Valencia Divorce : I Have A Divorce Attorney & Case Is Going Nowhere

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

I get so many calls where people have divorce attorneys in Valencia and they call me because their case is going nowhere. Their case is going nowhere and they have spent 1000’s of dollars on their divorce. In fact, I have had numerous clients who have tried to use an attorney and dropped a $5000 retainer only to have their case filed and not a whole lot else happening.

(By the way, we provide a full service divorce solution throughout California. If you are looking to get a divorce and would like assistance, please give us a call for a free phone consultation at 661-281-0266. We have a full service and self-help service.)

Click Here to learn more about our full service divorce
Click here to learn more about our do-it-yourself divorce

There is a time for attorneys and there is a time to take a step back and try to figure everything out on your own. You were married for a period of time and were able to make that work for a time, so take just a few more days, weeks or months to work through your issues regarding your divorce.

The alternative is spending money to have someone else (divorce attorney) figure out your problems for you. An attorney will never help you more than you can help yourself. All they are is a conduit (and a bad one) between you and your spouse (and their attorney)

Did you ever do an experiment in school, grade school perhaps or even college, where you lined up and the person at the beginning whispered something into the ear of the person #1 and then each person had to whisper the same phrase to the next person?

If you did, you know the experiment was to show you that what comes out the other end, was not what was said in the beginning. When I was in school the phrase that came out the end wasn’t even close to what was said initially.

Why do you think this would be any different with attorneys. You tell your attorney something. It goes through their filter (meaning they try to figure out what you want and then filter it through their life experience and brain) then they say that to the other attorney (but usually through a letter, because they can charge you more money for a letter than a phone call) then the receiving attorney gets the letter your attorney wrote and then instead of calling their client, writes, their own letter to their client (because they can charge more to write a letter than calling their client) and out comes nothing close to what you said to begin with.

Sigh….

Divorce can be so much easier. And I have gotten way off topic.

The topic was supposed to be that if your Valencia divorce is going nowhere and you are wondering why, give us a call. Our recommendation is to take a step back from what got you to where you are at in your divorce and see if there is any way you and your spouse can come to some type of agreement.

Perhaps you can work towards some type of cooperation where you both decide to give in a little bit and get your divorce case settled.

That is my take on things anyways.

How We Are Disrupting The California Divorce Business

Posted by Tim Blankenship on


Have you heard the word “disruptive” used to describe some business’s or business models? Disruptive in this sense is defined as follows “A disruptive innovation is an innovation that helps create a new market and value network, and eventually disrupts an existing market and value network”.

Here is what comes to mind when I hear disruptive innovations.  I am sure you have heard some of these and I will give you a little comparison.

Uber’s entry into the transportation industry effecting Taxi services.

Amazon’s effect on shopping.

Pandora’s effect on how we consume music.

Airbnb’s effect on options for hotels.

You can see how the introduction of these business models effected the business’s that had operated the same way for so many years without ever making changes to their business model.

So why do I bring this up.  I believe that our business is a disruptive business to the legal profession by providing affordable legal services to people.

When I first started this business, I did not feel that this business model was disruptive to law firms and attorneys. I felt that our client base was much different than the client base for attorneys.

However, as the years have gone by, I do notice some overlap. This overlap is in the shape of people who would have otherwise used an attorney for their divorce, but because we existed, they turned to us for help.  Many of these people never needed an attorney to begin with, they just didn’t know there was any other options.  And until we came along, there really was not anyone else out there doing what we are doing.

I am not saying that we created this industry.  Not at all.  The concept of independent paralegal services has been around a long time.  It was not until 12 or so plus years ago they put a new name to it, “Legal Document Assistant” to differentiate between what we do and what a paralegal does which is to be supervised by an attorney.

Anyway, our business model is a disruptive model to the lawyer and law firm business model. Many of our clients would have otherwise used an attorney had they not found us.  But this would have only been due to lack of options.  Many did not need an attorney or legal advice, but there was no other choice than to pay the big bucks for an attorney.

Here is a perfect example of a recent conversation that was disruptive to lawyers.

I received a call from a guy who had questions about attending a Trial Setting Conference. He was living out of state so he was looking for someone to attend the hearing on his behalf because he did not want to fly in.  He had called around and spoke to some attorneys and they were quoting him between $2,500 and $5,000 for a retainer fee.  This is pretty typical.

The one attorney said the $2,500 would only pay for her appearance at the TSC and anything else would be billed at $250 per hour.

