How To File A California Divorce Motion – Order To Show Cause – Request For Order

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

How To File A California Divorce Motion – Order To Show Cause – Request For Order

Hi, my name is Tim Blankenship with divorce661.com, and today I want to talk a little bit about divorce motions, request for orders, order to show cause, it can be called any of those things.

Specifically, I want to address what you need to fill out in order to file a motion with the court.

The first thing you’re going to need is a form FL-300. This is the request for order application. It’s a four-page application. It’s pretty self- explanatory. There are some check boxes at the top of the first page that you’re letting the court and the other party knows what you’re requesting. Whether it be orders for spouse support, child support, and so forth.

The last thing you’re going to do on the last page is you’re going to write your declaration. You can hand-write it on that last page, and tell the court and the other party your argument of why you’re making your request.

So it’s fairly straightforward, but there is some initial documentation that you’re going to need depending on what you do.

First of all, if you’re asking for money, or you’re request has anything to do with money. You’re also going to need to fill out an income and expense declaration. This is an Fl-150. You’ll see there on the first page that it doesn’t say that you have to do it but there is a check-box that says that you have completed an income and expense declaration.

Again, anything that has to do with money is going to need an income and expense declaration.

Now, if you have proof of certain things, or you have evidence that you want to show the court.

So, proof of your argument, an attachment, email, a bill perhaps. You want to attach those as exhibits. So what you’ll do is you’ll have your request for order, followed by your declaration. In your declaration you can reference exhibits, and you can just say exhibit A is attached, then you’re going to have those attachments behind the declarations so the court can see what you’re trying to show them. And while they’re in the declaration, they can refer to your exhibits.

Now, if there’s not enough room on that declaration page, it’s only maybe three-quarters of a page of room. You can always mark the box, see attached and you can just write on are regular word document. You can type your declaration there

Now, service, once you file that motion with the court. You’re going to get a court date. That then will be served on the other party. When you serve that, you have to serve blank copies of exactly what you send them.

If you send them a request for order, you need to send them also a blank responsive declaration. I believe that’s FL-320, and if you send them a completed income and expense declaration because let’s say it had to do with money. You’d also want to send them a blank income and expense declaration cause they’ll need it if they’re going to file a response. They’ll also need to file an income and expense declaration.

So, I hope that’s been helpful.

Make sure you check my other videos on the dates of service, there are specific dates that things have to be served to the other party. Don’t forget to file the proof of service.

If you want to have us prepare a motion for you to get temporary orders for anything, please give us a call. We do this as a service. We take care of the whole ball of wax. We’ll complete your motion, attach exhibits, file your income and expense declaration. We will go to court and file it with the court and serve the other party.

We will file proof of service and take care of everything for you, then you’ll just have to show up in court and ask the court for your request.

I’m Tim Blankenship divorce661.com. We are licensed and bonded legal document preparation firm. We are headquartered in Los Angeles County and serve all the courts of California. We would be happy  to discuss your particular circumstances.

You can reach me direct at 661-281-0266.

We Assist With Paternity Request For Orders & Responses | Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Lately we had been doing a lot of motions for divorce in California , so I thought I would share with you the different types of divorce motions we have been helping people with.

When were talking about divorce motions were talking about what is known as request for orders. They used to be called order to show cause.

You can file a motion for a variety of reasons, and these motions can be either temporary or permanent, depending on when you file the motion.

For instance, if your divorce case is still pending and you file a request for order the orders he received from the court are generally going to be temporary until final judgment is entered in your case. If you divorce is already been finalized and you need to file a motion post-judgment, these orders will generally be permanent until further order of the court .

In the past few weeks, we have completed several motions for clients.

The first one a lot talk about was a paternity case. A paternity case is one where a couple has a child, but they are not technically married. In this particular case, the father had not seen the child for several years. Out of the blue the father decides he wants to see his son hires an attorney and files a motion for child custody and visitation.

The mother called our office and asked us what she could do as she did not want the father, who had not seen the sun for several years, get the requested orders he was asking for.

We had her come in and reviewed the motion he had filed with the court. After reviewing the fathers declaration. We spoke to our client and asked her regarding the truthfulness of fathers claims. We then drafted a declaration in support of mothers request to deny father’s request for child custody and visitation.

Basically what you have to do when filing a response to motion is to go line by line and address the other party’s claims and state your version of the facts. And that is what we did in this case. We went line by line and addressed the issues. The father had claimed and then inserted the facts as mother presented them.

Once we’re done drafting the declaration. We may have served a copy to the father’s attorney and filed a motion with the court.

