How The Respondent Can Obtain Temporary Divorce Orders | Los Angeles Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

How The Respondent Can Obtain Temporary Divorce Orders | Los Angeles Divorce

Today I wanted to talk to you about question I was asked from a gal who was looking for some assistance and found us online.

Her question was: if you’re the respondent, is there a way of moving the case forward especially if you want spousal support. Her question basically alluded to the fact that her husband was the petitioner, had filed for divorce and was kind of dragging his feet. The reason she felt he was dragging his feet was because he didn’t want to pay child support.

She thinks that by him delaying the case, he will effectively paying child support for however long he decides to drag this out. So her question was, how can she become the petitioner so she can then move the case forward, and that’s an interesting question.

Again, I haven’t been asked that and I wanted to clarify that.

If you’re the petitioner in your divorce case, you’re the petitioner all the way through; if you’re the respondent, you’re going to be the respondent all the way through.

Regardless of being the petitioner or the respondent, you have just as much right to move the case forward and equal access to the law as the other party does.

So as the respondent, what you would need to do is simply, either, continue on with the case and do the next step that’s required; if she’s only been served, she should then file a response.

If she’s already filed a response, she should then do then do her preliminary declaration of disclosure. And once she’s done that, she can then later request the petitioner to do his. This is what’ll get the case moving forward. If you talk to an attorney, which I am not, they may suggest that you file for a request for trial setting.

This will again, would get the court involved and get the case moving.

Now her specific question was in regards to how to obtain child support.

At any time during the divorce case, you can ask the court to give you temporary orders for just about anything.

So in this case, she wants to get temporary orders for child support pending the final judgment of her divorce case.

To do this she would file a FL-300, this is a request for order form, and in it you would describe the circumstances and why you’re requesting child support. You then get a hearing, the judge would hear the hearing, and then ultimately make an order on support, whatever that may be.

So hope that clarifies it for you. It was a great question Wanda. I’m sure if you have that question, everyone else does, so hope that clarifies the situation for you.

Again, my name is Tim Blankenship, owner of SCV Legal Doc Assist. We do specialize in divorce. Please give us a call at 661-281-0266. You can always get more information on our website at divorce661.com.

Was Your Los Angeles Divorce Judgment Rejected? | Los Angeles Divorce Rejection

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Was Your Los Angeles Divorce Judgment Rejected? | Los Angeles Divorce Rejection

Today I want to talk to you about judgments, divorce judgments, how to submit them and issues that were seen or new issues that were seen with judgments being rejected.

We’ve talked a lot in the past about how to get your judgments through, that we offer a judgment processing service where if you’ve gotten up to that part of your divorce and you’re going to have to submit your judgment.

That’s a very complex and difficult process and there is a high chance that your judgment will be rejected and we will help you take care of that.

We’re now finding that the court has found another reason to reject the judgments.

So, in the past, probably three week we have had two cases get rejected and these are the judgments we are talking about and this is for new reasons that we have not seen in the past so we wanted to let everyone know. Specially, those of you who are doing this on your own that there is a new reason for them to reject your judgment.

Not only is there a three page reject sheet with check boxes on here for missing documents, wrong language and all of that. I mean, it’s pretty expensive judgment reject sheet.

But now, and there always has been another box but now what we’re seeing and this was the same in both cases, it says: “judgment packets not were submitted in correct order, all attachments must be attached to judgment in the proper order.”.

Here is a judgment package. You can see it’s very thick, it’s a lot of work, there are three copies of the judgment. Everything is in here. This was submitted to the court two months ago and it came back.

Why? Because it is not in the proper order. So, everything is here is correct, we’re assuming. It’s all here.

All they had to do was literally coy it and put it in the order that they desired, but instead they decided to fill this out. Would probably take as much time to actually just put it in the correct order and reject it.

Now, the issue with that is the wording they say is put it in the correct order. Well, I ask you what is the correct order? Only the courts know, we know, but they have never required it to be in a particular order.

We would just submit it with all the attachments, all the copies and they would put it in the order that they liked; get it signed and get it stapled altogether. But apparently that is too much work for them now, so make sure you do that and the problem is you don’t know what order that is.

Perhaps in another video we will go through step by step what the correct order of the judgment is and how to put that together so you can avoid having them rejected and we will be doing that as well.

If you’ve had your judgment rejected, we do offer a service where we can go through all the reject sheets. Clean it up and go through everything else, make sure it’s correct and resubmit it and now put it in the correct order and help you out through the process.

