How To Sell Your Santa Clarita Home During Divorce | Interview With Tim Blankenship and Robert Mickalson

When you are going through divorce and you own a home in Santa Clarita, you are going to have to deal with the property one way or another.  Be that to sell, refinance or buy the other party out.

Tim Blankenship (that’s me) with Divorce661.com and Robert Mickalson, a local Santa Clarita Realtor, (www.askrobertscv.com) got together and spoke about several issues you may face when going through divorce in Santa Clarita, or anywhere for that matter, and some solutions to make the home selling process easier.

Here are some of the topics we discussed.  Make sure to watch the interview below.

  • What to do when the parties cannot agree on a real estate agent
  • How can the parties be updated on the sale of their home
  • How Robert handles clients that don’t want to be in the same room or are living apart
  • Most common questions Robert gets from clients going through divorce
  • Why transparency is important when selling your home during the divorce process

The thing that I see frequently is that one of the parties usually wants to stay in the family home.  The problem becomes that usually they cannot afford to refinance the home in their name alone.

While some people just decide to keep their name on title and on the loan, the problem that exists there is that if the other party defaults on the loan, your credit will be impacted as well.

It is a cleaner transaction to refinance the property, removing the other spouse off the title and loan, where possible.  Where not possible, you have to decide if you want to take the risk or sell the property.

by Tim Blankenship

003 Divorce Master Radio | California Divorce | Difference Between Full Service & Online Divorce Service (Podcast)

In this episode, we speak at lengths about the differences between using a full service divorce company in California and using an online service. We provide a full service divorce process, do all the work for you and we cost less than an online type service.

We will talk about how we are able to save you money on your divorce and how we are less expensive than these online California divorce services that make you do all the work. We will also talk about the difference between an online divorce service and what we do.

We will explain all of this in this episode. Make sure to listen to the latest podcast.

002 Divorce Master Radio | Interview With A California Divorce Paralegal

002 Divorce Master Radio | Interview With A California Divorce Paralegal

If you wanted to learn more about Tim Blankenship and why they are the number one California divorce document preparation firm in California, you will want to listen to this episode of Divorce Master Radio.

Headquartered in Los Angeles County, Divorce661 assists folks from all over California in preparing and filing their divorce paperwork and getting them through the divorce process for a flat fee.

This interview of Tim Blankenship was given by Connor MacIvor, one of the best Realtors and avid Podcaster in the Santa Clarita Valley.

Enjoy this episode of Divorce Master Radio.

Press Play Below To Listen To This Podcast Or Click Here Subscribe To This Channel On iTunes

 

001 Divorce Master Radio: About Tim Blankenship And Divorce661.Com (Podcast)

001 Divorce Master Radio: About Tim Blankenship And Divorce661.Com (Podcast)

In this podcast, you will learn more about me, Tim Blankenship, and how I got started in the Divorce Document Preparation Field in California.

This is an interesting podcast because it goes deep into who we are as a company, our background and how we are able to assist people going through divorce throughout California.

This podcast was done as an interview style with Phoenix, Arizona Divorce Attorney Wendy Hernandez, who did a great job leading the interview.

Press Play Below To Listen To This Podcast Or Click Here Subscribe To This Channel On iTunes

Home Appraisals & Divorce, Pricing for Success In Santa Clarita

If you are going through a divorce in Santa Clarita and you own a home you will have to make a decision on whether one of you are keeping it and buying the other out, or if your need to sell.  To do that you need to determine the fair market value of your home.

The best way to do this is through hiring a Santa Clarita Certified Real Estate Appraiser and not rely on Realtor’s or neighbors.  I asked Anthony Barrett with SCV Appraisal Service to explain the best way to appraise your home during divorce.  Enjoy!

Home Appraisals & Divorce, Pricing for Success

By: Anthony Barrett, Certified Real Estate Appraiser

The housing market rarely stands still and understanding your home’s value need not be as complicated as it may appear. Depending on who you talk to, the spread of suggested values for your home can be quite large resulting in frustration and confusion for everyone involved.

