Do You Need A Divorce Minute Order | Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

What is a divorce minute order, when will you need one and how do you get one.  All that and more is answered by the article by Tim Blankenship with https://divorce661.com and discussed in the below video.

First off, let’s talk about what a divorce minute order is. A minute order is simply the court clerks detailed notes of what happened in a hearing or trial.  So you won’t have a minute order unless you have been to court.  So if you have had a trial or hearing and need to know what orders the court made on that date, you would get a copy of the minute order.

Now, why would you need one?   Most people will never need a minute order, but there are circumstances where you will.  One such circumstance is if you go to a hearing at divorce court asking the judge to make order after you had filed a motion.  So let’s say you filed a motion for spousal support or child support, the hearing was held and the judge made orders.

If you are representing yourself, the judge may ask you to prepare what is called an Order After Hearing.  It essentially is a “Order… After… The hearing.  You have to type of the order of the court and would use the minute order to get the exact language of what the judge ordered during the hearing.  When you submit the order after hearing back to the court for the judge’s signature, they will verify the language of the order matched that of the minute order.

In the video above we go into a little more detail about how to complete the order after hearing, but that will be for another blog post and another video down the road.

Now, now to you get a minute order.  This is quite simple.  All you need to do is go to the court room your case was heard in (if it was recent) and give the court clerk the date of the hearing and request the minute order.  If it has been several weeks and there are no future hearings, your file may have made it back to the storage area, in which case you would request it from the court clerk’s office.

We specialize in divorce in Los Angeles County and are centrally located in Santa Clarita, CA.  Please give us a call if you would like to learn more about our divorce services.

Need A Divorce Attorney In Santa Clarita? Start Your Divorce With Us Anyways

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

We have been working on getting the word out that you can still use our divorce document preparation service in Santa Clarita even if you know you will later need a divorce attorney in Santa Clarita.  In fact, it might be one of the smartest decisions you make during your divorce.

You see, when you start your divorce, essentially it is simply a lot of paperwork.  I say simply, with a grain of salt.  What I mean to say is that it does not take a divorce attorney to complete these initial set of divorce documents for you.  In fact, none of the divorce documents have to be completed by a divorce attorney.   It just takes a company like us that specializes in divorce preparation to take care of it for you.

So what we want to impress upon you is two things. First, if you absolutely without a doubt will need an attorney for one reason or another, why not start the divorce with out and save a ton of money.  No need to involve an attorney from the beginning if it is just paperwork, right?   Were not saying don’t consult with an attorney, but you should understand when you need an attorney and when you don’t.

The other thing we wanted to say regarding this was to those folks who start with us and then later needed to hire an attorney.  This happens as well.  People call us and start working with our divorce service in Santa Clarita and then something goes sideways and they need an attorney.  This is okay too?

I tell people that fall into either of these two situations that even if they ultimately need a divorce attorney after using our services, they have already saved countless thousands of dollars in the process by not using a divorce attorney up to this point.  It is a win-win either way.

We are headquartered in Santa Clarita and provide a superior divorce service.  We are here to assist you with your divorce either before, during or after you have hired and attorney.  Call us for more information.

Ditch Your Attorney And Start Your Santa Clarita Divorce With Us

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

So you know you are going to get divorced and need some help. But who do you go to? Attorney? Mediator? Divorce document preparation company?

The answer really depends on your situation. Or does it?

The first reaction to thinking about divorce is to consider getting an attorney. But in this article we want to make a suggestion that will save you some money on your divorce.

This article is for folks who feel they will, at some point, need an attorney for their divorce. This means that you feel that no matter what, you will need someone to represent your interests and there is no way you and your spouse are going to agree on everything.

Under this assumption that you will need an attorney for your divorce, do you feel that you need to start your divorce case with an attorney? Why not start your Santa Clarita Divorce using our divorce document preparation service instead and save some money on your divorce.

Attorneys do two things. They represent you in court and give legal advice. Do you need either one of these right away? Perhaps you need an attorney consultation about your divorce, but very few cases, if any, go immediately to court.

The initial steps to divorce are all about completing paperwork. Filing out forms, filling them with the court and completing mostly procedural steps such as serving the divorce papers on your spouse. Using an attorney to complete the routine tasks can cost you a small fortune.

What we suggest is this. Go ahead and get a divorce consultation with an attorney. Get your legal questions answered. Then give us a call so we can start the divorce for you. We will prepare your summons and petition, file it with the court and assist you in getting your spouse served. Then, we would help you prepare your financial disclosures. These two steps do not require a law degree so why would you pay lawyer fees for this service?

We estimate the time it takes to complete these 2 steps if done with an attorney to about 5 hours of work. If you take the average cost of a divorce attorney at say $300 per hour, you are looking at $1,500 just to get these initial documents prepared. Wouldn't you rather spend that money on your attorney when he or she is doing what they do best, instead of paying them to prepare forms?

