Don’t Pay Two Santa Clarita Divorce Court Filing Fees

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

I have phrased this information so many different ways.  “How to save $435 on court filing fees”, “How to waste $435 in divorce court filing fees”, “Don’t file an uncontested Santa Clarita divorce case.

The point I am trying to get across is to help people understand that there are 2 court fees.  Once when you file the divorce petition and the other when you file the divorce response.  Watch this video or listen to the podcast where I explain how to save money on your Santa Clarita Divorce court filing fees.

 

California Divorce : What County Can I File My Divorce Case In?

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

When going through a divorce in California there are certain rules that apply to where you can file your divorce case. First you have to determine which County you are going to file in and then you have to determine which branch court within the county you are going to file in. You can’t just pick and choose which County or Court you want to file your California divorce case in.

I explain in the below video and podcast.

 

Santa Clarita Divorce : Time Is Money & Self Help Is Not Free

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

You are going through a Santa Clarita Divorce or anywhere in California and want to be money conscience. I get it. But, over the last few years of owning this business, I have seen people who try to do their own divorce end up spending more money and a ton more time (which also translates into dollars from lost wages)

Don’t bet me wrong, i understand wanting to save money on your divorce in Santa Clarita but you can’t do it at the expense of missing time from work at the court’s self help centers, waiting in line, and having to go down there several times only to be treated badly by the employees of the court.

I know I am not painting a rosy picture, but it is the truth. Ask anybody who has been down to the court’s self help centers and they will tell you how awful it is.

We have both a full-service and self help online divorce service so there is no reason why you can’t afford one of our services.

To check out our online self help services go to California Divorce Tutor for more information.

Santa Clarita Do-It-Yourself Online Divorce Service

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Not only do we have our full service divorce process in Santa Clarita and throughout California, but we also have a Do-It-Yourself online divorce service as well.  This online divorce service is much different than any other online divorce service in California.

We have put together and online membership site for divorce that has all the information you need to file and complete your divorce in California.

We understand that not everyone can afford our full service divorce process and we wanted a way to give folks who are trying to do their own divorce access to all the forms and information they will need to complete their own divorce without having to wait in long lines at the court’s divorce self help centers.

Our Do-It-Yourself online divorce service will provided everything from uncontested divorce to contested divorces. Literally every form you would need to go all the way through to trial in your divorce case.  We also have step by step procedures and examples of how to file a Request For Order (motions) so you can get a court date.

We are constantly adding information to our online divorce site and even if you come across something you can’t find the answer to, just let us know and we will add that specific content.  No problem.

We also offer a weekly live broadcast where you can ask questions via Periscope!  This allows direct interaction with the companies owner.  You can go to Periscope and search for Tim Blankenship using the twitter id of @timsblankenship.

We are glad to bring this affordable do-it-yourself California divorce service so everyone has the opportunity to obtain great divorce assistance and guidance without having to wait in line at the Court’s self help centers.  If you have ever been to one of California’s divorce self help centers, you know what I mean.

Do I Have To Have All Agreements To File For Divorce In California?

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Do I Have To Have All Agreements To File For Divorce In California?

From all the calls we get everyday about California divorce, one of the most commonly asked questions is, “Do we have to have all our agreements in place before filing for divorce”?

So here is the answer.  It does not matter whether you have your agreements or no agreements at all because to “file for divorce” requires very little information. The initial forms that are used to file for divorce in California don’t require you know anything about the agreements in your case.

When you file for divorce, the initial paperwork requires very little; mostly statistical data such as:

  • The Parties names and address
  • Date of Marriage and Date of Separation
  • Children’s names and date of birth
  • Reason for filing for divorce (irreconcilable differences is only option)
  • Basic idea of child custody ( full or joint custody – no specific requests)
  • Will there be a request for spousal support
  • And that’s about it!

I always tell people when they call our office that it is pretty scary how little information you need to file for divorce.  Keep in mind that these are just the initial documents to open the case with the court.  All the details come later down the road as part of the process.

Most of our clients do not have any agreements in place when they start the divorce process.  All they know is that they don’t want to hire an attorney and spends thousands of dollars and they are at least someone willing to work towards an agreement in their divorce case.

When you decide to move forward with our company to file for divorce, we will normally send you a short questionnaire requesting the information stated above and complete your initial divorce papers the same day to have them to you for signature.  The court even accepts fax or email signatures!

