Using Siri To Find Our Santa Clarita Divorce Service

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Using Siri To Find Our Santa Clarita Divorce Service

There a millions of Iphone and Ipad users, many of  which are turning to Siri to conduct their local search.  I wanted to make sure that we showed up on Siri if someone were to search for our divorce paralegal service in Santa Clarita.

I tried several different searches using Siri and interestingly enough, we generally ended up on the search.  When I searched for “Divorce Services in Santa Clarita”, Siri searched for divorce lawyers.  We came up number 2 on that search under our main company name of SCV Legal Doc Assist.

When we searched for “Divorce Paralegal Services in Santa Clarita, we did not show up at all.  When I researched on why, it turns out that Siri mostly uses YELP to find matches to the search.  Because there is only a “lawyer” category and no “paralegal” category, it makes it difficult to show up for divorce paralegal services.

One tweak I did make was to add to the name of our business as Yelp appears to use the name of the business to also help identify what type of company it is.  So now the name of our company on Yelp shows as SCV Legal Doc Assist – Divorce Paralegal Services Santa Clarita.  Hopefully the addition of “Divorce Paralegal Services Santa Clarita” will help searchers using Siri to be able to find us easier.

We are a legal document preparation company in Santa Clarita that specialize in divorce.  We help people avoid using an attorney for their divorce, saving them lots of money in the process.

Attorneys are not a necessary part of the divorce process.  A large percentage of folks who hired a divorce attorney never actually needed them and could have used our affordable divorce services.

Please give us a call to learn more about our divorce services in Santa Clarita.  We would be happy to show you how we can save you money on your divorce.

Spotlight On Our Santa Clarita Divorce Service

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Spotlight On Our Santa Clarita Divorce Service

Remember the old days when you would see these giant spotlights crisscrossing the sky to let you know there was an event, grand opening or a sale?  I do.  I never actually drove to the light to see what was going on, but obviously something was.

These days the spotlight is most likely the internet.  Here, online, you can put you name in lights like we have to get the attention of the public that your service exists.

When we first opened up for business, word quickly spread that there was now an affordable place to get your divorce done in Santa Clarita without having to hire and attorney.

I often wonder where clients used to go who needed to get divorced before we opened our divorce document preparation service.  There certainly was no business providing a divorce service as we are in Santa Clarita.  I have to search long and hard to find another company doing what we are doing and even then, they do not specialize in divorce like we do.

I have lived in Santa Clarita for a long time and it feels good to provide a service that people actually need.  Were not selling widgets or some latest gadget. Rather, we are providing a service which, if we didn’t, folks would have nowhere to turn and would have to face the divorce process on their own.

The reason we have been so successful is because of our knowledge about divorce.  We just did not open shop without any training or experience.  We spend several years with the divorce courts, working for divorce attorney’s in Santa Clarita to hone our skills.  In fact, we still volunteer with the courts weekly to keep up to date with change laws, forms and procedures.

If you are looking for assistance with your divorce in Santa Clarita make sure to give us a call.  We would be happy to give you all the details about how to complete the divorce process in Santa Clarita.

How To Change Your Address During Divorce | Santa Clarita Divorce

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How To Change Your Address During Divorce | Santa Clarita Divorce

Did you know that when you move while going through the divorce process you need to file a change of address?  Yep, there is a special form just for that.

I find that many of my clients are not aware of this.  In fact, when I learn that they have started their divorce on their own several years ago or they filed in a court that no longer appears to be the correct court, I make sure to ask if they have moved since they filed the initial divorce paperwork.

It is not likely that the court is going to mail you anything.  It is more about providing this information to the other party.  If you move and don’t tell your spouse you moved and they need to serve something on you, then they are going to have a difficult time.

One time the court will mail something to you is when you submit the final divorce judgment.  They will need to mail you a conformed copy that the judge signed.  So if you want to make sure you get a copy of your divorce, you will want to make sure the court has your current address.

