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

Hi, Tim Blankenship here with divorce661.com.

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 2013, you may want to check 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 cheque payable to? It’s not payable to Los Angeles County, it’s payable to Clerk of the Court. So you’re going to make your cheque 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 cheque for $435 payable to Clerk of the Court.

So 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 | California Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

How to Determine if Spouse Filed for Divorce | California Divorce

Hi this is Tim Blankenship with divorce661.com and 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 an “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!

Thank You For Your Santa Clarita Divorce Referrals

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Thank You For Your Santa Clarita Divorce Referrals

This is Tim Blankenship with divorce661.com.

Today I just wanted to put a little shout out to say thank you to my clients, this is kind of a client thank you article.

I’ve been receiving tons and tons of referrals from my clients, which has really assisted my business in growing.

And we’ve been around for a while now in closing divorce cases, and getting them done, and people are really recognizing the skill and our ability to help them and that is shown by them referring their friends and family.

We really appreciate it. We will take care of your friends and family as we took care of you and we truly believe that a referral in this particular, in any business in general, but particularly in this business where it’s very intimate; you know it’s about divorce, and your family and kids, and spousal support, and all of these issues.

When you refer your friends and family to us, we know we had to have done a really good job in order for you to do that and we appreciate it.

My name is Tim Blankenship. We are in Santa Clarita, we do serve all of Los Angeles County and we specialize in divorce. You can reach us at 661-281-0266, and as always you can get more information off our website at divorce661.com

Thanks for reading and thanks to all you clients that have referred this year, have a good day.

How To Terminate Child Support Order | Getting Judge To Sign FL-195 For Employer

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

How To Terminate Child Support Order | Getting Judge To Sign FL-195 For Employer

Good morning!

This is Tim Blankenship with SCV Legal Doc Assist, divorce661.com and today I wanted to talk to you about an email that I’ve received over the weekend that was related to an Income Withholding Order.

This is in regards to a form called FL-195, and this form is used when there is an order for say child support or spousal support, and it’s going to be submitted to the court in order for the judge to sign it.

And then that order, once signed, is normally served on your employer, and that’s what your employer uses to know how much child support or spousal support to withdraw from you check if you’re on the receiving end of that.

Now, this email specifically was in regards to cancelling or terminating the order for spousal support.

This was a case where child support was ordered in the final judgement, and the child was turning 18 and we needed to get the termination of child support. So here’s the issue: if there was a previously filed and ordered, you know judge signed an FL-195 and it’s with your employer, you have to go back to court. Your employer is most likely going to require that a new order be signed by the judge indicating that child support is being terminated.

So this means that you have to go to court and file a motion to get the FL-195, or the termination of child support signed by the judge. Now this means you need to do some planning. In this case, the last payment was going to be in the next 30 days but the employer needed the paperwork much sooner to make the change and the deduction.

So what most likely is going to happen is there is going to be support taken out beyond the order should have been, and this is because the person should have done this a little bit sooner because we need to now file a motion with the court to get the judge to sign the order. This is going to take probably 60 days before this happens.

So keep that in mind if you have a child support order that you need to terminate. It’s going to take some time, so plan ahead. At least 4-5 months in advance.

Again this is Tim Blankenship with SCV Legal Doc Assist. You can reach us at 661-281-0266 or on our website at divorce661.com. Thanks!

Los Angeles Divorce Court Delays Due To Layoffs | March 2013

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Los Angeles Divorce Court Delays Due To Layoffs | March 2013

Hi there! This is Tim Blankenship, owner of divorce661.com.

This article is going to be about the delays of the Los Angeles Court systems due to the recent layoffs and future and pending layoffs.

Last week, I notice a huge delay in the processing of documents.

Normally, what we’ll do is if we file a case, and we’re filing anywhere from 5 to maybe 10 new cases per week, normally as a normal process we’ll simply take the signed paper and initial documents to start a case and just mail them to the court. Traditionally, this has been a three-day turnaround. So if we mail them out on a Monday, they’d receive them on a Tuesday. If they get them back in the mail and we have them back on a Wednesday, so it’s a very cost-effective approach to getting everything filed and served with the court and we’ll do that with all the documents along the way.

Anything disclosures that need to be files or other documents be filed with the court, we’ll do that by mail.

In the last week or so, we’ve noticed that are to be an extended delay on getting documents back. In fact, we’ve had one motion we filed, again, that would have normally been a three to four day turn around, it takes 10 business days to get back to us.

We’ve had new cases that we’ve submitted to the court and to the clerk to file and those have taken 2 weeks to get back to us.

Just last week, for the first time in all the years I’ve been doing this, we’ve actually had some cases not getting filed at all. Three weeks went by and we never had the documents returned to us, the client’s check wasn’t cashed.

