California Default Divorce With Agreement

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

California Default Divorce With Agreement

The California default divorce with agreement should be the most talked about type of divorce.  But it is not.

Why do I say this?  Because the California default divorce with agreement is the most cost effective way of completing your California divorce.

The California default divorce with agreement combines a “true default” style divorce where the responding party does not file a response and does not pay a filing fee with the Uncontested divorce case where the party is involved in the case and will sign a written agreement.

More easily said, you can file for divorce and enter into a written agreement with your spouse and they do not have to file a response to do this.

Let me say this another way.  One of you can file for divorce.  The other spouse does not need to file a response and you can both still be involved and signed a written agreement.

Why then would you ever want to respond in a divorce case?  If your divorce is contested and you have attorney’s you will almost always file a Response.

But when you are working together in your divorce, a Response is not necessary.  So why don’t the courts talk about this?  The simple answer is, “Money”.  The courts don’t want you to know that you can get divorce and have a divorce with agreement with no response filed because they want their filing fee.  They want the other party to respond and pay the fee.  That is the only reason I can think of.

The California default divorce with agreement is also known as a Hybrid divorce.  It is called a hybrid divorce because it is a Hybrid between the true default case and the uncontested case.  You won’t find any mention of a hybrid divorce or California default divorce with agreement anywhere on the Courts websites.  They talk only about the Default, Uncontested and Contested divorce cases in California.

If you and you and your spouse are going through a California divorce and are working together toward an agreement and want to save money I recommend you use the California default divorce with agreement.  It will save you money and you get all the advantages of submitting a divorce with agreement.

We are a licensed and bonded legal document preparation firm that specializes in California divorce.  We offer affordable flat fees and can help you prepare your California default divorce with agreement case anywhere in California.

 

Establishing Paternity During California Divorce Process

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

This article is about establishing paternity during the California divorce process.  This pertains to you if you had a child with your spouse before you were married.  In particular, we are going to discuss an often missed issue when filing the Petition in your California divorce.

If you are getting divorced and had a child born before you were married, you will have to establish paternity. This is basically a fancy way of having a legal proceeding where the court says that the father, is in fact, the father.

The good news is that if you are getting a divorce, you can establish paternity during the same divorce process. You won’t have to file a separate paternity action with the court.

What I want to discuss now is about filing the actual divorce Petition in California.  When you fill out the Petition, you have to state certain statistical facts such as the date of marriage, date of separation, who gets legal and physical custody, etc.

What a lot of people miss checking off is the box on page 2 of the Petition under number 7(d).  It says”

Determination of parentage of any children born to the Petitioner and Respondent prior to marriage.

If the two of you had a child born before the marriage you need to check this box.  If you do not check this box, the Court will not check to make sure you did or not.  The problem is if you do not check the box and try to finish your divorce, the entire case will be rejected when you go to submit your judgment.

Even worse is that you will have to file an amended Petition and re-serve the Petition on your spouse.  And guess what?  You now have to wait the 30 days again before you can file your judgment.

We are a licensed and bonded divorce paralegal service (legal document assistant firm) specializing in California divorce.  Please give us a call for more information or assistance with your divorce in California.