Santa Clarita Divorce | What Is An Equalization Payment? | Divorce661.com

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Santa Clarita Divorce | What Is An Equalization Payment? | Divorce661.com

When going through a divorce in Santa Clarita you get to decide how to divide up your assets and debts and other decisions that have to be made.  And hopefully you are going through an amicable divorce…

When dividing up your assets and debts sometimes one spouse may have more assets or debts in their name and you may need to even out the assets and debts values that each spouse is going to receive in the divorce case.

One reason this may come up is as follows.  Let’s say that you both have a pension. Spouse # 1’s is worth $100k and spouse # 2 is worth say $50k.  And let’s further assume that you guys did not want to prepare a QDRO and divide up the pensions.  Lets also assume that there is some other monies, such as the equity from a home from a sale or potential sale of the home.

What you guys could do in this situation is instead of dividing up the pensions, you could equalize the amounts received through the  equity of the home.  So we know spouse # 1 had $50k more in their pension. So $25k, has to come from somewhere to equalize the amount to be received by each spouse to make it even. (keep in mind, this is not required – if you both agreed that one spouse can keep more than the other, that is fine too)

So what you could do here is spouse #2 could receive an additional $25k in equity from the home to offset or equalize these amounts. Another idea, is one spouse could take on more debt to equalize the total amount received in the divorce.

When going through and amicable divorce in Santa Clarita and using a service such as Divorce661.com you have a lot of options when dividing up your community property.

Divorce661 is located in Santa Clarita, CA and provides a full service divorce solution across California. If you are going through an amicable divorce in Santa Clarita or anywhere in California we would love to assist you.

Santa Clarita Divorce File Response Amicable

Santa Clarita Divorce | No Response If Case Amicable | Divorce661.com

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Santa Clarita Divorce | No Response If Case Amicable | Divorce661.com

If you are trying to do your own Santa Clarita Divorce and going through the Court’s self help centers, they are going to tell you one way of how to handle your case.

The way they have you handle your divorce is by assuming your case is NOT amicable and that you will be going to court or to trial at some point.

So based on this, their process is to have you file paperwork with this assumption. That said, the courts process states that once you have filed for divorce and served your spouse, your spouse is required to file a response within 30 days.  This is the standard process for what is known as an uncontested divorce.

That said, there are ways to get through the divorce process and not have to file a response. If you and your spouse are amicable, there is a way to finalize your divorce without the Response being filed and yet still be completely involved in the divorce process and both parties sign a written agreement.

This is how we handle our Santa Clarita divorce clients amicable divorce cases. Why? Because if you are amicable, no response is needed AND it saves you having to pay the 2nd court fee that is triggered when you file the Response.

Divorce661 is located in Santa Clarita, CA and handles amicable divorce cases throughout California.

santa clarita divorce file response

Santa Clarita Divorce | Can You File Divorce Response Form FL-120 After 30 Days? | Divorce661.com

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Santa Clarita Divorce | Can You File Divorce Response Form FL-120 After 30 Days? | Divorce661.com

There is a lot of misunderstanding on the whole, “You have 30 days  to file a Response to your Divorce”.

While it is true that you technically only have 30 days to file a Response to your Santa Clarita Divorce, there are a few things you should know.

First, the 30 days does not start until you have been served the divorce papers, not when the case was filed. So if the Santa Clarita divorce case was filed 2 months ago, but you were just served yesterday, the 30 days begins yesterday.

Second, nothing automatically happens after 30 days.  The Petitioner to the divorce would have to take the specific action of preparing and fling a Request To Enter Default Form FL-165.  Until this form is filed, you always have the ability to file the Response.

With our amicable Santa Clarita divorce clients this is never an issue. We don’t file the request to enter default until we are submitting the judgment. We do this so we can provide a full agreement to the court. You see, the benefit of not filing a Response for our amicable clients is that you don’t have to pay the 2nd court filing fee which is triggered when the Response was filed.

So just know that until the request to enter default has been filed, you can always file your Response if you choose to do so.  You can do this even years later after you’ve been served.

