California True Default Cases with Marriage Over 10 Years

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

California True Default Cases with Marriage Over 10 Years

This week we’ve been talking about true default cases when going through divorce in California.

And I want to talk specifically about true default cases when you have a marriage of longer than ten years.

So, let’s first talk about that when you have a marriage of over ten years, the California courts consider that a long term marriage. Now, we are not attorneys or a law firm here are not able to give legal advice, but if you go online you can find this information readily available.

So, in the long term marriages over ten years, the court will generally retain jurisdiction indefinitely over the issue of spousal support.

But what if you are filing a default case (and a default case is where you filed and the other party did not respond and are not participating at all) but you want to terminate the jurisdiction over spouse support and you have a ten year marriage?

Generally speaking that is not allowed by the courts. If you are filing a default and you have a marriage more than ten years, it is customary and standard that you have to mark the boxes that jurisdiction will remain for both petitioner and respondent.

So, in a default case, if you’re going to ask something out of the norm, you may have to ask for a hearing which is called a Prove Up hearing, and there is a form where if you want to terminate jurisdiction over spousal support for a long term marriages in a default case, I know that’s very specific.

You’re going to want to use form FAM031 and check the box that says “Request to terminate spousal support and marriage over ten years”. The reason you need to do this is because if you submit a default judgment and you have a ten year or longer marriage and you ask the court to terminate jurisdiction, they are going to reject your judgment. We have seen it a thousand times.

If you submit this form they will set a prove up hearing. You have to make an appearance in court. It’ll just be you and the court is going to ask you why it is in the best interest of you and your spouse to terminate jurisdiction over spouse support and then they will make a decision whether or not to do that or if they will not allow it and have you go the normal process of having jurisdiction retained for purposes of spousal support.

Tim Blankenship, divorce661.com. We specialize in divorce in California. We can help you anywhere in the state of California with your divorce.

Please give us a call, we will be happy to help you out. 661-281-0266. For more information of our website at divorce661.com.

You can also tune in to our podcast on itunes at divorce master radio. Thanks for watching!

Online California Divorce Service Now Offered

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Online California Divorce Service Now Offered

We’re licensed and bonded legal document preparation firm specializing in divorce in California and we’re going to start talking a lot about the online divorce process, online divorce services, they are also known as automated document assembly services.

In California there is no truly online divorce. Uou can’t log in to the court website fill out your form submit them and do everything online. When we say online divorce related to California divorce, we’re talking about using a software system where you can enter in your information and it can fill out the forms automatically for you.

The reason we’re bringing this up is we now have that software, there is hundreds of companies that have this. We now also have the software where people who are going through the divorce process who have a difficult time filling out the forms, what forms to use, what goes in the boxes.

Our software will basically go through the system of questions and answers. You answer the question and your answers are automatically populated into the divorce form for you so you don’t have to worry about what to fill out and what forms do you even need, the software takes care of that.

Now, we hope you find our service online and use our online automated divorce software and we used to talk negatively about companies that offered the service because we see people in the past who have difficulty getting the product, getting their divorce completed properly because filling out the form is one thing, following the process and procedure of the court is another thing altogether

But now we are offering the service. The reason we feel good about it now is because we are offering a one hundred percent guarantee that your divorce will be completed.

If you are not able to do it on your own through the software, you can upgrade to our full service at any time and we will give you complete credit for the money you spent on the online forms and we’ll simply upgrade you to the full divorce service.

We are a full service divorce firm in California and we’ll simply take over from there and we will, we’ll take care of the divorce process entirely for you at that point.

Why Use Our Online California Divorce Software? Because We Are The Best

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Why Use Our Online California Divorce Software? Because We Are The Best

Hi, Tim Blankenship with divorce661.com and today we’re talking about our online divorce software system that we now have available for use.

We want to talk to you about if you are considering using an online divorce service, we’re talking about where you go in, pay a fee, and you get the software where you can log in and complete your divorce forms online. We now have that service.

We want to talk to you about how we are a better service when it comes to that. Now, no doubt if you’re looking online, you’ll find hundreds of online divorce software services out there. But the issue is they don’t have anyone there to help you if you get stuck or have questions about procedures or things of that nature.