If you have any questions about divorce rejects and some of the issues you may have found. If it’s something simple, we’d be happy to just help you over the phone. If you need us to go through your entire case of course we would do that for a fee.

But in any case, just watch out to make sure you put it in the proper order, check back for our video. I think I will do a video on the proper order of submitting your judgment so folks can get this through and not spend time with the courts and getting this rejected.

Give me a call. 661-281-0266. Again Tim Blankenship with divorce661.com.

We specialize in divorce document preparation in Los Angeles County.

Talk to you soon!

How Much Is Divorce Filing Fee In Los Angeles County

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

How Much Is Divorce Filing Fee In Los Angeles County

Today we are talking about how much is the filing fee for Los Angeles County. This is a question I get, probably daily, if not multiple times a day about the cost.

The other question is, who do I make the check payable to when I’m writing my check for the filing fee.

So the answer to question number one, is for Los Angeles County, the current filing fee for divorce is $435. That is as of April 1st 2013. This fee does go up. Just six months ago it was $395. So if you’re reading this, and say more than a year has gone by past April 1st back for a more recent article, because I’m sure the cost will have gone up by then.

The next question is, who do I make the check payable to?

It’s not payable to Los Angeles County, its payable to Clerk of the Court. So you’re going to make your check payable for $435, payable to Clerk of the Court. This is for Los Angeles County if you are filing for divorce; and this also applies if you’re filing a response.

You are also going to have to write a check for $435 payable to Clerk of the Court.

I hope this clarifies who you make your check payable to, and for how much when filing for divorce in Los Angeles County.

This is Tim Blankenship with divorce661.com.

You can get more information off our website or feel free to give us a call at 661-281-0266. Thanks!

How To Determine If Spouse Filed For Divorce | Los Angeles Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

How To Determine If Spouse Filed For Divorce | Los Angeles Divorce

Over the weekend we have been asked a question. Someone went to our website. And if you see at our website at divorce661.com there is a “Ask Tim a Question” box, you can put in your question and put in your email and I’ll generally get back to you within 24 hours if not the same day.

This question came in regarding how do I find out if my spouse has filed for a divorce, and there is only really one way of doing this if you haven’t been served the paperwork; and that is to go down to your local courthouse.

They have their internal computers; sometimes they’ll have one in the clerk’s office, for example with Los Angeles County there is a computer that you can walk up to and search by name and date of birth and attempt to locate a case number.

You cannot do this from your home computer; the only way you can search your online case from your home PC is if you already know the case number.

There are several reasons why you may want to know if your spouse already filed for divorce.

For this question came in, this gentleman wanted to file for divorce but had a feeling that his wife already had filed and didn’t want to cross-file and have two petitions for the same family. So he wanted to see if his wife had filed.

She had said she did but he hadn’t been served so he wasn’t sure if that was the case, and if she hadn’t, he wanted to go take care of that.

So what I told him is he needs to go down to the local courthouse and walk up either to the clerk and ask to have them research and see if a case has been filed under his name or his wife’s name, or sometimes like I said they’ll have a computer for your use, just outside in the clerk’s office where you can walk up to and do your own private search.

My name is Tim Blankenship with divorce661.com. If you have any questions, please give me a call, 661-281-0266. Thanks!

Reasons Why You Dont Want To File A Summary Dissolution In Los Angeles Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Reasons Why You Don’t Want To File A Summary Dissolution In Los Angeles Divorce

Today I wanted to talk to you about why you shouldn’t use a summary dissolution.

A summary dissolution is a divorce process where the courts allow you to go through the process and what they say is a much simpler way. You can’t have a lot of assets. You can’t have a lot of debts. And there are a lot of other restrictions on using a summary dissolution.

The problem with the summary dissolution is this— it is a joint petition. What that means is both of you are considered the petitioner. I’m looking at the joint petition for summary dissolution form right now, which is what this is called. And because it is a joint petition, both of you (you and your spouse), have to pay a filing fee.

That’s not the case in a, say, a hybrid divorce or in a true default case for only one part pays a filing fee. So the court says that this is an easier process going through the summary dissolution process but it’s twice as expensive. In a court filing fee in LA County for instance, it’s $435.

If you were to file a true default case, you’d be paying $435 to get divorced. On a summary case, both of you are going to have to pay the $435, so it doubles your cost. So while they say it is simpler, which it’s not, it is twice as expensive to do a summary dissolution as it is a regular dissolution.

