Why Was My California Divorce Never Finished?

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Why Was My California Divorce Never Finished?

Today we’re talking about some of the top reasons why your divorce case in California may not have been finished.

And this article is spurred by the fact that we get lots of calls, people calling us saying they thought their divorce was finalized and later realized they’re not. And this has been folks that got remarried where maybe twenty years has gone by. Sky is the limit.

We want to kind of give you some of these reasons so maybe this won’t happen to you or you can also look at this video as things to watch out for or potential pitfalls when trying to file your own divorce in California.

The first reason we discussed and this will be linked in with our blog articles as well, is that you just didn’t finish your case.

Folks are under the misunderstanding that when they file their divorce papers, that’s all there is to do. That they file the summons and petition, the other party didn’t file a response and maybe they did some of the other paperwork, maybe they even submitted the judgment but they never received court approval.

They just assume it was done because they didn’t get anything back.

A lot of times the reason they didn’t get anything back is because you didn’t send an envelope with postage paid to you, because the court is not going to send it back.

The next thing we came up with is that you went to a hearing during your divorce and you receive some orders. This happens quite a bit too.

If you’re going through a divorce process and you need to file a motion because you need to support or custody reasons or something like that. You will get a temporary order issued. And that’s all it is. Temporary, it’s not the final order in your divorce and we just had this happen.

We had a client who had called us. They said their divorce was finalized.

We looked online and the judgment had not been entered and we saw they went recently with the court and they said yes, we went to court and the court made orders for our divorce.

And that’s great. Those are temporary. Those are not your final order. You still have to submit your final judgment paper-works.

So, watch out for that, if you had filed a motion and you have temporary orders. They’re only temporary.

Number three, and this kinds of falls out to number two. Final judgment in your case was never entered. Kind of going back to that motion. You have to file your final judgment you have to do all the final paperwork. You have to get a notice of entry of judgment. You need to get that back from the court with the judges signature or our divorce is not over.

Number four, this is kind of a blank of statement. You made an error on your paperwork. This could be your judgment paperwork. It could be any of the paperwork leading up to. It could be the summons, the petitions, anything leading up to the judgment. If there’s one mistake on any of the paperwork in your case, your judgement will be rejected.

Number five, you did not comply with the divorce procedure leading up to judgment. This means, this is different with the forms. The other issue was messing up the forms not checking the box.

This is procedure. Did you serve the party correctly? Did you file the proof of service? Did you serve something by mail that had to be done in person? The procedural issue of spouse we pull up quite a bit.

So, we want to get some of these top reasons out to, we cover five top reasons why your divorce may get rejected or maybe unfinished, however you decide to view this.

We can help you wherever you are at. People call us in various stages.

We are a licensed and bonded legal document preparation firm and we specialize in divorce in California. We can handle your case from the very beginning before you ever file a single document or we can clean up your mess if you’ve already started it and you’ve found yourself in trouble.

Feel free to give us a call. I’d be happy to help you out. Number is 661-281-0266 or get more information off out website at divorce661.com.

California Divorce | How To Complete Property Order For Judgment FL 345

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

California Divorce | How To Complete Property Order For Judgment FL 345

Today we are going to talk about how you properly complete the judgment document as relates to your property.

This is the FL-345 and this is the document which will be part of your judgment if you have property. In fact, even if you don’t have property you still want to attach the FL-345 property judgment or property order rather because you want to show the court that there is no property.

We’ve had judgments rejected because despite there being no property, they still wanted there to be a property order to show that there’s no property being divided.

Let’s get into the form a little bit. If you’ll notice at the top it starts off with the community property and then on page two, there’s the separate property.

And that’s important because you need to list the property correctly if its community, meaning, something that is during the marriage that is being divided that’s going to go to the community section and you’ll notice there’s a part for community properties to the petitioner and community properties to the respondent and the same goes for the separate property on the other page.

Specifically regarding the property there’s a certain way the court in California wants you to list the property, so I’m going to go over a couple of these issues that you’ll have if you don’t do this.