When you use our service, we are a full service divorce firm now offering the online divorce service as an entry level product. So if you get stuck in using the online, using the forms, or with the process or procedure, we’re here to assist you.  And you can always upgrade to our full service process at any time.

Now the forms are available for anywhere in California and we also offer our full service process to everyone in California as well. We can work with all the courts throughout California.

So if you’re looking for an online divorce service in California, please use our service and if you have trouble and the reason we bring this up is, most people who try online divorce services, they’re out there, again there’s hundreds of them, they have difficulty getting their divorce finalized.

How do we know that? Because we have people come in that want us to clean up the mess and that’s one reason we never offered an online divorce solution.

But the reason we’re doing it now, is because we are guaranteeing that if you have difficulty, the software will do its job, but the problem becomes, how to file, how to serve and how to do all the steps of getting your divorce finalized, you can simply upgrade to our full service, and we’ll pick up and take care of the process for you.

And, if you want to continue with the online service, you have a full client support center where you can ask us questions, such as secure portals, and you also have access to an over 300 video tutorial library that we’ve created.  So we really want to make it easy for you to be successful in completing your divorce online in California.

I Have A Pension | What Is A QDRO Qualified Domestic Relations Order | Santa Clarita Divorce

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I Have A Pension | What Is A QDRO Qualified Domestic Relations Order | Santa Clarita Divorce

Hi! I’m Tim Blankenship, owner of SCV Legal Doc Assist.

Today, we are answering the question of what is a QDRO.

QDRO stands for Qualified Domestic Relations Order. QDRO are the legal instrument which divides up a pension and this is done by a specialized attorney called the QDRO attorney.

They are essentially an actuary who will go through and determine what percentage of the pension as community property belongs to your spouse or your spouse has an interest in.

If you have a pension and this is going to be divided, this is going to be a necessary process that you go through with the QDRO attorney.

As legal document assistants, we do not prepare QDROs. Even if you were to use an attorney to go through your divorce, that attorney most likely, is not a QDRO attorney, it is a specialty and law firms always refer that out to another attorney to prepare the QDRO. And this is how it works essentially, you have the divorce going on on one hand and you have a pension that needs to be divided on the other.

The QDRO is an instrument that will be drafted by the QDRO attorney and will be included with the judgment. It can either go and be filed along with the judgment at the time it’s filed or it can be indicated in the judgment that it will be divided by a QDRO attorney and who that attorney is. And then later when that QDRO is completed, it can then be filed with the court even after the judgment has been submitted. Don’t forget that that QDRO needs to be certified by the court and filed with the pension so they’d know, at the time of distribution, who is getting what.

If you have questions about QDRO or if you would like a referral, I’d be happy to give you the name and number of the attorney we utilize for our clients when they’re going through our affordable divorce process.

I’ll be happy to give you a name and number so you have a referral of a QDRO attorney out here in Santa Clarita.

My name is Tim Blankenship, owner of SCV Legal Doc Assist. We’re a licensed and bonded legal document preparation firm. We specialize in divorce and all of Los Angeles County can reach me direct at 661-281-0266 or on our website at divorce661.com.

Thanks!

How Much Is Divorce Filing Fee In Los Angeles County

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

How Much Is Divorce Filing Fee In Los Angeles County

Hi, Tim Blankenship here with divorce661.com.

Today we are talking about how much is the filing fee for Los Angeles County.

This is a question I get, probably daily, if not multiple times a day about the cost. The other question is, who do I make the check payable to when I’m writing my check for the filing fee.

So the answer to question number one is, for Los Angeles County, the current filing fee for divorce is $435. That is as of April 1st 2013. This fee does go up. Just six months ago it was $395. So if you’re reading this, and say more than a year has gone by past April 1st 2013, you may want to check back for a more recent article, because I’m sure the cost will have gone up by then.

The next question is, who do I make the cheque payable to? It’s not payable to Los Angeles County, it’s payable to Clerk of the Court. So you’re going to make your cheque payable for $435, payable to Clerk of the Court. This is for Los Angeles County if you are filing for divorce; and this also applies if you’re filing a response. You are also going to have to write a cheque for $435 payable to Clerk of the Court.