What you do is ultimately up to you. We just wanted to throw this out there for you to consider.

As licensed and bonded legal document assistants specializing in divorce in Santa Clarita, we help people save money on their divorce. Let us get you as far as we can before you spend the big money on an attorney.

And you never know. Maybe you will find that you never needed a divorce attorney in the first place.

How Can I Determine If Spouse Filed For Divorce | Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

I was asked this question over the weekend.  “How can I determine if my spouse has filed for divorce?” If you have not been served divorce papers yet, how do you know if a divorce case has been filed.  I thought this was a good question.

There are a couple of reasons why someone would want to find out if their spouse had filed for divorce.  Perhaps, your spouse has indicated that they filed or are going to file, but you have not been served any divorce papers yet.  You might be feeling that they are delaying and you plan on filing if they have not yet.

Another reason you might be trying to see if your spouse filed for divorce is out of plain curiosity.  Perhaps the two of you have been having disputes and you have a feeling that your spouse filed for divorce, but your not sure.

Regardless of your reasons for wanting to determine if your spouse filed for divorce, there is only one way to do this.

There is no public database that you can access from your home computer that will let you know if your spouse has filed for divorce.  The only way to check from home is if you have a case number.  Obviously, we do not have a case number in this scenario.

So what you would have to do then i go down to the actual courthouse.  You can go to the local courthouse and have the clerk search by name and date of birth for your name or your spouses name to see if they have filed for divorce.

In Los Angeles County, the family law clerks office has a computer available for public use where you can access the files and search for yourself.

Once you locate the name you are looking for, you can see what the case number is.  Once you have the case number you can use that to access the online case summary off the court website from any computer.

Keep in mind that there is a delay from the time the case is filed until the time it shows up in the courts computer system.

 

Divorce Not A Simple Open And Shut Case In Los Angeles

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

While we understand and know the divorce process inside and out, there are always cases that throw us a curveball. This just goes to show that sometimes divorce is not a simple open and shut case.

An example of this, is a client we have been helping for about 6 months. When he called us he had been working on getting divorced for about 5 years. They both had slacked off on completing the divorce, but he had found a new love and now wanted to get things finished up. (we get a lot of clients this way)

The problem was that the wife was just not as motivated to get things done. When this happens, where one spouse is not doing the necessary steps, it is just a matter of getting the court involved so the court can tell the parties what they need to do. So this is what we did.

We started off by filing a request for trial setting. This is what you do if you need to get the court involved to help move things forward. The form is filed and a court date will be set. The parties are notified of the court date. This date will be the first time you speak to a judge and he or she will see where things are at and tell the parties what is to be completed before the next hearing.

Several hearings later, we finally have the last court appearance coming up in a few weeks. The judge advised what documents were to be completed prior to the hearing.

The good news is that this last hearing should prove to be the finalization of the divorce. The judge asked that the final disclosures be completed and that the judgment forms be prepared.

When he appears at this last hearing, the judge will accept the judgment and the divorce should be completed.

When we first started with this client, it was supposed to be an easy uncontested case. It turned out not to be so easy, but we were able to get him through it.

That is our promise when you sign up to work with us. We know not every divorce case is going to be perfectly smooth. Whatever happens, we will work to get your through the process.

The reason we are able to do this is because we have worked for the court system before, specifically in divorce, and understand what has to be done to move a case forward.

Santa Clarita Divorce Blog

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Santa Clarita Divorce Blog

We have become the go to source for information about divorce in Santa Clarita. We publish information about divorce in Santa Clarita everyday in an attempt to help folks understand how to get divorced and how the divorce process works in California.

We have been one of the first companies to freely provide information about divorce in an effort to make clear the divorce process in Santa Clarita so folks are not so reliant upon having to hire attorneys when they are not necessary in most cases.

Our Santa Clarita divorce blog provide at least daily updates regarding divorce, the divorce process and helpful tips. In addition, we have numerous divorce videos and audio podcasts where we talk about divorce and information that is helpful to people who are trying to figure out what to do when they are thinking of filing for divorce.

We even go as far as having a form on our website that allows you to ask a question. We routinely get multiple questions per day for people who are looking for answers to their questions about divorce related to their specific situation.

In fact, whenever we get a question over the phone or via email, we try to connect with people by providing the answer to their question via video and on our blog.

Many people find out about our divorce paralegal service in Santa Clarita by searching online for answers to their divorce questions. Because we have answered many of these questions, our blog routinely shows up and helps them to understand divorce and perhaps even decide to use our divorce service.

Our Santa Clarita divorce blog is the only source of real information about divorce. If you have any questions about divorce we welcome your calls and emails.

Who Is Going To Take The Animals During Divorce – Santa Clarita

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Who Is Going To Take The Animals During Divorce – Santa Clarita

Have you thought about who is going to take the animals when you get divorced?