Determining value can be daunting task that is often clouded by personal agendas and incorrect information when approaching it from outside sound appraisal principles and methodologies. We’ve all experienced that neighbor that seems to know everything but never has the time to double check the facts or the Realtor that looks for the highest sale in the area and assumes you must be 5% above that.
Bringing in a professional unbiased third party to help establish price when the decision is made to liquidate the property is a smart decision that will add checks and balances that everyone can agree on.how_to_appraise_your_home_during_divorce_in_santa_clarita

Selling your house for the highest possible price during a divorce in an effort to maximize equity is the goal. However, pricing your home properly and at the same time understanding how that price relates to current market conditions, exposure periods and competing inventory will speed the process and create less stress. An appraisal developed for the purpose of establishing a current market value will not only provide you with a well supported value based on facts, but will also give you the information needed to make informed negotiation decisions.

The appraisal will be developed based on comparable sales and how those compare to your home within the context of the current market. The appraiser will also look at those sales currently on the market and how fast those homes are being absorbed into the market. The unique features of your property will be considered based on how they relate to those of comparable homes as well as the actions of buyers and sellers of those homes.

It’s important to note that cost does not equal value when property features are considered but rather contributory value of those features is determined based on comparable sales.

santa_clarita_real_estate_appraisal

Negotiating a fair divorce property settlement is a difficult process. You want your settlement to be determined based on true, unbiased, accurate and complete information. Whether you and your spouse own one primary residence or many properties, a qualified real estate appraiser will play a crucial role in the process.

About the Author

Anthony Barrett is the Owner/Appraiser of SCV Appraisal Service a full service Real Estate Appraisal firm located in Santa Clarita. Anthony has over a decade of appraisal experience appraising homes for a variety of clients in and around the Santa Clarita valley. He can be reached at 661-977-7501, tony@scvappraisal.com, www.scvappraisal.com & www.scvappraisalblog.com

Get in touch with Tim Blankenship on Google+

How To Receive Free Money For College When Going Through Divorce Or Already Divorced

We handle a lot of divorce cases in California and with that comes other potential issues to think about.

One of those issues to consider is college planning!

So I asked to the owner of College Planning Experts, Brian Safdari, to address some of these questions you may have when going through a divorce.

How To Receive Free Money For College If You Are Going Through A Divorce Or Already Divorced

Written By: Brian Safdari

The daunting task of submitting and applying for Financial Aid for college can be an overwhelming chore to say the least. Now imagine if you and your family find
yourselves in a divorced situation. That’s right; it just got 3 times more confusing.  Numerous questions may be swirling in your head: Which parent do we file under.  Do the schools want both parents’ information? Do we have to provide EVERYTHING?

The questions can go on and on.

The good news is that in a divorce situation, you may just have many options in order to receive the most amount in financial aid, assuming you spend some time “planning” and gathering information from a credible source.

First things first are the forms used to apply for financial aid; the FAFSA and CSS Profile. These are the financial aid forms that most state and private schools use to determine financial aid eligibility. From your forms, you will receive a number called your EFC or expected family contribution. This number is used to determine your need. The way a school determines your need is they use your EFC and plug it into the  formula Cost of Attendance (The sticker price to attend college including everything) – EFC (Expected Family Contribution (A number that reflects the amount schools think you a can afford) = Need. Our goal is to reduce your EFC to increase your need. The higher your need, the higher your grants and scholarships.

Now, here come the questions; do you know how FAFSA requires what to list about a divorce family? Do you know legally and ethically how to give them the information but not divulge more than what they need in order to get more free money for college? For example, if you are attending a public university, depending on the specific college, you may be able to submit your financial aid form with one parent. You need to dig deep and know the specific strategies regarding their “non-custodial” rules. We had a student attending a public school that the rule was “Who does the student live with 51% of the time”? In this specific situation, we had the student 51% with the lower income and asset family and we were able to receive 26,000 in grants at UCLA, leaving the family with a total cost of $9,000 per year. No too bad, huh?

