COC Interns Approved For Santa Clarita Divorce Paralegal Firm

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

COC Interns Approved For Santa Clarita Divorce Paralegal Firm

This week the College of the Canyons Director of the Paralegal Program approved SCV Legal Doc Assist to train and provide their paralegal students with real world paralegal skills.

To be recognized by College of the Canyons as a company worthy of training their paralegals was a real achievement.

Students enrolled in COC’s paralegal program have to complete an internship during their schooling in order to graduate. Internships are generally offered by law firms who supervise and train the interns so when they graduate they have some experience for their resume.

We are a non-lawyer, legal document preparation firm in Santa Clarita. This would be the first time a non-law firm has been approved to provide training and internships to local Santa Clarita residents who are completing the paralegal program at College of the Canyons.

The reason we are excited about this is because not only is this an opportunity to give back to the community by assisting others to gain experience in their new endeavor, but to be recognized as a player in the legal services industry and be trusted by COC to provide their students with training and guidance.

Internships are an interesting animal. Both sides receive some benefit. Our company benefits from having an intern assisting with the day to day tasks and they receive necessary job skills.

While the interns understand that there is no guarantee of a job after completing an internship, we certainly hope to expand and hire the interns we have spent the time training.

 

Communication Is Key During Divorce – Santa Clarita

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Communication Is Key During Divorce – Santa Clarita

If you thought communication was important during the marriage, it is even more important during divorce.

You decided to get divorced and figured you were done having to speak to your spouse, right? Not so fast. If you want to get through your divorce in an amicable way, you are going to have to communicate with your spouse.

The divorce process is about making decisions about the final terms of your divorce. This obviously is not going to work if you are not talking to each other.

In fact, the answer to not speaking to one another is to hire an attorney so they can do the talking for you. In the end you will have to make all the decisions, but you will just be paying an attorney several hundred dollars an hour to speak on your behalf.

This is obviously not what we are shooting for when working with you to assist you in your divorce.

So when clients ask me if they should speak to their spouse when they are going through divorce, the answer is yes. The more you communicate the less chance you will need an attorney and the less chance you will end up in court.

We can help you get through your divorce and assist you in communicating with your spouse. We will lay out a plan to help pave the way to make it easier to get through the process of getting divorced.

Remember, it may be hard to speak to your spouse, but it will be much worse if you have to hire an attorney and get stuck with a huge bill at the end.

Divorce Paralegal Services Plus Limited Scope Attorney Representation

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Divorce Paralegal Services Plus Limited Scope Attorney Representation

We are very excited to announce that you can now use our divorce paralegal service in Santa Clarita and also receive limited scope attorney representation.

This is how it works. When you decide to use our divorce legal document preparation service, we will take care of all the paperwork related to your divorce. We will prepare, file and serve all documents and complete your divorce for you.

If, for some reason, you case has issues that end you up in court, we can refer you to a flat fee attorney service who represent you in your hearing.

Limited scope representation simply means that the attorney is representing you for a specific function and when that has ended, so does the representation.

Let me give you an example of how this would work. I have a client whose spouse filed a motion and there is an upcoming hearing. Husband came to me to assist in drafting his response and declaration.

He was feeling a little uneasy about representing himself in court because his wife had an attorney. But at the same time, he did not want to spend the $3,500 to be represented in court.

So he came to me and used our affordable document preparation service to draft his response and declaration saving him thousands of dollars. Then we referred him to a divorce attorney who was willing to represent him just at the hearing.

Essentially, he will only be paying the attorney for the hours he spends in court. This is a tremendous savings for him. Not only does he get expert divorce document preparation, but also receives attorney representation at his hearing.

Limited scope representation is not something new. However, attorneys don’t like to offer this service because there is more money to be made in full representation.

Please give us a call to learn more about how using our divorce paralegal service and a limited scope attorney service can help save you thousands of dollars on your divorce.

We are headquartered in Santa Clarita and specialize only on divorce and serve all of Los Angeles area courts.

Free Divorce Attorney Consultation When Using Document Preparation Service

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Free Divorce Attorney Consultation When Using Document Preparation Service

If you read our article about our searching for a flat fee attorney in Santa Clarita who would provide more affordable divorce representation, then you know we are always looking for ways help our divorcing clients save money, even when they may need to hire an attorney.

After I wrote that article asking if there were any flat fee attorney’s in Santa Clarita who would provide free attorney consultations and flat fee divorce representation, I ran into just such an attorney.

While 90% of my clients get through the entire divorce process without any need for an attorney, I do get my fair share of contested cases where one spouse has hired and attorney and the other spouse does not have money to hire an attorney.