That is how easy it is to file for divorce in California.

For more information please call us at 661-281-0266 for a free phone consultation.

California Divorce Court’s FREE Self Help Center Worth Every Penny

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Most people are aware that most courts have a self help center to help you with your divorce.  They are generally free, but they do come at a cost and are very busy and hard to get in to see them as they are on a first come first serve basis.

I talk often about the divorce court’s self help center because people often ask why they shouldn’t go down there as opposed to using our California divorce service.

Here is what I tell them.  While it is “free” in actual out of pocket costs, it is very expensive in the amount of time you spend at the divorce self help centers.  So lets talk about this a little bit

The divorce self help centers are very busy and they can only help so many people per day. In fact, in Los Angeles County, they report that on an average day, they can only help 30 or so people.  For those that can’t get in after waiting in line all day, the only option is to come back the next day and get in line again.  There is no priority and no appointments.

So what it will cost you is a significant amount of time.  Time missed from work trying to get FREE help! Most people will need to make several trips to the court over the span it takes to complete all the divorce paperwork.

Can you afford to miss 3 to 4 days of work to get “free” help?  How much will this actually cost you?

Obviously I am a proponent of using our full service California divorce company to complete your divorce for you. In the end, our service will cost you much less than several days missing work.

And were not even talking about the frustration you will experience dealing with the courts and the paperwork and having to figure out how to file and serve divorce papers.

I know that not everyone can afford our fees, despite being flat rate and very affordable.

For that reason, I am creating a website that will be for these people  who don’t have the money for attorneys or for our full service divorce process.

I will be writing articles about this website explaining what its purpose is, but you can expect that this website will be an online version of the Court’s self help centers so that you can get affordable divorce self help services without leaving your home or office.

How Is Spousal Support Determined During California Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

How Is Spousal Support Determined During California Divorce

Whenever we are handling a divorce for our clients, we always need to know if there will be a request for spousal support from either party. Believe it or not, many of our clients choose not to request spousal support from the other party, even where the income differences between them would suggest they could ask for spousal support.

You see, spousal support is one of those things that is not mandatory.  Compare that with Child Support which the court enforces at least minimum guideline amounts be paid, a spouse can decide to waive their right to spousal support.

But for determining the amount of spousal support there are a couple ways you can go about that.  If you are working toward an agreement with your spouse, as is the case with many of our clients, we usually will start with using the court’s software system called a “dissomaster”.  The dissomaster takes your income and your spouses income and considers the disparity between the two to come up with a number. The idea is that if one party makes more than the other, money would be paid to the lesser earner to help move on with life.

What i tell our clients is to use the dissomaster as a guide in helping to determine what the needs of the spouse are for spousal support.  For instance, when you divorce and ultimately move out into separate residences, what are going to be your needs for money and what is the ability to pay for the other spouse.

It can be as simple as sitting down at the kitchen table and going through your finances and expenses to work together to come up with a number for spousal support that works for both of you.

The next article will discuss the question of for how long should you pay spousal support to the other party.  You can read that article by clicking on How Long Should I Pay Spousal Support.

We specialize in providing affordable divorce solutions throughout California.  Please call for a free consultation.

The Cost Of Doing Your Own California Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

As I am sure you are aware that technically you can do your own California Divorce divorce.  I say technically because many try and many fail.  While it is possible to do it yourself, the percentage of actually completing is very low.

I understand that the decision to attempt to do your own California divorce is most likely a financial decision or you may have been told by someone else that it is easy to do.

In discussing this, I want to talk about what doing your own divorce will cost you.  Not so much in actual dollars, but in time spent in doing so in an effort to shed some light on making the decision to do it yourself or hire us to prepare your divorce case for you.

Folks who decide to attempt to do their own divorce run into several problems.  First of all, you will need to complete your own divorce forms.  I am sure this is your first time so the forms are going to be very foreign to you. You will need to then file these forms with the court, who by the way will not review them for accuracy, they will just take your money and stamp the forms. (it is not their job to review documents)

Just on this first step of filing the forms here are some things you will have to decide.

  • What forms do i need to file to initiate the case?
  • Did I fill them out correctly?
  • Now that there filed, how do I serve them?  Can I serve them?