Because of the restrictions on the summary dissolution, many people won’t qualify to begin with. And in fact, I have to be honest with you, I prepare divorce cases every day, that’s what we do as a specialty, and the summary divorce process, I think, is more complicated than going through a regular divorce proceeding.

The summary dissolution says there are all these benefits as far as staying out of court, not having to fill out other paperwork. But you’re doing so much other forms; you’re doing the entire financial analysis, essentially trying to prove to the court that you qualify for the summary dissolution.

So it’s actually a more complicated and more costly process.

I don’t recommend anyone do the summary dissolution except for one reason, if both of you qualify for a fee waiver. Which means if you qualify for a fee waiver, neither of you will have to pay a filing fee. That’d make more sense for you to do this because neither of you will have to pay a filing fee, therefore, it’s free.

Now this is the case, whether you do a summary dissolution or whether you do a regular dissolution, it’s just a matter of what you’re more comfortable, doing the summary or, say, true default or hybrid style case.

This is Tim Blankenship with divorce661.com.

These are the reasons why we don’t suggest people use the summary dissolution even if you think you qualify.

Give me a call; we do handle divorce cases all throughout California. If you want some more information on summary dissolution and why doing a hybrid or a true default case may be in your best interest. Please give me a call; you can reach me direct at 661-281-0266. Thanks!

Los Angeles Hybrid Divorce Judgment Checklist | Divorce PDF

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Los Angeles Hybrid Divorce Judgment Checklist | Divorce PDF

This article is going to talk about the Hybrid Dissolution Judgment.

The courts put out a judgment checklist for all the different types of judgment you would enter and the judgment that we’re talking about today is a hybrid. It’s now a well-known type of judgment but is one on that we use exclusively here at divorce661.com.

Know a lot of benefits and you can check other videos and blogs on why.

But you’re going to use a Hybrid Dissolution Judgment when a response was not filed, the case is not proceeding by default, and the parties have a written agreement.

So just briefly, a hybrid is exactly that. There is no response filed but you’re going to enter into a written agreement. And this is different from say, a true default case where there is no response and no written agreement, just so you know the difference.

If you’ve no written agreement and there’s been no response filed, you’re going to want to use the true default divorce paperwork, and we’ll be talking about that in subsequent videos.

So let me go over briefly about the forms, I’m going to put a link at the bottom of this YouTube video to my blog, where we will have a PDF version of this, so you can print this out and have this.

As I tell folks, if you’re going to do this on your own, even – put your name at the top of this, check these off as you do the forms, and make sure the court knows that: “Hey, this is what we’re turning in, and this is the type of judgment, and these are the forms we have included.” It’ll help them, it’ll help you increase your chances of getting your judgment through and not rejected.

Alright, so just briefly, you’re going to need a FL-115, your proof of service of summon to prove to the court that you actually served your spouse, request to enter default FL-165. Don’t forget to include two (2) self-addressed stamped envelopes so they can mail that back to you.

Children involved or any NFL-105, you’re going to need a declaration regarding service of declaration of disclosure or CFL-141. They’re going to need your stiffened waiver of final declaration of disclosure FL-144, your FL-170 declaration for default, FL-180 the judgment form, and those of entry of judgment FL-190.

That’s going to be the basics, the essentials, of your case, if you have a child support, or child custody or spousal support or a property order.  You’re going to need to attach all of those as well.

We also did a video on the proper order of so many of your judgment package. Make sure to take a look at that one too. Once you have this together, it’ll discuss exactly what order to put these documents in.

My name is Tim Blankenship with divorce661.com.

You can reach us direct at 661-281-0266.

And today we talked about the forms necessary for the Hybrid Dissolution Judgment.

Make sure to click the link below to go to our blog and you can get a print out of this PDF attachment and you use it to submit to the court.

Los Angeles Divorce | Uncontested Divorce Judgment Checklist

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Los Angeles Divorce | Uncontested Divorce Judgment Checklist

Today we’re going to talk about the checklist you can use for the uncontested divorce judgment in California.

I’ve been getting a lot of calls from folks who are asking me, folks who want to do these themselves of course, if there is a checklist online or what checklist do we use that you can use to submit your judgment make sure you have all the forms necessary.

I’m going to go over this step by step in this video, go over what the uncontested dissolution judgment checklist has on it.

There is one thing that is missing. They’ve updated the judgment forms for Los Angeles County anyways, actually it is going to be for California and so I want to go over everything that is on here and I’m also going to put a link in this video.

If you just go down to the text below, I’ll put a link in the text and it’ll take you to my blog. And I will have this PDF available for your viewing.

