Santa Clarita Divorce Mediation In Santa Clarita

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Santa Clarita Divorce Mediation In Santa Clarita

We have written several articles about Santa Clarita divorce mediation and I have conducted interviews on my radio show about Santa Clarita divorce mediation.  While the podcasts are available throughout our website, I thought it would be a good idea to compile all the articles and podcast episodes here on a single page so you can find the information about Santa Clarita divorce mediation more easily from a single post.

Who Makes The Decisions During Divorce Mediation?  You or the Mediator?

Do Divorce Lawyers Understand Divorce Mediation?

Is Divorce Mediation For Wimps?

Does Divorce Mediation Take Longer Than Hiring A Divorce Attorney?

Can You Hire A Divorce Attorney And Divorce Mediator?

Do Men Have An Advantage During Divorce Mediation?

Does Either Spouse Have An Advantage During Divorce Mediation? 

Should Everyone Use Divorce Mediation?

If you have any questions or are looking for an affordable way to complete your divorce in Santa Clarita or anywhere in California make sure to give us a call.  We would be happy to help.

Santa Clarita Divorce | Who Makes The Decisions During Divorce Mediation?

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Santa Clarita Divorce | Who Makes The Decisions During Divorce Mediation?

As we continue on the journey of answering some of the myth’s to questions we get about Santa Clarita divorce mediation, we now are talking about who makes the decision during divorce mediation and who decides what is fair.  While I have heard of some horror stories  where people said they went to a divorce mediation and the mediator actually took someone’s side, in most cases this does not happen.

Listen to this quick podcast interview where we discuss this issue in detail.

Santa Clarita Divorce | Who Makes The Decisions During Divorce Mediation?

Back To Santa Clarita Divorce Mediation In Santa Clarita

Santa Clarita Divorce | Do Divorce Lawyers Understand Divorce Mediation?

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Santa Clarita Divorce | Do Divorce Lawyers Understand Divorce Mediation?

The reason we discussed this in this interview on the podcast is because there are different types of Santa Clarita divorce mediators. In this podcast we talk specifically about lawyer mediators or attorney mediators.

What has happened is mediation has become a more popular form of getting through their divorce and attorney’s are jumping on the bandwagon so they can cash in on some of this business. So now some or most of the Santa Clarita divorce attorney’s are advertising some type of mediation service.

What we discuss in this podcast is if hiring an attorney to do you mediation is the right choice.  We are talking about attorney’s whose job it is to represent people in court. They are not normally trained as mediators and their brains are not wired for mediation usually.

Listen to this quick podcast where we discuss this issue.

Santa Clarita Divorce | Do Divorce Lawyers Understand Divorce Mediation?

Back To Santa Clarita Divorce Mediation In Santa Clarita

Santa Clarita Divorce | Divorce Mediation Is For Wimps

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Santa Clarita Divorce | Divorce Mediation Is For Wimps

I obviously don’t believe this to be true, but apparently there are people out there that feel that they are week by using a Santa Clarita divorce mediation instead of hiring a Santa Clarita divorce attorney.

In my opinion it takes more guts to use a mediator. Let me explain.  When you hire a Santa Clarita Divorce mediator you have to sit in a room and make decisions that may be difficult to make.  When you hire an attorney, you are basically walking away from that responsibility and putting it into someone else’s hands.  Sometimes you just need an attorney, but when possible a better result will always come from completing your Santa Clarita divorce through mediation.

Listen to this short podcast interview where we discuss this in detail.

Santa Clarita Divorce | Divorce Mediation Is For Wimps

Back To Santa Clarita Divorce Mediation In Santa Clarita

Santa Clarita Divorce | Does Divorce Mediation Take Longer Than Hiring An Attorney?

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Santa Clarita Divorce | Does Divorce Mediation Take Longer Than Hiring An Attorney?

Okay, so we are still talking about myths people believe about Santa Clarita divorce mediation.  This myth is that people believe that divorce mediation can take longer that where both parties hire an attorney for their divorce.

If you read my articles and listen to my podcast, you know where I stand when it comes to mediation vs. hiring an attorney for your Santa Clarita divorce.

In this podcast interview we talk about the difference in time it would take to complete your Santa Clarita divorce using a Santa Clarita divorce mediator or Santa Clarita divorce attorney.

Click play and have a quick listen.  When you need help with your divorce, give us a call.

Back To Santa Clarita Divorce Mediation In Santa Clarita

Santa Clarita Divorce | Can You Have An Attorney And Mediator?