Number one, for vehicles, you need the year make, model and licensed plate of the vehicle or the van. If you don’t identify the vehicle that way, they’re going to reject your judgment.

Number two, property, any real property, homes, that you list. You need to have legal description. So you need to pull the deed, there will be a page that show a legal description. It’s a couple of lines, map, partial number and so on.

Make sure you list the address, followed by the legal description. Bank accounts, credited cards, 401 case. Any type of account, you have to have a number listed. So if you have an investment, fidelity, number one, two, three, four.

You don’t want to put the entire account number because it is potentially a public record. You just want to list the last four digits.

401 case, last four digits. Bank accounts, credit cards, anything you’re listing that needs to be identified to the best of your ability. For as an account number, put it, but just put the last four digits.

This is Tim Blankenship with divorce661.com. We specialize in divorce in California. We can help you with your divorce if you like us to take care of it for you. We do have flat fees. Please give me a call at 661-281-0266 or visit our website at divorce661.com.

You can click the link right below and it’ll take you to our blog which has more information about this topic.

Different Types Of California Divorce Mediators

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Different Types Of California Divorce Mediators

Today we’re talking about the different types of divorce mediation companies in California.

First off, let’s talk about certification. To become a mediator, a divorce mediator or to call yourself a mediator, all it requires is forty hours of training.

I’ve found that there are online training courses. You can go to a facility to be trained but there’s not a whole lot of training that’s required to become or call yourself a mediator.

Now, let’s talk about the two types of mediator you’ll find when it comes to divorce.

First is someone who will sit down with you, talk with you try and help you work with your differences, but these are a non-attorney mediators.

These are someone who is going to basically just sit down with you and try and help you work out something that’s fair. It may or may not be something that’s in your best interest or it may not have anything to do with your legal rights are.

It’s just going to be helping you guys work through a fair agreement. If that is all you need, someone to help you, sit down with you, talk with you, maybe have a little bit of counselling to get you guys to come to an agreement. That’s fine.

Just know that all you’re going to end up with is a verbal agreement or at the very most a letter will be written out what you’re agreement is that you’re going to sign.

Now, that document signed or not is not useful for purposes of divorce other than the fact that you came to an agreement.

So, that’s great that you came to an agreement but that document that you get from them, that you sign or don’t sign that has your agreements down on paper is not a court document, not a legal document it’s not something you’ll submit to court.

I guess it would just be something that you guys can say, well here’s what we’ve agreed to but really it’s not legally binding as suppose you could sign it and if it had the appropriate legal language it could be something you could sue for but as far as divorce is concerned it’s not going to be of much use.

Now, the second type of mediator is an attorney mediator. An attorney who is going to be operating as a neutral who you and your spouse will meet with and sit down. Now, this person knows the law hopefully.

They can discuss with you family law. They can tell you the ins and outs, the pros and cons. What your best case scenario is. What your worst case scenarios is and help you come to an agreement and then what they’ll do is, they’ll draft a legally binding marital settlement agreement.

This will have this sufficient language that you and your spouse can sign and that’s what will be submitted to the court.

Now, in the first case, those mediation services. They do not result in a marital settlement agreement are going to be much cheaper.

I’ve seen people pay $200 or $300 total to sit down and not know how long to spend with them but that is something that’s going to be a lot less expensive but you’re not really getting a document at the end that is going to be useful for your divorce.

An attorney mediator is going to give you a marital settlement agreement at the end which you can simply attach to your judgment, which will be your final agreement in your divorce case.

That’s going to be more expensive but you’re actually getting an attorney to do it where you have a marital settlement agreement at the end which you need to file for a divorce.

Now, if you are using mediation, all they’re going to do is mediate for you. They’re not going to help you prepare for your divorce documents in most cases.

That’s where we come in. give us a call, we can help you prepare all the divorce documents that needed to be attached to marital settlement agreement and submit your case to court. If you need an assistance finding a mediator and you are in our local area please give us a call.

I’d be happy to refer you to a great mediation service and I just want to talk to you about that today so you had an understanding of what you’ll get with these different types of divorce mediators.

My name is Tim Blankenship with divorce661.com.