I’d recommend you just print it out and actually what I do is I write the client’s name at the top, I highlight uncontested dissolution judgment or whatever the case is.

I’m going to be doing another video on all the different types of judgments you can submit, because each of them is different, all the forms are different and I’m letting the court know when they get the judgment package, “Hey, this is the type of judgment we are submitting.

So, these are the forms you’re going to be looking for.” – Just to kind of help them understand what we’re doing so they don’t think we missed a form when we didn’t.

On the uncontested dissolution judgment, here’s the list of forms you’re going to need.

And just so you know an uncontested dissolution is defined as this: a petition was filed, a response was filed and the parties have a written agreement.

This is what you’d use when you file for divorce, your spouse filed a response and you’re entering into a written agreement. You have to have an appearance stipulation and waiver, the FL-130. If children are involved, you need a declaration of uniform child custody and jurisdiction act FL-105.

Now, just as a note, you would have already done this when you first filed for divorce, this UCCJEA. You would have done that already, you only need to update that if there have been some changes.

You’re going to need a declaration regarding service or preliminary declaration of disclosure. You’ve already done this after you filed your petition and your spouse would have done it after they filed their response. It’s the declaration of disclosure. It’s the form you filed that said you’d prepared all your financial disclosures and served them. Make sure that’s filed before you submit your judgment.

The declaration regarding service of final declaration of disclosure, you probably won’t need that. I’ve never had to complete that form, we always are using the next one on the list, the stipulation and waiver of final declaration of disclosure.

Whatever the case may be, just include the proper form. The declaration for default or uncontested dissolution, it’s FL-170 and you need a judgment form, the FL-180 which will be essentially your cover sheet.

Notice of entry of judgment, FL-190. And if there is child support you’re going to need the stipulation to establish or modify child support, FL-350. Or you can use the child support and order attachment, FL-342.

I know these are a lot of forms, I would just suggest you go down and click, if this is something that you need, you know it’s uncontested, you know that a petition was filed, a response was filed, and you have a written agreement.

Just click the link below and you can get this PDF off our blog.

If you have child support, you may want to include the dismal master, income with whole in order, all those are necessary.

Just remember, if you have child support, you’re going to need the FL-341 attachment. If you have spousal support, you’re going to have a 343 attachment and what’s not on this form is the FL-345, which is a property order attachment.

It’s a new form, what the courts are trying to do is get away from the written narrative in the judgment and everything is in attachment, a form attachment to the FL-180.

So, hope that helped. We do provide the service where we can submit your judgment for you and take care of this for you if you like. Otherwise, feel free to use this judgment and take a shot in getting it submitted.

If you have any question, feel free to give me a call. My name is Time Blankenship with divorce661.com.

You can reach me at 661-281-0266.

Los Angeles Divorce Judgment Checklist The Courts Use To Approve Your Divorce Judgment

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Los Angeles Divorce Judgment Checklist The Courts Use To Approve Your Divorce Judgment

Today we’re talking about the forms necessary to file a default dissolution judgment.

This is a series of videos we’re doing where we’re going through the actual checklist, the courts checklist of what needs to be submitted when you file a particular type of case. In particular, the judgment forms. The final forms that you will be submitting.

Today we’re talking about a default dissolution judgment.

This is going to be when a response was not filed, so you filed for a divorce, your spouse did not file a response. It’s foreseen by default or default will be entered and the judgment is prepared solely by you, solely by the petitioner.

This means, this is what’s called a true default case. So, you filed, your spouse never responded and they’re not even involved in the case whatsoever. You filed a default at some point after thirty days or you’re doing it along with the judgment paperwork, which is totally fine.

Here’s what you’re going to need, and by the way, I’m going to put a link in this YouTube video.

You can just go down get this link. It’ll go to my blog; in the blog you’ll have a link to the, this actual checklist and we suggest you attach this, put your name to the top when you submit your judgment forms.

You know, check off these as you go and this will do two things, it’ll help you keep track that you have the right forms and you’ll let the court know this is the type of judgment you are preparing.

Sometimes, they don’t take a lot of time to look at these and will just reject them quickly. If you submit this it’ll give the apparent at least that you made a good attempt to get it this time.

Alright, previous service and summons, you’re going to need to send a copy of that, requesting a default FL-165, your FL-141, petitioner’s declaration regarding service of preliminary declaration of disclosure, this is where you, after you file for divorce, you did your PDD’s, your preliminary declaration of disclosure that was the schedule of assets and debts and incoming expense declaration.