So I hope this clarifies who you make your check payable to, and for how much when filing for divorce in Los Angeles County.

This is Tim Blankenship with divorce661.com. You can get more information off our website or feel free to give us a call at 661-281-0266.

Thanks!

How to Determine if Spouse Filed for Divorce | California Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

How to Determine if Spouse Filed for Divorce | California Divorce

Hi this is Tim Blankenship with divorce661.com and over the weekend we have been asked a question.

Someone went to our website. And if you see at our website at divorce661.com there is an “Ask Tim a Question” box, you can put in your question and put in your email and I’ll generally get back to you within 24 hours, if not the same day.

This question came in regarding how do I find out if my spouse has filed for a divorce, and there is only really one way of doing this if you haven’t been served the paperwork; and that is to go down to your local courthouse.

They have their internal computers; sometimes they’ll have one in the clerk’s office, for example with Los Angeles County there is a computer that you can walk up to and search by name and date of birth and attempt to locate a case number. You cannot do this from your home computer; the only way you can search your online case from your home pc is if you already know the case number.

There are several reasons why you may want to know if your spouse already filed for divorce.

For this question came in, this gentleman wanted to file for divorce but had a feeling that his wife already had filed and didn’t want to cross-file and have two petitions for the same family. So he wanted to see if his wife had filed. She had said she did but he hadn’t been served so he wasn’t sure if that was the case, and if she hadn’t, he wanted to go take care of that.

So what I told him is he needs to go down to the local courthouse and walk up either to the clerk and ask to have them research and see if a case has been filed under his name or his wife’s name, or sometimes like I said they’ll have a computer for your use, just outside in the clerk’s office where you can walk up to and do your own private search.

My name is Tim Blankenship with divorce661.com. If you have any questions, please give me a call, 661-281-0266.

Thanks!

Thank You For Your Santa Clarita Divorce Referrals

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Thank You For Your Santa Clarita Divorce Referrals

This is Tim Blankenship with divorce661.com.

Today I just wanted to put a little shout out to say thank you to my clients, this is kind of a client thank you article.

I’ve been receiving tons and tons of referrals from my clients, which has really assisted my business in growing.

And we’ve been around for a while now in closing divorce cases, and getting them done, and people are really recognizing the skill and our ability to help them and that is shown by them referring their friends and family.

We really appreciate it. We will take care of your friends and family as we took care of you and we truly believe that a referral in this particular, in any business in general, but particularly in this business where it’s very intimate; you know it’s about divorce, and your family and kids, and spousal support, and all of these issues.

When you refer your friends and family to us, we know we had to have done a really good job in order for you to do that and we appreciate it.

My name is Tim Blankenship. We are in Santa Clarita, we do serve all of Los Angeles County and we specialize in divorce. You can reach us at 661-281-0266, and as always you can get more information off our website at divorce661.com

Thanks for reading and thanks to all you clients that have referred this year, have a good day.

How To Terminate Child Support Order | Getting Judge To Sign FL-195 For Employer

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

How To Terminate Child Support Order | Getting Judge To Sign FL-195 For Employer

Good morning!

This is Tim Blankenship with SCV Legal Doc Assist, divorce661.com and today I wanted to talk to you about an email that I’ve received over the weekend that was related to an Income Withholding Order.

This is in regards to a form called FL-195, and this form is used when there is an order for say child support or spousal support, and it’s going to be submitted to the court in order for the judge to sign it.

And then that order, once signed, is normally served on your employer, and that’s what your employer uses to know how much child support or spousal support to withdraw from you check if you’re on the receiving end of that.

Now, this email specifically was in regards to cancelling or terminating the order for spousal support.

This was a case where child support was ordered in the final judgement, and the child was turning 18 and we needed to get the termination of child support. So here’s the issue: if there was a previously filed and ordered, you know judge signed an FL-195 and it’s with your employer, you have to go back to court. Your employer is most likely going to require that a new order be signed by the judge indicating that child support is being terminated.

So this means that you have to go to court and file a motion to get the FL-195, or the termination of child support signed by the judge. Now this means you need to do some planning. In this case, the last payment was going to be in the next 30 days but the employer needed the paperwork much sooner to make the change and the deduction.