Okay, so lets assume you filled out the initial court documents, filed them with the court and had them served properly.

Let me ask you a question. How much time did you spend on this?  Did it take you away from your work? Family? TV time?  You get where I am going.

Now you have only just begun the process.  It only gets more difficult as you proceed.  Now you need to complete your financial disclosures.

Here you will need to decide:

  • Which forms do I need?
  • Do they get filed with the Court?
  • Do I need to serve them? Personally served or mail served and by whom?
  • What do I need to disclose?

Lastly, you will need to complete the judgment.  By far the most tricky of parts.  There are multiple forms that comprise the judgment and a certain way to prepare the forms.

The point here is that you are going to spend more time than you like trying to complete your own divorce.  And if you are working, you are going to need help on occasion and probably try to use the court’s self help centers.  Good luck with that. They are on a a first come, first serve basis and usually are only able to help about 30 people per day.

You will end up spending several full days if attempting to use the court’s self help center.

So I again pose the question of what is the cost of doing your own California divorce?

My guess is that it may cost you more financially, but will cost even more in your time. Time you can never get back.

If you have the resources to hire our firm to complete your California divorce, we definitely recommend it.  Spare yourself the nightmare of trying to complete your own divorce.

Trust me, much of our business comes from people who have spent months on their own, without success, only to come to us to fix what they have started and take them to the finish line.

 

Emergency Custody Orders During California Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Emergency Custody Orders During California Divorce

We had a client come to us for what he thought was going to be an uncontested divorce case.  At first everything seemed to be going fine, but then things turned sour.

We received a call from our client who said his wife was in the hospital and had overdosed on medication.  His concern, aside from the condition of his wife, was that of his minor child.  He felt that in her current condition that he should probably ask for emergency court orders that he have temporary full custody until his wife is in better condition.

So what we did was prepare what is called an “Ex-Parte” (pronounced “partay” and not “party”) which is where you go into court on a day of your choosing after giving only 24 hours notice to the other party that you are going to court to seek emergency orders.

It is ultimately up to the court if your issue is considered an emergency and worthy of being heard as such.  In this case, the judge did hear our clients motion for full custody and did so make an order that he have full custody until further order of the court.

They will normally set another court date for the parties to return to court to re-assess the order and possibly to hear the other persons side of things, especially where the other party did not appear which is what happened here.

If you are going through a divorce and you need to get temporary emergency orders we can certainly help you achieve getting into court and letting the judge know why you need what you need. Of course, it is always up to the judge to make the orders.

The key to getting your point across is to write a declaration with your motion to explain your side of things.  We have gotten really good at preparing and filing motions and getting our clients into court to obtain orders.  Whether you need to file a motion or respond to a motion your spouse has filed, we can help.

Use Divorce Court Judgment Forms Not Marital Settlement Agreement

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

The divorce process is difficult, no doubt about it.  From the form completion to ensuring you properly serve and file papers, many people who attempt to file their own California divorce will fail.

This is why we write so many articles about divorce and the process that will hopefully help folks getting through their divorce.  There is something in it for me, of course, and that is that i hope you will come across our divorce articles and videos and then reach out to us and hire us to prepare your divorce case for you.  I figure if i was helpful at some point, and then you need help or decide to hire someone, that you will come to me for help with your divorce.

This article (and video below) will discuss how to prepare your final divorce judgment, also known as Marital Settlement Agreement or MSA.

(watch video for full explanation)



The last part of a California divorce is to prepare the judgment.  This is where you incorporate all your agreements regarding the terms of your divorce.  In addition, there are numerous additional court forms that you will have to prepare along with the agreements.

This is the part that give people most of the trouble and here is what we recommend.

Instead of trying to use a Marital Settlement Agreement type of form where there is drawn out narrative that you probably found online and which wont be accepted by the court, instead use the court judgment forms.

If you look at the FL-180 which is the judgment face sheet, you will notice on page 2 that there are boxes you can check that relate to the type of order.  For instance, lets say child support and child custody as they are at the top. You can check those boxes then use the corresponding form for those orders.  In this case it would be the FL-342 and FL-343.

By using the court judgment forms instead of a MSA you will greatly increase your chances of having your California divorce judgment accepted and approved by the court.

If you need professional assistance with your divorce case please give us call.  We provide full service California divorce services at affordable rates.