Providing A Divorce Community Service In Santa Clarita

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

When we started our Santa Clarita divorce service, we never thought it would be considered a community service.  But after one of our clients spoke of it that way, well, I guess it actually is.

We are not a non-profit business, so how could we consider ourselves providing a community service?  Especially when were are talking about divorce?

This was stated to us in the form of a review someone left for us.  They basically said that because we have produced and written so many articles and videos about California divorce, that we have made learning and understanding the divorce process easy to find and understand.

And it is true that we have done those things.  I think over 1000 articles, 200 videos and at least 100 podcasts as of this writing on October 22, 2013, and we will continue to do more every day.

But now that they got me thinking about it, that is not the only reason I think we provide a community service in Santa Clarita with our divorce service.

Another reason I think it is a community service is because of the amount of money we save people on their divorce in California.

Before we started this business, you had only 2 options.  Hire an attorney, and we know how much hiring an attorney for your divorce costs.  Or attempting to do your own California divorce.  Neither of these options is idea.  The first is very expensive and the latter is, well, you don’t want to be doing your own divorce.

Whether it is truly a community service or not, we do feel good about the divorce service we provide in Santa Clarita.  And it is not just Santa Clarita that we provide our divorce service in.  We only mention it because this is where our brick and mortar office is located.

But we can complete your divorce case anywhere in California, so make sure to give us a call.

 

Professional Divorce Service In Santa Clarita | SCV Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

When people are looking for an affordable way to get divorced in Santa Clarita, many chose to use our professional divorce service.  We are the only licensed and bonded divorce document preparation firm in Santa Clarita.

What makes us a professional divorce service?  That is a good question.

First off, we have the experience it takes to get your divorce completed.  Our experience started in the self help centers in the Los Angeles Family Law courts many years ago.  Cutting our teeth learning the divorce process from the ground up while assisting people who could not afford an attorney.

The next thing we did is complete an internship with the family law department in the Los Angeles Superior Courts.  We worked at the Lancaster Branch, Central Branch and San Fernando Branch.  We sat with the family law clerks and learned from the judges as we sat and assisted the judicial assistants in the court room.  We still have our foot in the door with the Los Angeles Superior Court and still assist them to this day.

After working at the court, we worked for one of Santa Clarita’s largest family law firms for over 2 years.  We gained insights from the attorney perspective.  It was only after numerous year of experience with the divorce courts and family law attorneys, did we start our divorce document preparation service in Santa Clarita.

So that pretty much sums up our experience.  Since starting our professional divorce service, we have gained great strides and our business continues to expand.  We now prepare approximately 6-8 new divorce cases every week here from our little office.

Folks are beginning to realized that when it comes to getting a divorce in Santa Clarita and the surrounding Los Angeles area, that we are the place to go for professional divorce services.

One of the things we have done that has made us successful is that we decided early on that we would only do divorce cases. We are not the only licensed and bonded legal document preparation service in Los Angeles, but we are the only ones that specialize in only divorce cases.  This makes us the obvious choice when you decide to get divorced in Santa Clarita.

We are Santa Clarita’s only professional divorce service.  Please give us a call for more information.

SCV Divorce Service Rapidly Expands

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

We have been fortunate to say the least.  We opened our little Santa Clarita divorce service just over a year ago.  In that short year we have bootstrapped a small start up with literally nothing more than a desire to assist Santa Clarita families with affordable divorce options.

We believe we have found a niche service and one that was apparently desperately needed in Santa Clarita.  We did our due diligence and discovered that there was not an affordable divorce service in Santa Clarita.  We thought there was a market for our service and we were right.

We have seen rapid expansion and this week had to add additional office space and have added an office here in Santa Clarita.  We are still in the same building as we have found great success from using the Barrister Suites building off The Old Road north of Newhall Ranch Road.

We have gone from a single office with just one employee (me!) to now 6 employees and a second office.  I have moved myself out of the original office and find myself with a private office just as I did before we did not have any employees to speak of.