Divorce661.com is a full service divorce paralegal firm located in Santa Clarita, CA and assist with parties going through an amicable divorce.  We serve clients across California as our services are provided remotely and no court appearance is required.

santa clarita divorce cost

Santa Clarita Divorce | How Much Does A Divorce In Santa Clarita Cost? | Divorce661.com

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Santa Clarita Divorce | How Much Does A Divorce In Santa Clarita Cost? | Divorce661.com

Okay, so the video below was meant to be funny and hopefully you see it that way.

The point being is that divorce in Santa Clarita can be very expensive depending on how amicable or not you two are.

If you have an amicable divorce, as with the clients we work with here in Santa Clarita, your costs for divorce can be very low.  However, if you have contested divorce in Santa Clarita, once where you require divorce attorneys and court and multiple hearings, etc., you could be looking at 10’s of thousands of dollars.

Now, I know you don’t always control how amicable you and your spouse might be.  It does take both of you to try to be reasonable and amicable and find solutions so you can reach an agreement.

And we understand that is is not always possible.  But if it is possible that you and your spouse can reach an agreement, Divorce661 is a great resource to assist you with your amicable divorce in Santa Clarita.

Divorce661.com is located in Santa Clarita, CA and handles amicable divorce cases across California. No office visit is required and no court is required when you use our services.

Original Signatures Required On Santa Clarita Divorce Forms?

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Original Signatures Required On Santa Clarita Divorce Forms?

Do you need original signatures on your divorce paperwork? For the most part the answer is yes. However there are many forms where you can file a fax or scan signature.

The reason this is important to know is that many times you can file your paperwork with a scan or just a fax of your signature. Now, if you are doing your own divorce, likely this is not an issues as when you go to file your divorce paperwork with the court, you will be walking in your paperwork, so you will likely have original signatures. (keep reading below video)

However, the folks that use our Santa Clarita divorce service it is important to know that you don’t need original signatures on certain divorce documents.

Here is how it works when you use our Santa Clarita Divorce service. When you get started with us, we don’t need original signatures on the Petition, Summons (no signature on that form anyways), UCCJEA – FL-105 or the Family Law Case Cover Sheet form FAM-020.

The reason I have gone to the trouble to explain this is that if you are using our full service divorce we can get your Santa Clarita divorce started via email or fax. When folks hire us we get started immediately and send out the initial court documents for signature. We ask that you simply fax or scan these documents back to us so we can file with the court.

Yes, we can file these initial court documents with the court with just a fax of scan signature. This allows us to get started with your divorce case without delay.

The other forms that the court will accept with a fax or scanned signature are the financial disclosures which are the following forms FL-141 and the FL-150.

When it comes time to submit your divorce judgment forms, you will need original signatures on all of those documents.

Santa Clarita Divorce : How To Serve Divorce Papers : Petition & Summons Service

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Santa Clarita Divorce : How To Serve Divorce Papers

There are several ways to serve your Santa Clarita divorce papers.  When people here the word “served” they automatically think of “personal service”.  And while personal service of your Santa Clarita divorce papers is what people commonly think of, there are other ways to have your spouse served divorce papers. Let’s discuss a few ways to serve divorce papers.

Personal Service Of Santa Clarita Divorce Papers

First, you have what we were just talking about, personal service. This means that you have someone, other than yourself, over the age of 18, and not a party to the case, literally hand the divorce papers being served to the person being served.

Many people think that when they personally serve someone divorce papers that the person receiving them needs to sign something. This is not correct. When you personally serve someone divorce papers, you literally just hand them to them and walk away.  Even if they look at them and drop them or throw them, they have been served.

But how does the court know they have been served? Because the person who served the divorce papers will fill out a proof of personal service of summons and file it with the court.

Service By Notice and Acknowledgment Of Receipt of Divorce Papers

Second, is the way were prefer to have our clients served. It is simply by having the person being served, also known as the Respondent, sign a form FL-117 which is a notice of acknowledgment of receipt. This is a form that gets signed where the Respondent is saying they received a copy by mail.