We are headquartered in Santa Clarita, California but we can help you with your divorce anywhere in California. Please feel free to give me a call at 661-281-0266 or go to our website at divorce661.com

How To Serve California Divorce Papers When Spouse Out Of State

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

How To Serve California Divorce Papers When Spouse Out Of State

Today we’re going to talk about how to serve your spouse when you file for divorce in California but your spouse lives in another state. And it’s very simple.

You have three ways you can do this.

If you guys are not in agreement and your spouse is not going to cooperate. Simply, file your case in the county you live in and hire a process server in the city they live in.

We do this a lot, where parties are not cooperating, where the other party is not going to agree. You can simply hire a process server. Call them up, fax them or scan them and email them the divorce documents and then the documents that needed to be served. Give them an address.

It’s somewhere between $50 and $75 depending on the state or the city and get them served.

They’ll send you the proof of service. Done deal. File it with the court.

Now, before I do that. If you have a case where you guys are going to work through this together and you’re going to be cooperative. You have two other ways you can do this.

Number one, you can mail it or have someone else mail it rather. Not you. Mail it to them at the state the papers to be served along with the notice of acknowledgement of receipt. This is a form the other party can sign, essentially acknowledging receipt of the paperwork. It’s the easy way of doing things.

They sign it, they date it. They send it back to you and you file that form with the proof of service and the effective date of service is the date they signed the paper. Very simple.

The other way you can do it when they’re out of state is by certified mail.

If you do it by certified mail, your date of service is going to be the date it’s delivered. When you do certified mail make sure you do return receipt requested. That way, you’ll get the card back. The green card, the postage card back from the post office after it has been delivered it’ll be stamped having been delivered. That date that it’s either signed by the other party or stamped by the post office. That will be your date of service.

You need to file the original post office return receipt with your proof of service and make sure you mark the appropriate box on your proof of service form.

This is Tim Blankenship with divorce661.com. We can help you with your divorce in anywhere in California. Please give us a call, I’d be happy to help. 661-281-0266 or you can go to our website at divorce661.com for more information.

 

 

 

 

 

The California Divorce Process Is Frustrating We Can Help

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

The California Divorce Process Is Frustrating We Can Help

We have fixed fee pricing so make sure to call us when you need some help.

This article is talking about people being frustrated with the divorce process.

We get people that call us from all over state of California asking for assistance which we happen to do for a fee and because of the frustration in the paperwork, or the process, or just the whole issue of getting divorced.

People call us from, again, all over California and they call us at different stages in their divorce, so let’s talk about that.

We get calls from the very beginning when people have decided on getting a divorce, they don’t want to hire an attorney, they want to work it out on their own and they want more than an affordable cost – that will be us.

They call us at the beginning. They don’t want to deal with it; they’re both working, they don’t have time and they don’t want to deal with the paperwork. That’s number one.

Number two – we have people call us who have gone down to the courthouse, picked up the paperwork or got off line, tried to fill it out, maybe they even filed the initial paperwork; it got returned, rejected, having problems – they’ll call us.

Another time they’ll call us is when they get three courses of the way to the process. They’ve filed, they served, they think they do everything right and they are to realize everything was done wrong and they’re pretty frustrated and they call us for help.

The worst cases are these: You filed, served and all the financial stuff – all the forms; you think you’ve done everything right; you’ve tried to prepare the judgment, you submit your judgment to the court, months go by, you don’t hear anything, you think “Great! It’s over!”

Six / eight months later, you get a rejection sheet, mailed with all of your forms coming back to you and you’re devastated because now you have to literally start over.

You’ll have a sheet with check marks of issues and things you did incorrect and it could go as far back as the initial paperwork you did because the court is not reviewing your forms that you file at any point in your divorce until you submit your final paperwork.

So, obviously, we recommend that you call us – and from the very beginning. You don’t have to do this on your own and we’d be happy to help you there but we can also help you at any point in the process.

If you get stuck, if you get completely frustrated, throw up your hands and want to give up – call us. We can figure out where you’re at, picked up where you left off, fix all of the stuff you already messed up and take it to the finish line for you.