The form you use to change your address when going through a divorce is form MC-040 called, Notice of Change Of Address or Other Contact Information.  As you can see by the description you can use this form not only to change your address, but to update phone numbers or any other type of information that has changed.

Make sure when you fill out this form that you also file it and serve the change of address.  If you fail to complete the 2nd page which is the proof of service, the court will reject your change of address.  The best way to do this is to complete the entire form, including the proof of service.  Then make a copy and file the original with the court.

We are licensed and bonded legal document preparation firm who specialize in the divorce process in California.

Santa Clarita Divorce Document Preparation And Mediation

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Santa Clarita Divorce Document Preparation And Mediation

Do you think you need an attorney for your divorce in Santa Clarita?  Odds  are, you don’t.  This is especially true now when you use both a divorce document preparation service and obtain professional mediation in Santa Clarita.

First off, when people call me, they think that divorce document preparation is very limited.  It is not.  Our divorce document preparation service can provide a wealth of information, explain the divorce process and help you understand exactly what it is going to take to get your divorce completed.

Many times people believe that if there are some disagreements about the terms of the their divorce that they cannot use our service.  This is incorrect.  In fact, we have helped many clients who had disagreements with their divorce come to an understanding and ultimately make agreements together.

How do we do this?  Through mediation.  While we are not a mediation service, we are able to help you set up free appointments with the courts to meet with the Courts mediators to help you come to agreements.  This is all part of the filing fee you pay when you file your divorce papers.  Why not use the Courts free services?  We will even help you set up  the appointment.

The mediation services through the court can be limited however.  Where they are not able to help you, you might be better served by the use of a professional mediation service in Santa Clarita.

We work hand in hand with a local divorce mediation service right here in Santa Clarita.  We send our clients to them to get assistance with coming to an agreement and once that is achieved, you come right back to our office to finish up the divorce paperwork.

This allows us to provide you with a much better level of service, knowing that if you hit some roadblocks on agreements with your divorce, that you can still complete your divorce with us.

It is our goal to get your though your Santa Clarita divorce without the need for attorneys.  This can be achieved by the using our Santa Clarita divorce document preparation service and, when needed, get the assistance of professional divorce mediation.

How To Divorce When Money Is Tight | Santa Clarita Divorce

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How To Divorce When Money Is Tight | Santa Clarita Divorce

Is money tight, but you still need to get divorced?  I have lots of people tell me that money is an issue and they can’t afford to get divorced.  That is why they are calling me to begin with.

I just got off the phone with a lady who said she is not sure if she should hire and attorney for her divorce.  I asked her one question to help her decide.  I asked, “Do you have $10,000 to $15,000 laying around to spend on an attorney”?  Of course she said no, and I believe that most people would say no.  Even if you did, is this what you would want to spend it on?

Money is tight for a lot of people these days, and this is exactly why I started this business of providing affordable divorce services in Santa Clarita.

Look, I worked for a divorce law firm in Santa Clarita.  I can tell you that 90% of the folks that hired a law firm, did so by paying for it with a credit card.  This means that they could not afford it.  If you have to go into debt to get divorced, you are cannot afford it.  All you will be left with is more debt to pay off.

The (not so funny thing) about the cost of hiring an attorney is when people would receive their bills from the attorney office.  The phones would ring off the hook when people found out how much the previous month of attorneys fees cost them.

We would routinely have people call the law firm and say how they can no longer afford to be represented.  The fact is, they never could afford to hire a law firm.  They were just blinded by anger and emotion which drove them to hire an attorney for their divorce.  The bill is what snapped them out of it.

If money is tight and you need to get divorced, give us a call.  We have been providing affordable divorce services in Santa Clarita and helped 1000’s of clients negotiate their divorce without the need of hiring a divorce attorney or going into debt.

