We have been completing a lot of divorce motions for people here in Santa Clarita and thought we would talk about the steps for filing a motion in your divorce case in Los Angeles County.
When I say motion, I am referring to a Request For Order which would be used for getting temporary orders for just about anything. The most common motions during a divorce case is for Spousal Support or Child Support, Child Custody and Visitation. But an RFO is for any type of temporary order you would like to as the court for.
I say temporary, because any motion you file during your divorce case will result in temporary orders that will be in effect until you submit your judgment or until further order of the court.
Those orders can them be included in the final order or you can change the orders all together, if by agreement.
So I wanted to go over the steps of things you will need to do if you want to file a motion in your divorce case.
First, you will need to complete a RFO (Request for Order) form. This is form FL-300. We won’t get into the details of actually filling out the form, rather, I wanted to discuss what is all involved.
If Request For Order Is Involving Children
If your motion has anything to do with children or child support etc., you will need to get a mediation date. I recommend that you do not attempt to call the court for this. They rarely answer the phone at the courthouse and if you happen to reach someone, they will just tell you to request the mediation date online.
Here is the link to the Los Angeles County Family Court Service Mediation Appointment Request Form which in another article we will discuss how to fill it out.
You will have to wait until you get your mediation date before you can file your motion.
Another thing you will need to do if your motion has anything to do with children is complete the PACT class which thankfully is now online. Here is a link to the Our Children First Program online class.
If Request For Order Involves Money
If your request for order has anything to do with money such as child or spousal support, etc. you will also need to fill out an income and Expense Declaration Form FL-150.
If you do not follow these instruction you will have a very difficult time filing your motion. Meaning it will be rejected by the court in most cases.
Have Us Prepare Your Motion
We specialize in preparing divorce motions for just about anything. We will prepare everything for you, including your declaration and get your mediation date, file your motion with the court, get your hearing date and serve the papers on the other party. All for one flat fee.
We are located in Santa Clarita, CA and can help you anywhere in Los Angeles.