Now, I don’t believe it’s the mail that’s not getting there. I think it’s the confusion and mix up with the courts and having to do with the layoffs and people not understanding the processes and being overwhelmed and busy in these documents that they’re receiving to file are getting put on the bottom of the pile, give them to the wrong person and so forth.

So just be as a warning, be advised that it’s going to take some time. There are some shakeups with the courts.

Make sure that you get your court forms sooner rather than later and this is particularly important when it comes to submitting your final judgment.

I’ve commented many times on how long it’s taking to get judgment signed off by the court, 2 to 3 months, more on the outside of 3 months. We can almost expect this to have a significant delay as well on those final judgments and I would expect that that go to the 4 or 5 month range for getting judgments back. So It’s going to be important to get those in as quickly as possible.

Again, this is Tim Blankenship with divorce661.com. You can reach me direct at 661-281-0266. Have a great day!

We Are A Full Service Divorce Firm In Santa Clarita

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

We Are A Full Service Divorce Firm In Santa Clarita

Hi! This is Tim Blankenship with divorce661.com and I want to comment on the fact that when you hire us, you are hiring a full service divorce legal service.

We take care of everything and are a full service process. So what do I mean by that?

When you hire us, we’ll take care of everything for from filing your paperwork with the court and preparing and serving all the forms.

When we mail out our documents to your spouse or to you where we need something signed, when you get it, you’re going to receive it with postage paid return envelope coming back to us.

I had a client that emailed me today and said “By the way Tim, when you mail out the forms to my husband, can you please put in an envelope with postage and I’d be willing to pay for it?” And it made me laugh because I’m sure there are companies out there who charge on extra service like the postage and something like that.

Now with us, we charge a flat fee. That means that the fee you pay is the fee you’re going to pay.

There’s not going to be any additional charges for postage or otherwise.

So I replied back to her email and said “Look, you’ve hired a full service firm. Whenever we send something out by mail and we need something signed by you or your spouse or anyone and the courts as well, we always supply returned postage and envelope so we can get it back in the mail—now that’s what full service means.”.

If you have any questions about divorce and the divorce process or anyone who wants to work with a full service legal service, please give us a call.

My name is Tim Blankenship. You can reach me direct at 661-281-0266.

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

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

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

Hi! Tim Blankenship here, owner of divorce661.com.

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.

On the joint petitioner for summary dissolution form, 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 maybe in your best interest. Please give me a call; you can reach me direct at 661-281-0266.

Thanks!

What Property Do I List On Schedule of Assets and Debts | Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

What Property Do I List On Schedule of Assets and Debts | Santa Clarita Divorce

Hi, Tim Blankenship here, owner of divorce661.com.

And 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. It’s 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 may not be any community property.

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 list.

Not only community property but separate property on the schedule of assets and debts.

By listing the property, you’re not suggesting that it’s your property. You’re just listing 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 list 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 It’ll help you determine if it’s going to be a community asset or a separate property asset.

So 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.

How To Hire A Process Server For Divorce | Santa Clarita

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

How To Hire A Process Server For Divorce | Santa Clarita

Hi this is Tim Blankenship, owner of SCV Legal Doc Assist. We’re a licensed and bonded legal document preparation firm specializing in divorce.

This article is for those folks who are looking for a process server.

We are not a licensed process server, but we do know who the good process servers are. So what we’re doing is a referral service where you can work with us, give us a call if you need a process server. We will take care of setting it up, so you will basically be paying us and then we will take care of the process service by coordinating the service of your spouse for your divorce case.

So there are several process servers in the LA area that are not good process servers as they’ll take your money and not perform the service, or not do a good job, and not find them want to find them and want to charge you more. This happened to a client of ours recently.

So if you contact us, you know, we specialize in divorce. We help people get through the divorce process, that’s our specialty. We work with a couple of different process servers, depending on where on you’re at, where on Santa Clarita, anywhere in LA County, or outside of LA County we can help you.

So give us a call. You’ll pay us direct, and we will coordinate the entire process; hiring the process server, getting them served, and then filing your proof of service with the courts. That way you don’t have to worry about looking up, are they going to do the right thing, you know, the typing of the forms, we’ll take care of the whole shot for you.

So if you are looking for a process server, just give us a call, we’ll take care of it, coordinate it, we’ll bill you direct, and then you don’t have to worry about it.

Give me a call, my name is Tim Blankenship, 661-281-0266. We are a licensed and bonded legal document preparation firm so if you’re looking for someone to help you with the paperwork, give us a call for that as well.

How to Get Temporary Divorce Orders If You’re the Respondent | Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

How To Get Temporary Divorce Orders If You’re The Respondent | Santa Clarita Divorce

Hi! Tim Blankenship here, owner of SCV Legal Doc Assist. We specialize in divorce in LA County.

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 be 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 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 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 judgement 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. Thanks!