When the mother went to the hearing, she was able to successfully have the father’s request for child custody and visitation denied based on a variety of reasons that we had discussed in her responsive declaration.

Obviously, this client was very satisfied with our service in preparing her responsive declaration for a paternity case. Of course we can never promise any particular result when we help you prepare a motion or response to a motion in your paternity or divorce case.

This is just one of the cases that we assisted on this week we are currently working on three more motions or responses for our clients.

If you need to file a motion for child custody, child visitation, spousal support, child support or make any other requests you doing your divorce, while it is still pending, or after your divorce is concluded, we can help you.

We are licensed and bonded legal document preparation firm specializing in divorce in the Santa Clarita Valley. We serve all the Los Angeles courts and can assist you with your divorce case.

Please feel free to give us a call at 661-281-0266 so we can discuss the issues at hand so we can determine if we can help you through your divorce matter.

What Documents Do You Need To File A Motion In California Divorce Case

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

I was working with a client today that wanted us to prepare a motion in his California divorce case.

When we say motion, we are talking about what used to be called an Order to Show Cause or OSC and what is now referred to as a Request for Order or OSC.  All they did was change the name of the form, but the purpose of it is the same.

You would use a Request for Order when you want to set a date for a hearing in your divorce case.  Filing a motion using a Request For Order will get you a hearing faster than if you were to go to trial.  The downside is that the orders that are made at these divorce proceedings leave you with temporary orders.

These temporary orders will be in effect until final judgment in your divorce case.

So lets discuss what forms you need to use to file a Request for Order.

First, you will need the Request for Order, Form FL-300.  You can see that there are several options and check boxes you can use depending on your specific request.  There is also an “Other” box where you can list what it is your are asking the court to make orders on.

Sometimes when you are filing a motion like this with the court, all you need is the FL-300.  If you have a relatively short declaration (your reasoning for the request) you won’t need any additional documents.

However, if you have supporting documentation, you will want to attach that as well.  For instance, if you are making a statement in your declaration and reference something, you should show proof and attach  the document to your motion.

If your request for order in your divorce case has anything to do with money such as child support or spousal support, you will also need to complete an income and expense declaration.

You will file both the motion and the income and expense declaration with the court and both will need to be served on the other party along with the appropriate responsive papers.

We are a licensed and bonded legal document preparation firm that specializes in California divorce.  Please give us a call for more information about our California Divorce services.

Divorce Motions, Response And Reply Tips | Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

We talk a lot about how to file motions, request for orders and order to show cause filings quite a bit.  We also, of course, provide this as one of our divorce services here in Santa Clarita.

In this article, and videos below, we are going to talk about the three components of filing these types of motions along with the due dates you have to follow and how to file and serve them.  We will go into great detail about how to file the motion and how to respond to one if a motion has been filed on you.

In this video below we will talk about the due dates and how to file and serve a motion such as a request for order or order to show cause.  The first thing you will do is prepare your motion and then file it with the court.  You have to file it and get a court date before you can serve it.  Here is the rule.  You have to personally serve your motion 16 COURT days before the hearing date.  If you are going to mail it you need to add 5 calendar days.

Watch this quick video where I discuss the procedure of filing and serving a motion as well as the due dates in which to serve them.

Now that you understand the process of filing a motion and the respective due dates for serving it, let’s talk about what you do if you have received a motion and you need to reply to one.

When someone files a motion and serves you, you have an opportunity to file a response.  Your response will be to tell your side of the story and whether your agree, disagree or would like different orders made than requested by the moving party or person who filed the motion.

The responsive declaration also has to be done within a certain period of time just like the original motion.  So for the responsive declaration to a motion you have to file and personally serve 9 COURT days before the hearing.  Why do I keep emphasizing court days?  Because you have to be careful and check for court holidays and skip the weekends.  It could be as much as 15 days before the hearing with court holidays and weekends involved so make sure you check.  I get a lot of people who call me to file a response and it is already too late.

Watch this quick video about filing the responsive declaration.

Now, there is just one last thing to discuss and that is the Reply Declaration.  The Reply is what the person who filed the motion will do.  It is their last chance to get the final say of what their position is in regards to why the judge should make the order that they requested.  The Reply Declaration needs to be filed and served 5 COURT days before the hearing.

Here is a quick video discussing the reply declaration.

So just to recap, you first have the original Motion followed by the Responsive Declaration and then the Reply Declaration.

We can help you prepare and file your motion, responsive declaration and reply declaration in Los Angeles County.  We specialize in divorce and can help you prepare an attorney quality declaration for your divorce case.