This is our go-to-way of serving our amicable divorce clients who are using our service. Why? Because people going through amicable divorce cases in Santa Clarita don’t want to have their spouse embarrassed at work by having someone come into their place of residence or business and have someone hand them divorce papers. That’s why!

For that reason, we don’t do that unless the divorce case we are handling is not amicable, or where the other party is not returning the notice of acknowledgment.

Service Of Divorce Papers By Certified Mail

Third, you have certified mail. Yes, you can serve divorce papers by certified mail, but only if the other party is living out of state. And, there are different rules on what you use for the date of service on the judgment when you are using service by certified mail and specific instructions.

How you ultimately serve your spouse the divorce papers will be based upon if your Santa Clarita divorce is amicable or not. We always try the easy way first and people are glad to hear that their spouse will not be getting personally served.

Santa Clarita Divorce : Will I Have To Go To Court For My Divorce?

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Santa Clarita Divorce : Will I Have To Go To Court For My Divorce?

Whether you have to go to court or not for your Santa Clarita divorce depends much on what you have going on.

What I mean to say is that if your case is contested and you have attorneys and cannot come to an agreement for your divorce out of court, then you likely will end up in divorce court.

However, if you are working with our Santa Clarita divorce service, you will not have to go to divorce court.

The reason you won’t have to go to divorce court if you our Santa Clarita divorce service is because if you are using our divorce service your divorce is likely amicable or at least somewhat amicable.

When you use our Santa Clarita divorce service, we handle all the paperwork and go to court for you. We don’t go to court to handle contested divorce cases or represent you in court, rather we handle all the filing of the divorce paperwork and preparation of all the forms to finalize your divorce.

People often think that it is mandatory that they go to court. They will say something like, “What will the judge say about our agreements” or “At what point to we go to court for our divorce”? And they are often surprised when I tell them that they won’t be going to court if they use my Santa Clarita Divorce service and end up coming to an agreement.

You see, the only reason people end up in court is because they could not figure things out on their own and need to have a judge make a decision for them.

The folks that use our Santa Clarita divorce service utilize us to help them draft their divorce marital settlement agreement so we can submit their agreements to court.

Again, just to be clear, if you use our service, all paperwork is completed by us and no appearance in divorce court is required.

Santa Clarita Divorce : How To Look Up Your Divorce Case Online

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Santa Clarita Divorce : How To Look Up Your Divorce Case Online

Did you know that you can look up your Santa Clarita Divorce online? You can’t actually see the divorce forms that were filed, but you can see them listed by the form number.

When people call me about their Santa Clarita divorce and have questions about either the process or procedure, one of the first things I will ask them for is their divorce case number. The reason I want to see their divorce case number is because I can see what divorce forms were filed which gives me an idea of where their case is at.

Below is an older videos I did in 2012 which explains more. (keep reading below video)

This is important because it allows me to help figure out what needs to happen in order to finalize their divorce case.

Many times people call me about their Santa Clarita divorce because they need help finalizing their divorce.  Many times people try to start their own divorce on their own and run into trouble. When they call me in the middle of their divorce case, it is easier for me to figure out what is remaining by looking up their case number online.

If you are doing your own Santa Clarita Divorce, you will want to check on your online case summary frequently. The reason I say this is because when people are representing themselves, such as your spouse, they may not know what forms they need to serve on you. If they don’t follow proper procedure and don’t serve you it may turn out that your divorce gets finalized without you knowing it.

We also see a lot of spouses intentionally trying to trick their spouse and tell them everything is fine, while behind the scenes they are trying to finalize the divorce without them, trying to gain some financial advantage.

This is why it is important to use a professional divorce service like us. Give us a call for a free consultation and we can take a look at your case and help you finalize your Santa Clarita divorce case wherever point you are at.