Here is what I told him.  I told him that the Trial Setting Conference is not all that important and usually lasts about 15 minutes, if that.  I then told him it is possible to get permission from the court to appear telephonically.  ==>Here is the article which discusses more on that process<==

So he followed my advice and got permission for the court call. His total cost? $86.00…

$86.00 vs. $2,500.  And that money didn’t even go to me.  That went to the Company that provides the Court Call service.

You might say I have a bad business model.  I spent 30 minutes on the phone with this guy, looked up his court case number, provided him the number to the court and to court call.

I don’t think so though. This guy will call me back as his case progresses.  How can’t he after the help that was provided.

And that is how I operate my business.  I look out for the best interest of my clients, whether clients or not and whether I will make any money or not.  I think it will give me good Karma.

And I think it is a bad practice for an attorney to not tell someone that a hearing is only going to last 15 minutes and knowing he is out of state does not have any options so tries to bilk $2,500 out of him.

This is why attorneys have the reputation they have.

054: How California Divorce Attorney Retainers Work

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

In this episode, we talk about how divorce attorney retainers work and why you want to pay attention before you sign on the dotted line to retain an attorney in California.

If you’re going to hire a Divorce attorney in California for your Divorce case, I want you to know how the retainer process works because we’ve had clients who have retained attorneys prior to finding or learning of our service.

And they did not understand how the retainer service work. And they ended up spending a lot more money than they anticipated or the money they had placed on retainer they thought it was going to take care of their entire case.

Make sure to listen to the latest podcast.

California Divorce Costs | Attorney vs. Legal Document Assistant | Santa Clarita

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

This article is about the California divorce process and the costs associated with getting divorced.  We compare the costs of divorce of using a divorce attorney and using the services of our divorce legal document preparation service in California.

Please feel free to watch the video below.  We also have included the transcribed version of the video.

Hi, this is Tim Blankenship with divorce661.com. Today we are doing another live broadcast and are also having this transcribed at the same time so we can embed this into our blog and uploaded this to an audio file. This is if our  computer can keep up with that.

So today we’re talking about the divorce costs and specifically going to talk about the difference between the cost of hiring an attorney to do your California divorce or hiring someone like my firm, which we are legal document assistants.

First off, let me tell you what a legal document assistant is. We are a licensed and bonded  legal document preparation firm and we just happen to specialize in the divorce process in California.  We are able to work without an attorney in our office which allows us to provide a more affordable service.

So let’s get into the divorce cost attorney versus legal document assistant. So obviously attorneys are doing  a much different job than we do. Mostly the divorce process is completing paperwork. There are occasions where you may need attorney and that’s if you need legal advice or if you need to be represented in court. Those are the two things that we are unable to do. Our license does not allow us to do that. And that’s because we are not attorneys. So if you feel that you will need legal advice or you’ll need to go to court to be represented that there you probably will need an attorney.

So lets back up just a bit and talk about the beginning of the divorce process in California. The California divorce process is mostly made up of paperwork.  You have you’re initial documents that need to be completed followed by doing your financial disclosures which these do no require an attorney. In fact, the divorce process in California can be completed entirely by a legal document preparation firm such as ours without any attorney supervision or without you ever needing to speak with an attorney.

Now we do have clients who start with us and they know they may need attorney down the road, but they want to get as much of the paperwork done as possible before going out and hiring attorney. So lets talk about the cost little bit. The average cost to have your divorce completed by an attorney and this is some research I’ve done online. You can find it as well if you were to look for it is about $20,000.  And that’s $20,000 per person, not the total of both parties.

We have clients who call us who have spoke with attorneys and they are to shocked by the amount of money that they are going to charge them for the divorce after they’ve talk to an attorney. They generally will call our company to find out if there are some other form options for the divorce case. So when we talk to them go weeks find them the difference you want people to understand that there is a difference between what attorneys doing what we do, but the end of the day we can help clients get through the entire divorce process from start to finish without any attorney supervision and without you ever needing to speak to an attorney.

Now if there it we run into trouble, and you do need to legal advice, not a problem. We can always refer you to an attorney in your area and you can get some legal advice a consultation if you need be, and then we can get right back to work for you. We can always just do that for you and you don’t have to hire the attorney to do that for you.

My name is Tim Blankenship. We are licensed and bonded legal document preparation service specialize in divorce. When you use our services. We worked on a flat fee basis. We do not use a retainer fee. We will quote you a flat fee for your divorce and that will be the total cost start to finish. We do everything for you from filing initial paperwork to prepare all the forms.  We taken down everything to the court for you and this is a complete service from start to finish, meaning from initial forms to service to judgment all for a flat fee.