Waiting Period For Divorce Now One Full Year? Santa Clarita Divorce

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Waiting Period For Divorce Now One Full Year? Santa Clarita Divorce

Don’t panic.  At least not yet.  The waiting period for getting divorced in California is still 6 months.  But states such as Washington are working on passing legislation that would increase their current 90 day waiting period, to a full year.

The legislation is known as Senate Bill 5614 and dubbed the “Family Second Chances Act”.

Senator Benton has sponsored the bill and cites several reasons for increasing the waiting period for divorce.  He says that “divorce causes poverty, juvenile delinquency and lower scholastic achievement among children of their state.”

I am all for families staying together, but how much government involvement should there be when it comes to families and divorce.  While I understand the reasoning, I personally don’t think that a State should be able to have this much control.

Perhaps they should take baby steps and move their current 90 day waiting period to 6 months as it is in California.  I have been helping people get divorced in California for quite a while and can tell you that the 6 month waiting period is just about right.

The reason I say this is because even if the time was shorter, it is doubtful that many divorce cases would finish in a shorter amount of time due the the backlog of cases at the courts.  As it stands now, it is taking 3 months just to have your final judgment approved.  This is after you have completed all the other paperwork.

What is your take on how much involvement the Government should have over your decision to get divorced?  Do you think there should be a waiting period at all?

While we are on the topic of the waiting period, I want to clear up a frequently asked question.  Some folks have asked me if they have to wait 6 months before starting their divorce or if they have to file and then wait.  You can start your divorce and even complete all the paperwork and submit it to the court.  The effective date of the divorce will be 6 months after the time you or your spouse was served the initial divorce papers.

Divorce Season Begins After Valentines Day | Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Divorce Season Begins After Valentines Day | Santa Clarita Divorce

I was recently meeting with a local divorce mediation company in Santa Clarita and we got to talking about the ebb and flows of the business.  Specifically about when our business may busier and when it may be slower in terms of people filing for divorce.

One thing that was mentioned is that she noticed that it always got busier after Valentines Day.  I thought it was a pretty interesting observation and decided to look into it.

Apparently she was right.  There has been all kinds of discussions about how the divorce rate increases right after Valentines Day.  In fact, some folks referred to Valentines Day as the beginning of “Divorce Season”

There has been all types of reasons given for this so called divorce season being tied to Valentines Day, so I thought I would share them with you.

Folks that have wrote on this topic mostly agree that Valentines Day comes as the holiday seasons have worn off and reality of pushing through another year is underway.  For some it marks the day to follow through with their new years resolution to become single, and for others are just the result of having one more lackluster Valentines Day.

It is almost like Valentines Day is a wake up call to snap people back into reality about the status of their relationship and life in general.

It is reported that there is as much as a 40% spike in divorce filings around Valentines Day.  It makes me wonder how many of these divorce filings really end in the couples finalizing their divorce.  I would tend to think that many of these people that filed may come to their senses later.  But maybe not.

To be honest with you, doing this research about divorce and Valentines Day really got me thinking.  I, for one, am guilty of not being the best at remembering holidays or giving flowers.  Maybe this year I will give flowers and Chocolate.

Regardless of your reasons for deciding to get divorced after Valentines Day, we are here to help you get through your divorce.

We are a full service divorce document preparation service in Santa Clarita and provide an affordable way to complete your divorce.  Please give us a call for more information about our services.

 

Divorce Services In Santa Clarita

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Divorce Services In Santa Clarita

We are a full service divorce document preparation firm in Santa Clarita.  We do a lot more than just prepare divorce papers.  We can help with just about any type of family law matter.

One of our divorce services is providing and preparing motions for hearings.  These are what used to be called OSC’s, Order To Show Cause, now called, RFO’s, Request For Orders.  We can help you prepare a motion or respond to a motion.

There are occasions when we have to do both a divorce filing and also complete a motion for you.  Motions are generally used to get temporary orders while you are waiting for your divorce to conclude.  Sometimes, we will prepare a motion post judgment where the divorce is already finalized.