When this happens, they usually come to me to help assist them with their divorce case and prepare their responses, etc. But I always wanted to have my service go a step further and provide a great legal service.

The arrangement I made with this attorney is that he will provide a free divorce consultation to any of my clients that need one. This way you can use my affordable divorce document preparation service and when you need legal advice, you can speak to the attorney free of charge.

This greatly improves the service I am able to offer. No longer do you have to make a choice between using a paralegal service or paying the high costs of attorney representation.

Now you can use our divorce paralegal services, get your legal questions answered and, if need be, have representation in court for one low flat fee.

If you are looking for the best value with your divorce in Los Angeles, give us a call. We are headquartered in Santa Clarita and serve all the courts in LA County.

Should I Speak With My Spouse During Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Should I Speak With My Spouse During Divorce

Not all divorces start out amicably and no divorce is going to be completely easy. It is normal to not want to discuss the issues with your spouse.

But communication is key if you ever expect to get through your divorce. How else are you going to resolve your issues if you are not speaking to each other?

I know it might be easier to ignore and avoid dealing with what is happening, but things will only get worse if you don’t communicate with your spouse during divorce. It is very much like a toothache. Ignore it and it will always get worse and cost you more money.

I have a client who falls into this category. He just wants to get divorced without speaking to his wife. His wife has been reaching out to him in an attempt to discuss the issues, but he has refused to communicate with her. Going as far as changing his cell phone number.

He asked me if he should be speaking to her and that she said unless he does, she will be forced to hire an attorney.

As I am saying in this article, I told him that communication is important if he expects to get through the divorce process. Furthermore, if he does not speak to her, what other choice does she have but to hire an attorney who will communicate for her.

I know it is not easy, but unless you communicate with your spouse during divorce things will only get worse.

In this case, if the wife hires an attorney, not only will the divorce end up costing them a bundle of money, but it will most certainly muddy the relationship further and make coming to a compromise on the issues of their divorce that much more difficult.

We are a licensed and bonded legal document preparation company that specializes in divorce. We are headquartered in Santa Clarita and serve all of Los Angeles County.

Use A Divorce Service You Trust In Santa Clarita

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Use A Divorce Service You Trust In Santa Clarita

You shouldn’t take your decision on choosing a divorce document preparation company lightly. You should conduct your due diligence research and make sure the company you use is someone you can trust.

When you go through divorce you have to disclose all your financial assets. That means that the person you have assisting you with your divorce is going to know all about your assets and debts. They will have access to your bank statements, tax returns, pension information and everything else related to your finances.

This should make you take a second to think about who you decide to use to help you with your divorce.

Unfortunately, in this industry, there are lots of folks operating illegal paralegal business’s. These folks are unlicensed and have not met the educational and experience guidelines necessary to obtain a legal document assistant license.

Many people tell me that, prior to hiring our firm, that they found us online. Then they did some research about our firm and read reviews about our company. I recommend that you conduct research on any company that you plan on hiring to help you complete your divorce. Don’t take this decision lightly.

We specialize in divorce and have worked for the courts, law firms and now directly with clients providing affordable divorce service.

It doesn’t cost you any more to work with the best, most trusted divorce service in Santa Clarita.

Legal Separation Or Divorce – Santa Clarita

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Legal Separation Or Divorce – Santa Clarita

There is a lot of confusion regarding what legal separation really is and what it means.

I get the question about legal separation in two different ways. The first is when folks tell me they want to file for legal separation. After speaking to them, it is determined that what they are trying to achieve is to have separate assets and debts and cut the ties on community property.

The other way I have been asked is when going through the divorce process. I have had clients ask if they are legally separated yet. When someone says they want to be legally separated, they would have to go through the exact same process as divorce.

I think the confusion if over the word “legally”. To be legally separated, you would have to go through a court action to be separated and have a court sign an order that says you are separated. You would follow the same steps of divorce, splitting your assets and debts a developing a custody and visitation schedule for your children.

When you file for divorce, one of the items you will determine is what your date of separation is. The date of separation can be determined a few different ways. It could be the day you moved out, the day you spoke to your spouse about getting divorced or even the day you file for divorce.

The date of separation you decide on will be the date where you no longer have community assets and debts accumulating. This means that as of the date of separation, any assets or debt you obtain are your own.

This is, of course, something you should speak to an attorney about if you and your spouse are contesting anything, because the laws about community and separate property are not absolute.

The date of separation is generally never and issue in the divorce cases we handle and our clients generally agree on the date when they decided to go their separate ways.