As we get our team in place, we are now geared up to help even more people with a better way of getting divorced.  One that will not leave you with high costs of using an attorney.

We plan on ramping up our marketing efforts now that we can handle a large load of clients.  Up until now, we have been careful to only take on the amount of clients we could successfully provide excellent customer service to.

If you find yourself needed to get divorce anywhere in Los Angeles County, we would be honored if you allowed us to assist you.  We have a great system in place to efficiently help you through your divorce and have the experience it takes to get the job done.

How To Start The California Divorce Process | Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

We have made several videos on how to complete your California divorce and are now making them available on our blog, divorce661.com.

The video below discusses the initial steps and divorce forms you will need to file for divorce in California.  It is a step by step guide on what the exact forms you will need to file to get your divorce case started.

We explain the divorce process exactly as we would complete it if you had our Santa Clarita Divorce Service completing your divorce for you.

We discuss how to fill out the California Divorce Petition form FL-100 and divorce Summons Form FL-110.  We will share with you the exact way to complete these forms on video.  You can literally watch as we type on the forms.  You could even follow along and complete your forms yourself if you wanted to.

We also go over some of the areas of the divorce forms where people have the most trouble and ask us the most questions about.

The video will also help you decide how to fill out the requests on page 2 of the Petition. You will notice that the forms says ” Petitioner Requests” and then starts asking about children and physical and legal custody and visitation, etc.

Now on the divorce summons, we discuss the automatic restraining orders that go into effect which are on the second page of the summons.  Make sure to read what that says.  The summons also advises the respondent that they have 30 days to respond.

Once you have watched this video on how to start the California divorce process and completed your initial divorce documents, you will need to file them with the court so your case number can be issued.

We are a licensed and bonded legal document preparation service that specializes in divorce. We are located in Santa Clarita and serve all the Courts in Los Angeles County.  Please give us a call if you would like more information about our full service divorce process.

Santa Clarita Divorce | Santa Clarita Divorce | Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Santa Clarita Divorce

Welcome to our site all about Santa Clarita Divorce.   If you are looking to learn about divorce in Santa Clarita and how the process works, you will find all the information on this website.

We continue to work hard to explain the Santa Clarita Divorce process in plain English so that people like you and me can understand how the divorce process really works.

We have had many people call us to say that our divorce website was the first site they came across that really helped them understand what is going to take to get divorced in Santa Clarita and helped them answer all their questions about divorce.

When you are considering getting a divorce in Santa Clarita, it is important that you are familiar with the process and understand all the ins and outs of what is going to happen.

That is exactly why we write so much about divorce.  We have now written over 1000 articles about divorce.  From “how to” articles with related videos to writing about our experiences and things you can expect when going through divorce.

Santa Clarita Divorce

We are the first place you should call when deciding on getting divorced.  We are not attorneys, so we are not going to blow a lot of smoke you know where. We just tell you how it is, plain and simple and in a language you can understand.

We have had people call a divorce attorney in Santa Clarita and then call us.  They said they had absolutely no idea what the attorney was saying.  This is not because the attorneys are not smart, it is because they speak in a language that only attorneys do.

Because we are not divorce attorneys, we speak the same language as you do when it comes to explaining the divorce process.

We are a licensed and bonded legal document preparation service that specializes in Santa Clarita Divorce. Give us a call for more information about our Santa Clarita Divorce service.

Watch Out For Divorce Services That Cut Corners | Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

The business of providing legal services is ripe with fraud.  That is why there are many rules one must follow in order to become licensed in the field of providing divorce legal services as we do in Santa Clarita.

We have obtained those licenses to provide our Santa Clarita divorce service which required that we proved we had the necessary educations, experience and background.

Unfortunately, there are many that have no experience and are unlicensed who are out there offering their services to the public illegally and who put a bad stain on this industry.