Tim Blankenship, divorce661.com. 661-281-0266. Anywhere in California, we can help you, so please give me a call.

 

 

Do I Have To Live Separate Before Divorce In California

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Do I Have To Live Separate Before Divorce In California

Today we’re answering the questions of is it okay to live with your spouse during divorce.

And the reason people have this question is because it varies by state. In California you do not have to live separately in a different residence from your spouse while going through the divorce process. You do not have to be literally separated.

In fact many of our clients, because of financial reasons continue to live together in the same house until their divorce is finalized, some even afterwards.

So, it’s okay. You don’t have to move out of your home before or move in a separate residence before you file for divorce. And that’s different from state to state, in California that’s the case.

I’ll give you a different idea of what that would be on another state. In Arizona for instance, I was talking to a family law attorney, they’re in Phoenix and the have to be separated for twelve months, literally live apart for twelve months, separate residence. Apparently not even in a separate room in the same house but you have to be separate living apart for twelve months.

That brings up some interesting considerations and thoughts because a lot of times people going through divorce it’s costly. You’re going to spend some money on your divorce and when you live apart you still have to make your family finances be a part of your divorce.

We have people that are going through divorce for months. It could take six, eight, twelve months in California to finalize your divorce even in an uncontested case and those people maintain the status quote by still paying the bills together, collectively.

Because when you live in two different households and you’ll soon realize when finalized your divorce. It’s more costly to run two households than it is one. So, those folks in Arizona assume ably are having a little bit more difficult financial time because they are forced to live separate for twelve months.

Just keep in mind, California, you can be in the same house, you can be in the same bed. The courts don’t matter it’s a no fault state. You don’t even have to be in different rooms. You don’t even have to be on the couch. We get most of our clients do this out of necessity.

Please give me a call if you’d like assistance with your divorce in California. My number is 661-281-0266 and you can get more information off our website at divorce661.com.

 

 

 

 

Santa Clarita Divorce Consultation

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Santa Clarita Divorce Consultation

Today we’re talking about the divorce consultations that we offer.

When we get calls, people have usually spent lots of time on our website at divorce661.com. They’ve watched one of our more than 200 videos. Listen to Podcasts and listen to our radio show. Checked us out on our reviews and did a lot of research before they ever call. And it’s good to do.

As far as consultations are concern, we do provide free over the phone consultations because in this industry of divorce, people do not know the ins and outs of it as we do. That’s what we’re here for, that’s what you’re going to ultimately pay us to do, is provide information.

Now, we provide that information through our articles. We’ve written over a thousand of articles on divorce in California. If you’re happy to take time to go ahead and read everything, learn up on the issue of divorce and when you want information specific to your case, because your case is going to be separate and different and individualized from everyone else is.

You can read facts, you can read articles and you can watch all the videos in the world but there’s going to be certain things that applied directly to you. You’re going to have something specific in your case that you have questions to this. You’re not going to have a perfect answer.

When that happens, pick up the phone and give us a call. We’d be happy to spend 15 – 20 minutes on the phone with you to explain our process, what we can do for you. Answer any specific questions you have related to your case to get you comfortable so we can get you ready to come in and get started with our service.

Please make sure to give us a call. The number is 661-281-0266. I’d be happy to spend some time on the phone with you to answer all your questions. You can also go to our website at divorce661.com and I will put a link on this video that you can click on and it will take you right to the article that talks more about what we discussed in this video.

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

 

How To Find Your California Case Number

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

How To Find Your California Case Number

Today we are talking about how you can find your case number.

We got lots of calls from people trying to figure out where their case is at. They have some of the documents they filed, maybe it has been years ago and they don’t know where they at, and the way you can determine where at is you need to see the documents are filed.

You can do that with your local county. It depends on where you are at in California. Go to your county court website and you’re going to look at something that says self-help services, online services and then you’re going to want to click on the link that says case summary.

You are at the case summary and all you need is the case number to find out where you’re at in your case and what documents have been filed.

This is useful for finding out hearings and things in that nature.

Now, keep in mind. You have to have your case number in order to check your case summary. There’s no way of searching by name in any of the courts in California. You have to have the case number.