Can’t We All Just Get Along – SCV Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Can’t We All Just Get Along – SCV Divorce

While most of my clients are going through a mostly amicable divorce, I do get a fair share of folks coming to me because their spouse has hired an attorney.

What is interesting is that I see people hire attorneys that don’t even need them. They get it in their head that they need an attorney and there is nothing that will change their mind.

Today I had someone in my office that was facing that exact situation. Husband hired and attorney and was being fed information from his attorney that was definitely making things worse and not better.

The problem is that the husband was the primary income earner and the wife stayed at home caring for their two children. The husband moved out and left the wife no choice but to move in with her parents with her children. To make matters worse, he does not pay her any child support or spousal support. There is no way she can get a job as her youngest is just 5 months old.

I don’t know what kind of man does this to his own children. Okay, so you and your wife are going through a difficult time, but why make your own kids suffer?

These types of issues are exactly why I stopped working at a divorce law firm in Santa Clarita. Spouses were fighting over everything and the only winners are the attorneys who end up with all your money.

All I could do is provide information about how the process works and what she can expect. We prepared the divorce papers and because her husband would not pay child support, we also filed a motion for child support so she could get some temporary order for support until the divorce was over.

I told her that hopefully he will come to his senses and realize he is going about this all wrong.

How To Finish Your Divorce In A Day Santa Clarita

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

How To Finish Your Divorce In A Day Santa Clarita

I just figured out how to complete a divorce in one day and it was not my idea.

I had a new client call me and advise me that her and her husband had agreed to divorce and they were in a hurry to get it done. They asked if they could come in together and get as much done in a single day.

While we do meet with both husband and wife together on a regular basis, we usually break the divorce process down into a few steps just so folks don’t become overwhelmed by the amount of paperwork.

So instead of simply preparing the initial divorce documents at the first meeting, we were going to prepare a majority of the paperwork in a single meeting.

To do this, I had to give them lots of instructions and send them copies of blank forms so they knew what they would have to bring in when we met.

This couple had already filed for divorce, so there was no need to wait for the case to be filed. If you have not filed yet, this can be done prior to our first meeting and I can serve your spouse the day we meet.

So there we all were for a few hours powering through all the financial disclosures, making copies of documents and signing everything. I was able to personally serve both of them and get all their agreement on paper.

All that was left to do is file the documents with the court and prepare the final judgment paperwork. I would never have someone wait for the final judgment forms as that can take several hours.

This will likely be the only time these clients have to come to my office. As soon as I prepare the judgment, all they need to do is review it and sign it. Then it can be filed with the court so we can conclude their divorce.

If you are interested in getting your divorce done quickly, please give us a call. We can discuss a plan so we can finish your divorce in a day.

Motion To Set Aside Default During Divorce – Santa Clarita

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Motion To Set Aside Default During Divorce – Santa Clarita

Even though you are going through a divorce, it is still a “lawsuit” as mentioned on the divorce Summons.  So this means there are specific steps that have to be taken to protect your interests which fall in line with most other types of lawsuits.

If you want to set aside the default in a California divorce case, it is possible.  You can use our full service divorce and we will file the motion to set aside default and prepare your response or you can use our California divorce online tutorial service where we show you step by step how to file a motion to set aside default during divorce.

Click here to learn more about our online tutorial of how to set aside the default in a divorce case

This includes the process of filing a Response if you want to enter the case.  When you are served divorce papers, it includes a Summons.

The divorce Summons says you are being served then gives specific information about your rights to respond and when you have to do it by.

The Summons indicates that you have 30 days to file a Response, otherwise your spouse could file a default and you would lose your right to be involved in the case and the judge can make orders without you and based entirely upon the requests of the Petitioner.

So what can happen if you don’t respond to the divorce papers?  As the Summons says, if you have not responded within the 30 days, the Petitioner can file a Request To Enter Default.

When the Request To Enter Default has been filed with the Court, it will be up to the judge to grant it.

Once the Request To Enter Default has been entered, you no longer can respond.  The only option at this point is to file a Motion To Set Aside the Default.  This is a motion you would file on a Request For Order and needs to be submitted with specific language stating the reason you did not respond.

You will be issued a court date, have to serve the motion on your spouse and attend a hearing and speak to the judge.  The Judge will decide on whether to grant your request to Set Aside the default.

If the default has not been granted by the court and only submitted, you make be able to simply file a response and be okay.

We can help you file a Motion to Set Aside Default and get you a hearing to speak to the judge so  you can request the default be set aside.  Please give us a call for more information.