So what most likely is going to happen is there is going to be support taken out beyond the order should have been, and this is because the person should have done this a little bit sooner because we need to now file a motion with the court to get the judge to sign the order. This is going to take probably 60 days before this happens.

So keep that in mind if you have a child support order that you need to terminate. It’s going to take some time, so plan ahead. At least 4-5 months in advance.

Again this is Tim Blankenship with SCV Legal Doc Assist. You can reach us at 661-281-0266 or on our website at divorce661.com. Thanks!

Los Angeles Divorce Court Delays Due To Layoffs | March 2013

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Los Angeles Divorce Court Delays Due To Layoffs | March 2013

Hi there! This is Tim Blankenship, owner of divorce661.com.

This article is going to be about the delays of the Los Angeles Court systems due to the recent layoffs and future and pending layoffs.

Last week, I notice a huge delay in the processing of documents.

Normally, what we’ll do is if we file a case, and we’re filing anywhere from 5 to maybe 10 new cases per week, normally as a normal process we’ll simply take the signed paper and initial documents to start a case and just mail them to the court. Traditionally, this has been a three-day turnaround. So if we mail them out on a Monday, they’d receive them on a Tuesday. If they get them back in the mail and we have them back on a Wednesday, so it’s a very cost-effective approach to getting everything filed and served with the court and we’ll do that with all the documents along the way.

Anything disclosures that need to be files or other documents be filed with the court, we’ll do that by mail.

In the last week or so, we’ve noticed that are to be an extended delay on getting documents back. In fact, we’ve had one motion we filed, again, that would have normally been a three to four day turn around, it takes 10 business days to get back to us.

We’ve had new cases that we’ve submitted to the court and to the clerk to file and those have taken 2 weeks to get back to us.

Just last week, for the first time in all the years I’ve been doing this, we’ve actually had some cases not getting filed at all. Three weeks went by and we never had the documents returned to us, the client’s check wasn’t cashed.

Now, I don’t believe it’s the mail that’s not getting there. I think it’s the confusion and mix up with the courts and having to do with the layoffs and people not understanding the processes and being overwhelmed and busy in these documents that they’re receiving to file are getting put on the bottom of the pile, give them to the wrong person and so forth.

So just be as a warning, be advised that it’s going to take some time. There are some shakeups with the courts.

Make sure that you get your court forms sooner rather than later and this is particularly important when it comes to submitting your final judgment.

I’ve commented many times on how long it’s taking to get judgment signed off by the court, 2 to 3 months, more on the outside of 3 months. We can almost expect this to have a significant delay as well on those final judgments and I would expect that that go to the 4 or 5 month range for getting judgments back. So It’s going to be important to get those in as quickly as possible.

Again, this is Tim Blankenship with divorce661.com. You can reach me direct at 661-281-0266. Have a great day!

We Are A Full Service Divorce Firm In Santa Clarita

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

We Are A Full Service Divorce Firm In Santa Clarita

Hi! This is Tim Blankenship with divorce661.com and I want to comment on the fact that when you hire us, you are hiring a full service divorce legal service.

We take care of everything and are a full service process. So what do I mean by that?

When you hire us, we’ll take care of everything for from filing your paperwork with the court and preparing and serving all the forms.

When we mail out our documents to your spouse or to you where we need something signed, when you get it, you’re going to receive it with postage paid return envelope coming back to us.

I had a client that emailed me today and said “By the way Tim, when you mail out the forms to my husband, can you please put in an envelope with postage and I’d be willing to pay for it?” And it made me laugh because I’m sure there are companies out there who charge on extra service like the postage and something like that.

Now with us, we charge a flat fee. That means that the fee you pay is the fee you’re going to pay.

There’s not going to be any additional charges for postage or otherwise.

So I replied back to her email and said “Look, you’ve hired a full service firm. Whenever we send something out by mail and we need something signed by you or your spouse or anyone and the courts as well, we always supply returned postage and envelope so we can get it back in the mail—now that’s what full service means.”.

If you have any questions about divorce and the divorce process or anyone who wants to work with a full service legal service, please give us a call.

My name is Tim Blankenship. You can reach me direct at 661-281-0266.