Another thing to keep in mind is that since colleges are businesses, they want to have you pay as much as possible for college. Also, we know that FAFSA and other Financial Aid forms have a high error rate. Avoiding mistakes and strategically planning will allow you to make college affordable without going broke.

There are three pillars in the college planning process. How to market and position your child to get accepted into the college of their choice. You will be shocked that colleges are not accepting students based on grades and test scores alone, but a big part is what makes your child “unique”. There are specific formulas to implement to increase your chances in getting accepted, even with a low grade point average (GPA). Pillar number 2 is get the most financial aid possible by understanding the financial aid formula we briefly talked about (COA-EFC = Need). All income level families can receive financial aid if you know how to utilize the financial aid formulas. Pillar number 3 is funding college. How are you going to pay your share for college? How much can you afford monthly? What type of loans and resources are available to ensure you don’t have to sacrifice using all your savings or jeopardizing your retirement?

Brian_Safdari_college_planning_experts
Brian Safdari, Founder & CEO, College Planning Experts

Brian Safdari, founder and CEO of www.CollegePlanningExperts.com made costly mistakes that cost him over $53,000 in student loan debt unknowingly and unnecessarily and attended his least desired college. After the mistakes he made, he devoted his life to share the truth about the higher education system and how to legally and ethically take control of the process in order to send kids into the college of their dreams and ensure the parent do not go broke.

If you’d like help navigating through this difficult and complicated process and want your questions answered, call us at College Planning Experts today to sign up for an College Planning Analysis. We can help you find out how to save thousands on college! This will be one of the wisest financial decisions you’ve ever made. Call us at (661) 295-9946 or visit our website at www.CollegePlanningExperts.com. Please make sure you reference “Tim Blankenship” as we have a special gift for you.

Get in touch with Tim Blankenship on Google+

Signs Your Marriage Is Over | Santa Clarita Divorce

I came across an interesting video on YouTube that gave their perspective on the signs that your marriage is over and thought I would share it.

It basically says that folks do not try to repair their marriage until it is too late and went into detail about the different steps or levels folks go through during their marriage.

The steps as outlined by Larry Bilotta in this video are:

  • Content
  • Confused
  • Struggling
  • Miserable
  • Point of no return

Here is the video

I found the video to be informative and interesting.  The video had over 180,000 views, so I guess others have found it interesting as well.

One thing that I found to be true, was his comment that over 80% of divorce cases are filed by women. That statistic is pretty much in line with what we see here in Santa Clarita.

At least 80% of the folks that walk through our doors to file for divorce are women or at least the divorce is initiated by the women.

I was not sure, but pretty sure Larry says that it is the mans fault for not understanding their wives which drives them down these steps.  I was not 100% sure on that.

In any case, thought I would share.  I actually did watch the entire video which was only 10 minutes long and it seemed he was selling a “fix your marriage” type program.

As a note, we are not promoting this product or service, it was just for informational purposes for our readers.

If you have reached that point of no return in your marriage, as stated in the video, please give us a call as we can help you with your divorce in California.

Get in touch with Tim Blankenship on Google+

Santa Clarita Divorce Service | Interview With Tim Blankenship

We just wrapped up a live interview on Google + Hangouts on Air with Connor MacIvor, local Santa Clarita Realtor and Tim Blankenship, the owner of SCV Legal Doc Assist known as Divorce661.com

The interview was mostly about our business here and Connor is always such a good host, which makes the interview process seamless.

We spoke mostly a about divorce and the types of divorce cases we are able to handle.  The interview was recorded which you can view below.

Here is a breakdown of what was discussed in the interview.