You don’t need to send all that in, just the one form. The FL-141 that says, you complied with that, you mailed out the documents to your spouse and he filed the form with the court.

Declaration for default or uncontested dissolution or CFL-170, the judgment, the FL-180 and the notice of entry judgment, FL-190. That’s going to be the core essentials of the case.

This judgment discuss is a lot of other options that you may have, if you have children, there are several other forms you’re going to need and it’s all on here.

If your child support or spousal support, property, attorney’s fees and cost request and all of those are additional attachments. We’re going to cover those on subsequent videos.

Talking about the different form attachments and we also did another video talking about the proper order of submitting this, how to put this together, how to staple of how many copies. So, look for that video as well.

This is Tim Blankenship with divorce661.com.

You can reach me direct at 661-281-0266. Hope this video has been helpful. If you’re looking for assistance in your divorce, please feel free to give us a call.

Again, Tim Blankenship, divorce661.com. 661-281-0266.

Hope to hear from you soon. Thanks!

How To Complete Your Divorce Fast | Los Angeles Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

How To Complete Your Divorce Fast | Los Angeles Divorce

Today I want to talk to you about how to complete your divorce fast.

You may have heard that there is a 6 month waiting period to get your divorce completed. And while that is still true, there is some confusion about that. Many folks think that they file for divorce and then they have to wait 6 months to turn in all their paperwork, that’s not true.

What you want to do is get your divorce paperwork done as quickly as possible.

As a matter of policy with our firm, what we do is we like to get all of your divorce documents done in the first 30 to 60 days.

The reason for this is the backlog at the courthouse in approving judgments is running anywhere from 3 to 4 months. So what that means is we can submit your divorce paperwork, your judgment, in fact all of your paperwork in completion within 2 months get it submitted to the court knowing it’s going to take them 3-4 months to approve.

The benefit of this is, in the alternative, if you wait until that 6 month to submit your divorce paperwork, it’s going to take you another 3-4 months after that.

You’re looking at more like 9 to 10 months as opposed to 6 months in getting your divorce completed.

So if you want to get your divorce completed rapidly, please give us a call. We can do that for you. We are located in Santa Clarita but we do service all of Los Angeles

Again, my name is Tim Blankenship, owner of SCV Legal Doc Assist that’s 661-281-0266. Thanks!

What Property Do I List On Schedule Of Assets And Debts | Los Angeles Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

What Property Do I List On Schedule Of Assets And Debts | Los Angeles Divorce

Today I want to talk to you about problems and issues that we’re seeing and questions of people have when it comes to completing the schedule of assets and debts.

The schedule of assets and debts is one of the forms that you’ll be using when completing your preliminary declaration of disclosures. This is a form that will be served along with the income and expense declaration.

The schedule of assets and debts is a list of all property that you have. Its property you had prior to marriage, property you had during marriage and property you have after separation. If you’ve had a long term period of separation, there’s going to be some property that you’ve purchased through her bank account, something like that after separation.

The common issue that we’re seeing is that folks think that when they’re completing their schedule of assets and debts that they’re only to list the property that’s either belongs to them, owned by them or in their name alone, and that’s incorrect.

The property list on the schedule of assets and debts isn’t going to be all property; property before marriage, during marriage and after separation as well as property that belongs to your spouse, property that your spouse had prior to marriage that you’re aware of, property that’s in his name alone.

Even the house, if it’s in your husband’s name alone, let’s say, and it was before marriage, it’s going to be a separate property you still listed.

Not only community property but separate property on the schedule of assets and debts. By listing the property, you’re suggesting that it’s your property.

You’re just list in the property that you’re aware of that was accumulated before the marriage, during the marriage or after separation and all that’s used for down the road is to be a template, if you will, for how that property is going to be distributed.

On the schedule of assets and debts, when you lose property, one thing you can do is indicate if the property is going to be yours or it’s going to be your spouse’s.

If you’re the petitioner, you can simply place a ‘P’ in front of it. If it’s going to go to the respondent, you can simply place an ‘R’.

There’s an area where there’s a date where that property was purchased. And if it’s prior to marriage, just put ‘prior to marriage’ or ‘after marriage’ or ‘during separation’ and I’ll help you determine if it’s going to be a community asset or a separate property set.

I just want to clear that up. I can see that on a daily basis where there’s confusion out of what property is to get listed on there.

Again, my name is Tim Blankenship with divorce661.com. If you have any questions, feel free to give me a call at 661-281-0266. We’re a low cost, affordable document preparation firm that specialized in divorce in Los Angeles County.