We had both types of situations come up this week.

We help a client prepare a post judgment response to a Request For Order.  We prepared the application, drafted the declaration and got her ready for court.  She was representing herself, so we made sure to instruct her on where to go and how to file the paperwork.

Another case we handled this week was where the couple had just separated, but the husband was not paying child support.  Because the wife was not working, if she wanted to get temporary orders for child support, she would have to file a motion.  So in addition to preparing her divorce paperwork for filing, we also filed a motion for child support so hopefully she could start getting some money in while we were working on completing the divorce.

I think most people are surprised how knowledgeable we are and how much you can get accomplished when using our divorce services in Santa Clarita.

Feel free to give us a call to discuss how we can help you in your particular situation.

Using Your Tax Return For Divorce | Santa Clarita

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Using Your Tax Return For Divorce | Santa Clarita

I hope it does not seem to tacky, but it was something that came up today when discussing the costs of getting divorced.

I was talking to a new client who said they wanted to get divorced, but they just needed to wait for their tax return so they would have the money.

It got me thinking about what I do as a business and why I have this divorce legal document preparation service to begin with.

I never thought we would be in the business of providing affordable divorce document preparation.  In fact, I was working with a divorce law firm here in Santa Clarita getting experience in family law while I went to law school.

I became a bit disappointed when I saw how much money people were throwing away on divorce attorneys, just to end the marriage they were in.  It was only by chance that I learned of this little known field called Legal Document Assistants that could help prepare divorce documents for a fraction of the cost.

The reason I got into the business of preparing divorce documents was because of how many people could not truly afford the cost of attorneys for their divorce.  I thought how ridiculous it was the amount of money people were spending to get divorced.

You know how I know that people don’t have or don’t want to spend a lot of money on their divorce?  Because from the minute I opened up our doors and got the word out about our divorce services, people flocked in.  I mean there is a huge demand for what I offer.  And despite the fact that I could probably charge more due to demand and the lack of people supplying what I offer, I still choose to keep our expenses down, so I can keep the prices we charge for divorce down.

If you are going to get divorce using an affordable divorce document preparation service, using your tax refund for divorce might be your best bet.  At least you won’t go into debt hiring divorce attorneys and hopefully keep some of your tax return.

New Girlfriend Is Motivation For Divorce | Santa Clarita

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New Girlfriend Is Motivation For Divorce | Santa Clarita

I can’t tell you how many calls I get from the new girlfriend of a man that is still married.  I don’t mean this in a disrespectful way, but guys, you know, sometimes the women have to keep us in check.

I love when the new girlfriend calls.  They are so motivated to see that their man gets divorced so they can move on with their relationship.

Hey guys ( or gals that never finished your divorce) you’re not alone.  We work with clients that have been separated for up to 20 years.  Some of which don’t even know where the other person lives anymore.

It makes for an interesting process, because of the fact that you have been separated for so long.  Let me explain.

When people get separated, they have already divided all their property long ago.  But what about all the property each of you have accumulated over the period you have been separated?  Well, you still have to declare it, as you are still legally married.

I know, it seems weird that you have to disclose your financials to someone you barely know because you have been separated for 3, 4 or 5 years or more.  A lot of things can happen during that time.  It is almost like you are telling a stranger about your assets and debts.

No doubt, period of long separation make for an awkward feeling when having to disclose how much money you may.

Trust me, you are not the only one who is asking me if this is necessary.  It is, and I understand that it is strange that you have to prepare your financial disclosures when there has been such a long period of separation.

I understand that you don’t want to have to deal with your divorce.  That is why it has been several years and you have still not completed your divorce.

But like I said at the beginning, the new girlfriend is motivation for divorce.  In fact, they are the one’s who normally are calling me to see what it will take to get their man divorced so they can move on with their lives.

We can help you get through your divorce in Santa Clarita.  It does not matter if you have a long term separation or not.