Yesterday I received a call from someone who at first was asking about costs for certain services I provide.  I was asking some questions of this person who I later determined was calling under false pretenses.  Meaning he was not a real or potential client, but was asking questions as if he was one.

This person finally said that they were a process server who also provided family law services and had questions about how we operate.

Seriously, you are a process server and you also provide family law services?  He started to tell me how he does divorce cases and all the corner cutting that he does.

This person had absolutely no clue about how to complete a divorce, but had all the ways to cheat the system worked out.  Meaning how he could do as little as work as possible by not following the court procedure.

This is exactly the type of people that are out there offering their divorce services that you have to watch out for.

So when you are calling around trying to ask how much it is for a divorce, you best make sure to check if they are even licensed to provide the service.

I can guarantee that if you are shopping around for a divorce service  based on price and want the lowest bidder, you are going to end up with one of the characters.

I badly want to post who this person is as I found them online.  But i will just hope they read this post and figure out it was them.  I am just glad this person is not in Santa Clarita.

If you are reading this I suggest you either get licensed to practice in this field and pay your bond and go through the steps to educate yourself and the necessary training to be in this industry.

Or just go back to process serving and stick to what you know.

How To Demand Financial Disclosures During Divorce | Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

When going through a divorce there are many forms that have to be filed and served on the other party.  It can get very confusing which divorce forms to fill out.

But what do you do when the other party is not completing the divorce forms they are supposed to complete?

This article deals specifically with how to request the preliminary declaration of disclosure.  This is the schedule of assets and debts and income and expense declaration.

If you are going to file a uncontested divorce or hybrid divorce, both parties will need to complete their financial disclosures.  The divorce process cannot proceed until both parties have completed this step of disclosing their finances and served them on the other party.  It is mandatory that both parties to the divorce complete this step.

Sometimes one of the spouses will not want to complete this step for one reason or another.  But because it is necessary, you will need to nudge them a little.

Here is what we do to ask for someone to complete their financial disclosures.

First, don’t ask for theirs until you have filed and served yours.  So complete your set of disclosures.  When you serve them on your spouse, include a letter that asks that they complete their disclosure withing 30 days.

Wait the 30 days and if no response or no disclosures completed, you can take the next step.  This would be to file a demand with the court.  You would file a “Demand For Production Of Preliminary Declaration Of Disclosure” on the other party.

It is not a discovery request, but rather a demand that they complete their preliminary declaration of disclosure.  This form is filed with the court and then served on the other party.  This lets them know that you mean business and that the court is aware of the request.

In the demand for production of Preliminary Declaration of Disclosure you will indicate the same thing you did in the letter.  Let them know that pursuant to Family Code Section 2104 and 2107 that they have 30 days to complete their disclosures and that failure to comply with this demand may result in you filing a motion with the court to compel such production.

Hopefully, these steps will get your spouses attention and they will complete the necessary documents so you can complete your divorce.

We are a licensed divorce service located at 27240 Turnberry Lane, Ste. 200 Valencia, CA 91355.  Please call us if you would like more information about our services.

You Have 30 Days After Divorce Petition Served To File Response | Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

If you are going through a divorce in California, one thing you will receive is the Summons.  The divorce Summons can be scary to read so I wanted to discuss this form in detail.

The first thing the divorce summons says is “You Are Being Sued”.  What do you mean you are being sued?  Look, while this is a family law matter, it is still a lawsuit filed in a court of law.  You just need to get over it.  And understand this. You are being sued, but not like in civil court where you are the defendant because someone has alleged you have done something wrong.

The next thing you will read is the following caption:

“You have 30 calendar days after this Summons and Petition are served on you to file a Response at the court and have copy served on the Petitioner.  A letter or phone call will not protect you.  If you do not file your Response on time, the court may make orders affecting your marriage, your property, and custody of your children…”

Of all the divorce forms, this one troubles people the most and I want to discuss a few things.