So, if you don’t have the case number, the only way you can get it is by going down to the court house that you filed in or in fact you could probably go to any of the branch courts in your county and you can ask the clerk to run your name and they’ll take your license, your date of birth and they’ll find you in the system. But you can’t do that online.

You can also go in to some of the branch courts like in LA County where we’re located. They do have a computer inside that’s for personal use where you can search by name and look up cases.

My name is Tim Blankenship, divorce661.com.

If you’d like some help with your divorce please give me a call at 661-281-0266.

Van Nuys Divorce Court How Long Will Motion Take

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Van Nuys Divorce Court How Long Will Motion Take

Today we are talking about Van Nuys Court House in California and we’re talking about hearings that you’re setting with the court.

So, this would be called a request for order or a motion. They used to be called an order to show cost.

And what we’re talking about today is how long it’s going to take you to get a hearing when you file a motion. Because it is important to know how far out it’s going.

About a year and a half ago it used to be thirty days from the day you filed to the day you’d actually be on court. Then they crapped up to forty five days, then sixty and now it’s a whopping ninety days before you’ll get a hearing and that’s pretty bad considering people are filing motions to get temporary orders in their divorce case.

It may be because they need child support or spousal support or some type of other order and they have to wait ninety days before they can go to court.

The reason we know this, we just filed a case in Van Nuys and we file a motion for custody, visitation, support, everything else you will file in a motion when you have children and it was set in January.

Not only is there an issue because they are going into the holidays and we need some temporary child support and child visitation custody orders but now it’s going to go all the way through the end of the year into January.

Just keep that in mind, if you’re going to file a motion or you’re going to ask us to file a motion for you, which we can do for you. You’re looking at about ninety days before you get a hearing and this is for Van Nuys specific. It’s different with every court.

San Fernando is about sixty, Downtown is about sixty, it really depends, but Van Nuys they’re really backed up and I just want to keep that in mind.

So, if you need help in getting a motion filed, you can call us. We’ll prepare it for you. File it, serve it, do everything and that’s the service we provide, otherwise just keep in mind you’re looking at ninety days before you get any temporary orders in your divorce.

Tim Blankenship, divorce661.com.

Give me a call if you like some assistance with your divorce. 661-281-0266.

How To Terminate California Spousal Support During Long Term Marriage

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

How To Terminate California Spousal Support During Long Term Marriage

Today we are talking about terminating spousal support on a long term marriage. If it’s possible because of the ten year rule.

First I have to disclose, I’m not attorney, we’re not a law firm so we can’t give legal advice so all of this information we’re going to provide, you should verify or ask an attorney.

We do handle a large line with divorce cases. Many of our divorce cases, the spouses are married for ten years or longer and if you do your research online, you’ll see that the California law indicates that marriages over ten years in length will result in jurisdiction over the issue of spousal support to be indefinite.

But what happens when both parties are making the same amount of money, they have a long term marriage and neither of them wants the court to retain jurisdiction. How can that be resolved?

Because we have mostly all amicable cases and cases where parties are working together to come into an agreement. There is a way you can ask the court to terminate jurisdiction over long term marriages and spousal support by using a specific waiver information.

Essentially, it will say something to the effect of the parties understand that they are waiving jurisdiction to spousal support despite that being in California law and they sign the agreement willingly, knowingly without the rest etc.

And we’ve been able to get the courts to approve long term marriage termination of spousal support, where the parties are in an agreement to do so.

We had a case just last week where the parties literally made identical amounts of money per month. It was a long term marriage and neither of them wants spousal support, neither of them wanted the court to have jurisdiction in the future towards spousal support.

So, that’s the language that we use, there’s obviously more to that language. It’s a full paragraph waiver and that’s been approved by the court and they’ve terminate jurisdiction on spousal support even on long term marriages.

Hope that’s helpful. You can read the article to this video by clicking the link below. It’ll take you right to the article a little bit more in depth about this issue.

Tim Blankenship, divorce661.com.

We’d be happy to help you with your divorce in California. 661-281-0266.