go back, just so you have the court order saying the judges agreed to your request to go back to your former name.
You can do that. And then you don’t have to right away go and change your name.
But you would have an order if you later change your minds to go back to your former name.
Now just because you put it on the court documents and the judge agrees signs off that you can go back to your former name, you still have to do it legally.
You’d have to change it with Social Security Administration and with the California Department Motor Vehicles. You’d still have to do that.
So to make things easier if you’re not sure, you can always request to have your former name.
And if you decide later not to change it, you’re not going to be forced to do it because you’d have to take a pro-active step in going and changing the name back to your former name.
So this is just a little bit free to think about, if you’re going to go through divorce or you’re in the middle of getting divorce in California.
These are kind of I just want to share with you what our clients kind of share with us in making their decision to keep their last name or not.
Today we’re talking to folks in West Covina who maybe considering getting a divorce. And we wanted to talk to you a little bit about our services and your options when it comes to getting a divorce in West Covina.
So we are a full service Divorce Paralegal Firm. That means that we will fill out all the forms for you.
We go down the court for you. We will file the documents. Essentially do everything for you from A-Z, so, you can go on with your life.
But on top of this filling out the forms and going down the court and filing and running you through this process, we’re also here for information.
And to provide assistance when you have questions about the process and procedure of what kind of getting through this process we call divorce.
So because we are a full service we will take care of everything for you. You won’t have to worry about going down to court or how to fill out the forms or answering questionnaires or anything like that.
And also you don’t have to come in our office unless you want to. Let’s say probably 50% of folks decided to come to our office, the other half decided they wanted just to use our service by communicating with us over the phone or via email, what have you.
When you go through divorce many things have to be addressed. We’re talking about deciding whose going to have the children, the custody and visitation agreement.
We’re talking about spousal support and child support if that’s applicable.
We’re talking about dividing up all your assets and debts. All of that is what we will help you do in going through the process of divorce.
And we will take care again all of that you, so, you don’t have to worry about doing that.
What I recommend you to do if you are considering your different options whether you decide to use an attorney or use a service like ours or to try to do it yourself, feel free to give me a call.
We’ll talk to you more specifically about specific circumstances in your case. Make sure you’re a good fit for our particular service.
And just kind of go over things and make sure that whatever service that would be useful for you.
So you make sure you give us a call. I’d be happy to give you a free consultation over the phone.
You can call the number on your screen which is 661-281-0266 or go to our website at divorced661.com for more information.
I look forward to working with you soon if you need our assistance.