You can go to our website at divorce661.com and we have some pricing packages you can see, based upon at the amount of work that needs to be done if you have children if you have property that needs to be separated those all are determining factors on the total cost of your divorce.  And feel free to look at our pricing page for more information.

Going back to retainers and how those work many people tell us that they spoke to an attorney and he told them the cost would be say $3500 or $4000.  Now what that is is that’s just a retainer that’s not the total cost of your divorce. The total cost your divorce is going to be whatever it takes at that attorney’s hourly rate to get the case finished. So if they’re asking for 3500 $4000 or $5000. That number doesn’t really matter because they are going to bill at their hourly rates if it’s $300,  $400, $500 an hour. They will bill you at that hourly rate until that monies extinguished and if your divorce cases is not finished you’re on the hook for the difference.

So that’s how divorce cases can end up in the $20,000 range. Based on the high attorney hourly rates. So if you’re looking for more affordable service to get your divorce completed and if your case is mostly amicable in nature, even if it’s not amicable, even if you know your going to need a divorce attorney, but you want to save some upfront costs on the document preparation we can really help you save some money by using our service.

So feel free to give me a call, my name is Tim Blankenship and our website is www.divorce661.com. My direct number is 661-281-0266.

How To Get Your Spouse To Pay Your Attorney Fees – Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Lately i have been coming across several clients who truly need to hire an attorney due to the nature of their divorce, but are unable to hire one due to lack of money.

In most cases, it has been because of lack of access to money, either because the spouse was a stay at home mom and never had access to the main accounts or because they were cut off when their spouse closed the account so they would not have any money.

So what are you to do when this happens? Sadly, divorce attorneys will not take your case if you don't have any money to retain them. Trust me, I have tried to find an attorney that would do this. They are non-existent.

What you need to do in cases like this is to ask the court to make an order that your spouse pay some of your attorneys fees to you have access to representation. There is a law that says both parties should have equal access to representation. The courts have even said that they are willing to make awards for attorney fees to clients that need them.

The problem is that how to you get a hearing for attorney fees if you can't get an attorney until you have the money?

Here is what I have done for the last couple of clients who have been in this situation. The goal is to file for divorce and complete the necessary request for order motion for attorney fees so we can get a court date set for a hearing.

We will literally prepare all the documents to get you one your way toward a court date where you can ask the judge to make an order that your spouse pay some or all of your attorney fees.

Once you have had your hearing with the judge and they have awarded attorney fees, you can then go out and hire an attorney. The nice thing about working with us is that you will not have spent a bunch on money on an attorney up to this point and no you can move on from where we left off.

If you find yourself in this position, please feel free to give us a call so we can discuss helping you obtain attorney fees so you can hire an attorney for your divorce.

 

Need A Divorce Attorney In Santa Clarita? Start Your Divorce With Us Anyways

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

We have been working on getting the word out that you can still use our divorce document preparation service in Santa Clarita even if you know you will later need a divorce attorney in Santa Clarita.  In fact, it might be one of the smartest decisions you make during your divorce.

You see, when you start your divorce, essentially it is simply a lot of paperwork.  I say simply, with a grain of salt.  What I mean to say is that it does not take a divorce attorney to complete these initial set of divorce documents for you.  In fact, none of the divorce documents have to be completed by a divorce attorney.   It just takes a company like us that specializes in divorce preparation to take care of it for you.

So what we want to impress upon you is two things. First, if you absolutely without a doubt will need an attorney for one reason or another, why not start the divorce with out and save a ton of money.  No need to involve an attorney from the beginning if it is just paperwork, right?   Were not saying don’t consult with an attorney, but you should understand when you need an attorney and when you don’t.

The other thing we wanted to say regarding this was to those folks who start with us and then later needed to hire an attorney.  This happens as well.  People call us and start working with our divorce service in Santa Clarita and then something goes sideways and they need an attorney.  This is okay too?

I tell people that fall into either of these two situations that even if they ultimately need a divorce attorney after using our services, they have already saved countless thousands of dollars in the process by not using a divorce attorney up to this point.  It is a win-win either way.

We are headquartered in Santa Clarita and provide a superior divorce service.  We are here to assist you with your divorce either before, during or after you have hired and attorney.  Call us for more information.

Ditch Your Attorney And Start Your Santa Clarita Divorce With Us

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

So you know you are going to get divorced and need some help. But who do you go to? Attorney? Mediator? Divorce document preparation company?