Believe it or not, animals are property that need to be divided, just like your home, cars and bank accounts. But unlike the property, there is no way to get 50% of the dog, so there is going to have to be some discussion on who is getting Fido.

Most people don’t address the issue of who is getting the family pet. In fact, we don’t usually address this in the judgment, but you certainly can.

I was asked, just this week, how the issues about their clients dogs can be addressed and when.

As mentioned above, dogs, cats and hamsters need to go to someone. In most cases, you can simply decide who is going to get the pets.

In other cases, you can decide to include who is getting the dog by including them on the divorce judgment forms and assigning them to one of the parties, just like you do all the other property.

On the divorce judgment forms, there is two sections for dividing up property. If the dog was the family pet, this would be considered community property. You would simply list the pet on the community property section under either the petitioner or respondent.

Dogs are considered chattel which is a fancy legal term for property. You can research that term if your interested.

We are a licensed and bonded legal document prep firm in Santa Clarita that specialize in divorce and serve all the courts in Los Angeles County.

High Cost Of Divorce Attorneys Good For Business – Santa Clarita

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

High Cost Of Divorce Attorneys Good For Business – Santa Clarita

As divorce attorneys in Santa Clarita have less and less clients and more and more competition from other attorneys, the only way to keep the money rolling in the door is to keep raising their prices.

I have learned that the more divorce attorneys raise their prices, the more business they drive toward our affordable divorce service in Santa Clarita.

There comes a point where you just have to say “enough” and many are. Those who used to go to attorneys are now realizing that they don’t need and attorney to get divorced.

This has always been the case, but folks have not been aware that there are alternate methods of getting divorced.

That is where we come in and spend countless hours a week writing on our blogs until our fingers are bleeding, screaming at the top of our lungs about our affordable divorce serivce.

And guess what? It is starting to work.

As the word gets out that folks can complete their divorce with us for a fraction of the cost of hiring an attorney, and have the forms completed exactly as the attorney would have, our business grows by leaps and bounds.

People have reached that threshold where they are not willing to pay for a service that has no value. When you over price your service, you drive clients right out the door.

As our divorce services are affordable, clients find we are a great value, not just because of our prices, but because of the level of service we provide.

Give us a call to learn more about our divorce services in Santa Clarita.

 

COC Interns Approved For Santa Clarita Divorce Paralegal Firm

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

COC Interns Approved For Santa Clarita Divorce Paralegal Firm

This week the College of the Canyons Director of the Paralegal Program approved SCV Legal Doc Assist to train and provide their paralegal students with real world paralegal skills.

To be recognized by College of the Canyons as a company worthy of training their paralegals was a real achievement.

Students enrolled in COC’s paralegal program have to complete an internship during their schooling in order to graduate. Internships are generally offered by law firms who supervise and train the interns so when they graduate they have some experience for their resume.

We are a non-lawyer, legal document preparation firm in Santa Clarita. This would be the first time a non-law firm has been approved to provide training and internships to local Santa Clarita residents who are completing the paralegal program at College of the Canyons.

The reason we are excited about this is because not only is this an opportunity to give back to the community by assisting others to gain experience in their new endeavor, but to be recognized as a player in the legal services industry and be trusted by COC to provide their students with training and guidance.

Internships are an interesting animal. Both sides receive some benefit. Our company benefits from having an intern assisting with the day to day tasks and they receive necessary job skills.

While the interns understand that there is no guarantee of a job after completing an internship, we certainly hope to expand and hire the interns we have spent the time training.

 

Should I Speak With My Spouse During Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Should I Speak With My Spouse During Divorce

Not all divorces start out amicably and no divorce is going to be completely easy. It is normal to not want to discuss the issues with your spouse.

But communication is key if you ever expect to get through your divorce. How else are you going to resolve your issues if you are not speaking to each other?

I know it might be easier to ignore and avoid dealing with what is happening, but things will only get worse if you don’t communicate with your spouse during divorce. It is very much like a toothache. Ignore it and it will always get worse and cost you more money.

I have a client who falls into this category. He just wants to get divorced without speaking to his wife. His wife has been reaching out to him in an attempt to discuss the issues, but he has refused to communicate with her. Going as far as changing his cell phone number.

He asked me if he should be speaking to her and that she said unless he does, she will be forced to hire an attorney.

As I am saying in this article, I told him that communication is important if he expects to get through the divorce process. Furthermore, if he does not speak to her, what other choice does she have but to hire an attorney who will communicate for her.

I know it is not easy, but unless you communicate with your spouse during divorce things will only get worse.

In this case, if the wife hires an attorney, not only will the divorce end up costing them a bundle of money, but it will most certainly muddy the relationship further and make coming to a compromise on the issues of their divorce that much more difficult.

We are a licensed and bonded legal document preparation company that specializes in divorce. We are headquartered in Santa Clarita and serve all of Los Angeles County.