  • Who we are and what kind of divorce cases we can handle.
  • That we can handle divorce cases anywhere in California.
  • How we save folks money on their divorce.
  • Why people fire their divorce attorney so we can wrap up their divorce case
  • How we provide tons of information on our website
  • About the 100’s of divorce videos we have produced
  • and much more…

The video is only about 15 minutes and I personally have watched it and it went really well.  It would give you some insights into our business and about the owner.

I really liked the format of Google’s Hangouts On Air because depending on who is speaking, the screen will change to show that person. I also liked that you could put up what Google calls a “lower third” which allows you to show your name and any other information you want to put o there such as a phone number or website.

If you are interested in us interviewing you and you have a business that somehow ties into divorce, please give us a call.  This could be a divorce mediation firm, divorce attorney, real estate agent, bankruptcy attorney, financial planner, etc.

Get in touch with Tim Blankenship on Google+

How To File A California Divorce Stipulation For Spousal Support (Slideshare)

How To File A California Divorce Stipulation For Spousal Support (Slideshare)

Yes, it is possible to get a judge to sign an order for spousal support in California without having to go to court or seeing a judge.

We specialize in preparing a Stipulation Regarding Spousal Support and Order Thereon or you can attempt to do it yourself.

If you and your spouse agree on the amount of spousal support you can simply draft a “Stipulation Regarding Spousal Support and Order Thereon” have both of you sign it and submit it to the court.  The court will review and sign the stipulation which will make it an order of the Court.

Don’t forget to check with your County for fees for submitting a Stipulation Regarding Spousal Support and Order Thereon, as there are usually fees involved if you ask the judge to sign something.

It’s not bad, usually $20.00 in most counties.  At least it is here in Los Angeles County.

We have uploaded a copy of a  Stipulation Regarding Spousal Support and Order Thereon for you to review to get an idea of how it is drafted.  We have also embedded it into this post below.

We specialize in California divorce and can help you with anything related to your divorce case.
If you are looking for assistance with you California divorce we can help you anywhere in California. We are headquartered in Los Angeles, CA, but can help you wherever you are at.
We can help you at any point in your divorce.  From the very beginning or where you have trouble, if you have attempted to do it on your own.
Give us a call for more information or feel free to read more articles that we have written, videos we have done or podcasts we have recorded.

Get in touch with Tim Blankenship on Google+

In The Business Of Divorce In Santa Clarita

Yes, we are in the business of divorce in Santa Clarita, but more importantly we are in the business of helping people.

We have been doing this business for a while now and word is getting out that there are better options to getting a divorce in Santa Clarita other than hiring a divorce attorney or trying to do your divorce on your own.

As 2013 winds down and we have a chance to catch our breath, I took a count of how many divorce cases we handled this year so far.  The count right now is 212 cases. That is 212 divorce cases we have handled this year so far.

We expect next year to be much more than this year and what is interesting about this number is how much in attorney fees we have saved people this year.

With the average cost of a a divorce attorney here in Santa Clarita wanting $5,000 to walk in the door, even for an uncontested divorce case, we have saved people a lot of money.

This year, we kept our pricing very competitive, with the average cost of using our Santa Clarita divorce service at $699.  We hope to keep our pricing strategy the same next year as well.  But you can see if our services did not exist, it would cost the average person an additional $4,301 to complete their uncontested divorce or have to complete their own divorce paperwork.

Now I know that not everyone would have used an attorney, but if they had those 212 cases we handled so far this year would have totaled a staggering $1,060,000 dollars.  Yes, that was millions and we were using a very low figure of $5,000 per case which is low.

This means we saved our clients more than $900,000.

Wait, maybe I should be a lawyer.  Those guys are making a killing!

So we are in the business of divorce in Santa Clarita, but we are also in the business of saving you money and providing an excellent service.

When you are ready to get started with your divorce or for more information, please feel free to give us a call at 661-281-0266.