First of all, what the court is referring to about the “30 days to file a response” is in regards to the other party having the ability to file a “Request to enter Default”.  While technically it is true that you need to file a response in 30 days, it is not necessary if you are planning on proceeding by way of default or by using a hybrid judgment for your divorce.

I am a big fan of the hybrid divorce.  This is a cross between a default and an uncontested.  A hybrid divorce judgment allows you to do all the things required by an uncontested divorce (both parties complete financial disclosures and enter into a written agreement) and a true default divorce.

When preparing a hybrid style divorce, you do not have to worry about filing a response.  So while the Summons says you have to file a response or risk losing certain rights, it is not part of the paperwork when completing a hybrid divorce in California.  This is because with a hybrid a request to enter default will be filed.

The difference is that the request to enter default will be submitted with the final divorce judgment along with the agreement instead of after the 30 day mark.

If you have more questions about the California Divorce Summons or about the “30 days to respond” language, please feel free to give us a call.

We are a licensed divorce service located at 27240 Turnberry Lane, Ste. 200 Valencia, CA 91355 and can be reached at 661-281-0266.

Important To Remember What Happened In Court | Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

We have had several of our clients go to court lately.  No matter how many times I tell them to remember what happens in court, they often forget.

I don’t blame them.  There is a lot going on and they are nervous and in unfamiliar territory.  The problem is that we need to know what orders the judge made so that we can do what they said to do.

Most recently we had a client go to court and the judge made some orders.  Our client called us to inform us that he was not sure exactly what the judge said he had to do.

All he could remember is that a new trial date was set and that he was supposed to complete his judgment before the trial date.

When this happens, we want to make sure what was said in court so we can complete whatever the judge informed us to.  So what we did was have our attorney service go to the department and ask for a copy of the minute order.  Click on this link for more information of what a minute order during a divorce hearing is.

When we received the minute order, it said that he was supposed to give his spouse notice of the next hearing.  He did not hear that part.  Here is the problem with that.  If he had not contacted us to help him with his divorce, he would have not known about giving notice of the next hearing.

Seems harmless enough, but had he shown up to court without giving notice of the hearing and trial, he would have shown up and the court would have realized that the other party was not informed of the hearing and had to continue the case to yet another court date.

Representing yourself during your divorce can be very challenging and have significant setbacks.  No wonder it takes people representing themselves during divorce so long to get through the process.

We recommend you use a competent divorce firm to help you with your divorce paperwork.

SCV Legal Doc Assist

27240 Turnberry Lane, Ste. 200 Valencia, CA 91355

SCV Divorce Service Serves All Divorce Courts In Los Angeles

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Just because our divorce service is headquartered in Santa Clarita does not mean we only assist people in Santa Clarita.

Our SCV divorce service serves all the courts in Los Angeles County.  Did you know there are 10 district branches in Los Angeles County with the Central Court House in Downtown LA being the main branch?  We serve all of these divorce courts.

We have filed divorce cases in all the district branches in Los Angeles.  From Antelope Valley to the North to Long Beach to the South and Pomona to the East and San Fernando to the West and everything in between.

So how exactly are we able to serve clients everywhere in Los Angeles?  Easy!

While many clients come to our office in Santa Clarita, we do a great deal of divorce business remotely over the phone and via email, etc.  We have many clients all through out Los Angeles.  Folks like the fact that we have streamlined the divorce process which allows them the option to come into our office or complete their divorce right over the phone.  It really is your option.

So regardless of where you live, you can use our divorce service.  We are still considering opening another office in Los Angeles or further south, but we are still doing our due diligence research to see if there is enough business that would suggest opening another office makes sense.

Until then, we will continue to serve our divorcing clients in Los Angeles remotely.  Please know that the divorce service we provide is no less professional when done via phone and email.  Because we do so much business this way, we have a smooth divorce process with clients as far away as Africa, Germany and Australia who use our divorce service.

We look forward to helping your through your divorce regardless of where you live in Los Angeles County.  Please give our office a call and we will discuss how our divorce service can help you.