Santa Clarita Divorce : Common Mistakes When Filing Your Santa Clarita Divorce : Divorce 661

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Santa Clarita Divorce : Common Mistakes When Filing Your Santa Clarita Divorce

I see several issues that continue to come up with people trying to file their own Santa Clarita Divorce. (Video at bottom)

Common Mistakes When Filing Your Santa Clarita Divorce

1.  Names Must Match On Summons & Petition – Using a different version of your name on the Divorce Summons & Petition. The names your use on your summons must match that on the petition. So, for instance. If you use Tim Blankenship on the Summons, use Tim Blankenship on the Petition.

What we see people doing, who are trying to do their own Santa Clarita Divorce is use different variants of their name throughout their divorce paperwork.  Here is an example. They start with Tim Blankenship and then in some places write, Tim S. Blankenship and in others Timothy Blankenship. This usually happens when people are filling out the divorce paperwork by hand or typing it into fillable forms.

2.  Not Using A Date Of Separation – Another issues I see is that people doing their own Santa Clarita Divorce is putting down a date of marriage, but not putting down the date of separation. This is cause for your divorce case to be rejected.

You need to have a date of separation on your divorce petition. “But Tim, we are still living together and not legally separated!” Doesn’t matter, you need to have a date of separation.  In fact, most of my clients are still living together at the time of filing for divorce and there is no requirement that you actually be separated prior to filing for divorce as it is in some states.

Here are some examples of what you can use as the date of separation for your Santa Clarita Divorce. (And yes, you can use a date in the past). You can use the day you discussed with your spouse that you wanted a divorce. You can use a day that you started sleeping on the couch. You can use a date of incident such as when your spouse perhaps did something that caused you wanting a divorce. If nothing else makes sense, then we just use the date of the filing of your divorce as your date of separation.

3.  Requesting Your Name Changed On The Divorce Petition – Okay, I get asked all the time, “can i choose a name” where is asks if you want to restore your former name.  The answer is no. As part of the divorce, you can only revert back to your former, maiden name.

The reason is that if you just choose any old name, and when you go to say Social Security or the DMV, they are going to check that it is, in fact, your former maiden name. The only way to choose a name of your choice is to file a legal name change with the court.

4.  Using An Address For You Minor Children Outside of California – This does not happen too often, but often enough to address it. If you have children, you need to also file a form called a UCCJEA which is form FL-105. The courts want to know where your children have lived for the last 5 years. You children have to be living in California in order for the state to have jurisdiction to make orders for child custody.

If you state that your children are living out of state, you will not be able to have custody orders in California. If you find yourself in this situation, even if you list your children on the divorce petition and then try to turn in your divorce judgment to the court, they will reject your judgment and tell you that the court does not have the jurisdiction to make orders for child custody and that you need to remove the custody portion from your judgment. This is a problem if you need custody orders as part of your Santa Clarita Divorce.

If you need assistance with your Santa Clarita divorce make sure to give us a call. We have local offices right here in Santa Clarita and can assist you with finalizing your divorce.

Valencia Divorce : A Better Way To Serve Divorce Documents

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

We are all about amicable divorce cases in California. So it would make sense that we advocate better ways to do things, especially ones that save you money and help keep your case amicable.

In this article we are talking about better ways of serving your divorce papers. What we are discussing is the process of service. This is when you file your divorce case, namely the Summons and Petition) that after it has been filed, it needs to be served. Most will tell you that it HAS TO BE PERSONALLY SERVED. This is not always the case. And in fact, if you are using our company for your divorce, we will be talking about a better way to serve, which is by mail.

(By the way, we provide a full service divorce solution throughout California. If you are looking to get a divorce and would like assistance, please give us a call for a free phone consultation at 661-281-0266. We have a full service and self-help service.)

Click Here to learn more about our full service divorce
Click here to learn more about our do-it-yourself divorce

What we are referring to here is a little known form called a Notice of Acknowledgment of Receipt. It is a form that allows the spouse being served to accept being served… to acknowledge receiving a copy of the summons and petition, without the need for a 3rd party process server to chase them down and knock on their home or work door and be embarrassed.

Now you still need to have a 3rd party (friend, relative over 18 years old) be the one to mail the forms along with the acknowledgment to your spouse. The notice of acknowledgment is then filed with the court along with a proof of service that specifies how it was served.