The answer really depends on your situation. Or does it?

The first reaction to thinking about divorce is to consider getting an attorney. But in this article we want to make a suggestion that will save you some money on your divorce.

This article is for folks who feel they will, at some point, need an attorney for their divorce. This means that you feel that no matter what, you will need someone to represent your interests and there is no way you and your spouse are going to agree on everything.

Under this assumption that you will need an attorney for your divorce, do you feel that you need to start your divorce case with an attorney? Why not start your Santa Clarita Divorce using our divorce document preparation service instead and save some money on your divorce.

Attorneys do two things. They represent you in court and give legal advice. Do you need either one of these right away? Perhaps you need an attorney consultation about your divorce, but very few cases, if any, go immediately to court.

The initial steps to divorce are all about completing paperwork. Filing out forms, filling them with the court and completing mostly procedural steps such as serving the divorce papers on your spouse. Using an attorney to complete the routine tasks can cost you a small fortune.

What we suggest is this. Go ahead and get a divorce consultation with an attorney. Get your legal questions answered. Then give us a call so we can start the divorce for you. We will prepare your summons and petition, file it with the court and assist you in getting your spouse served. Then, we would help you prepare your financial disclosures. These two steps do not require a law degree so why would you pay lawyer fees for this service?

We estimate the time it takes to complete these 2 steps if done with an attorney to about 5 hours of work. If you take the average cost of a divorce attorney at say $300 per hour, you are looking at $1,500 just to get these initial documents prepared. Wouldn't you rather spend that money on your attorney when he or she is doing what they do best, instead of paying them to prepare forms?

What you do is ultimately up to you. We just wanted to throw this out there for you to consider.

As licensed and bonded legal document assistants specializing in divorce in Santa Clarita, we help people save money on their divorce. Let us get you as far as we can before you spend the big money on an attorney.

And you never know. Maybe you will find that you never needed a divorce attorney in the first place.

Low Cost Divorce With Attorney Assistance In Santa Clarita

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

While we have always been the place to provide affordable, low cost divorce services, we are also a company that can help you with attorney assistance.

We are not a law firm. I want that to be clear right away. We are a legal document preparation service that works without attorney supervision. We are our own entity.

However, when you work with us, one of the benefits is that you can obtain a free attorney consultation with a family law lawyer in Santa Clarita.

We are always working to provide a great divorce service here in Santa Clarita. To that end, we had some clients that could not afford and attorney, but were in need of an attorney consultation so they could get some off their legal questions answered.

We started to look for a local Santa Clarita attorney who would be willing to meet with our clients and provide a free consultation. Well, we found one and our clients have been getting free divorce consultations with a family law attorney ever since.

But here is the trick. You only get to have this free attorney consultation with this attorney if you are working with us.

Most divorce attorneys in the Santa Clarita Valley charge anywhere from $125 to $300 for a 1/2 hour or 1 hour divorce consultation. You won't have to pay those fees when you use our service. The best part is that the attorney is not only able to meet you at the beginning, but will also answer your questions (and mine) throughout the process, if needed.

This is just one more way we are bringing a valuable divorce service to Santa Clarita. The more services we can offer, the better value we bring to the table. This is especially true when it is free of charge.

For more information about our divorce services in Santa Clarita, please give us a call at 661-281-0266.

High Cost Of Divorce Attorneys Good For Business – Santa Clarita

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

High Cost Of Divorce Attorneys Good For Business – Santa Clarita

As divorce attorneys in Santa Clarita have less and less clients and more and more competition from other attorneys, the only way to keep the money rolling in the door is to keep raising their prices.

I have learned that the more divorce attorneys raise their prices, the more business they drive toward our affordable divorce service in Santa Clarita.

There comes a point where you just have to say “enough” and many are. Those who used to go to attorneys are now realizing that they don’t need and attorney to get divorced.

This has always been the case, but folks have not been aware that there are alternate methods of getting divorced.

That is where we come in and spend countless hours a week writing on our blogs until our fingers are bleeding, screaming at the top of our lungs about our affordable divorce serivce.

And guess what? It is starting to work.

As the word gets out that folks can complete their divorce with us for a fraction of the cost of hiring an attorney, and have the forms completed exactly as the attorney would have, our business grows by leaps and bounds.

People have reached that threshold where they are not willing to pay for a service that has no value. When you over price your service, you drive clients right out the door.

As our divorce services are affordable, clients find we are a great value, not just because of our prices, but because of the level of service we provide.

Give us a call to learn more about our divorce services in Santa Clarita.

 

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.