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Santa Clarita Divorce | Can You Have An Attorney And Mediator?

One thing people ask is that if they are using divorce mediation if they can still hire an attorney.   Sometimes there may be a point where you both use mediation to come to an agreement, but then want to have an independent attorney who is only looking out for your best interests look over the agreements and give you their take on the arrangements you have made during divorce mediation.

We discuss this issue in this podcast episode.

Santa Clarita Divorce | Can You Have An Attorney And Mediator?

Back To Santa Clarita Divorce Mediation In Santa Clarita

Santa Clarita Divorce | Do Men Have Advantage In Divorce Mediation?

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Santa Clarita Divorce | Do Men Have Advantage In Divorce Mediation?

When I recorded this podcast I titled it “Are women at a disadvantage in divorce mediation” but in this article I referenced the reverse, but the information is still the same.  I did another podcast where I discussed whether either party has an advantage during divorce mediation where we covered some other issues.

True divorce mediation should not give any advantage to either party and neither the men nor the women should be at an advantage . The entire process of mediation is to bring the parties on an equal footing so they can dissolve their marriage.

.Listen to this short podcast where we discuss whether men have an advantage in divorce mediation.

Back To Santa Clarita Divorce Mediation In Santa Clarita

Santa Clarita Divorce | Punishment For California Contempt Of Court

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Santa Clarita Divorce | Punishment For California Contempt Of Court

I had just finished up writing an article about California Divorce and Contempt of Court and thought I would follow up by writing about what the punishment can be after the divorce court makes a finding of contempt of court.

The punishment for contempt of court comes from California Code of Civil Procedure 1218(c) which states that for each act of contempt, the convicted spouse or parent shall be fined up to $1000 and or imprisoned for up to five days. Notice that this is for each act of contempt. In support proceedings, each monthly payment is a separate act. The court also has the power to order community service.

he punishment in family law proceedings is mandatory.

On a first offense, the spouse or parent convicted of contempt must be ordered to perform community service for up to 120 hours or be imprisoned for 120 hours, which amounts to five days, for each count of contempt. Therefore, for example, if there was a failure to pay child support for 10 months, that is 10 separate counts or 50 days in jail.

If there is a second contempt finding, the rules become more severe, the punishment now becomes 120 hours of community service and imprisonment for up to 120 hours, for each act of contempt.

For a third and any further contempt findings, the convicted spouse or parent must be imprisoned for up to 240 hours (which amounts to 10 days) and ordered to perform up to 240 hours of community service, for each count of contempt.

There are also fees and costs associated with the contempt proceeding.

The court must take into account a spouse or parent’s employment schedule when ordering community service or jail. After all, how is a person found to have violated a court order, especially a support order, supposed to make support payments if your she loses his or her job?

The court is not mandated to award attorneys fees in California contempt of court proceedings. It is a discretionary function of the court.

If you need to file a contempt of court for your divorce case please give us a call for help.  We can prepare your contempt of court motion, file it with the court and serve your spouse to get you into court.

 

References

Farzad Family Law Blog

California Code of Civil Procedure

 

Santa Clarita Divorce | Filing For Contempt Of Court For Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Santa Clarita Divorce | Filing For Contempt Of Court For Divorce

While we handle both uncontested and contested divorce cases, every once and a while we will recommend that you file a Contempt of Court motion.  I wanted to discussed the filing of Contempt of Court and when you may want to use it as I am in the middle of completing a contempt of court for child support for a client.

When you have a court order and the other spouse is not following the order of the court, you have “contempt of court”.  When this happens you have 2 choices.  You can either file a regular Request For Order (motion for hearing) asking that the court compel the other party to comply with the previous order. Second you file for Contempt of Court.

The difference is that when you ask the court to compel the other party to comply with previously given orders, usually all the court will do is admonish the other party harshly and advise them to comply.  It seems odd to have to go to court to have the court order the other party to do something that they have already ordered them to do.

This is where Contempt of Court comes in handy.  Contempt of Court is actually criminal in nature. If the court finds the other party in Contempt, the possible penalties include jail sentence, community service, and fine.  It is a serious offense to file against or be accused of Contempt of Court and the penalties can be $1,000 or community service per count of contempt.  You can read the article where we discuss the penalties of California contempt of court cases here.

When I say each count of contempt, i am referring to the fact that, for instance, if you missed 5 payments for child support, each of those missed payments is a count of contempt.  So you can see that the charges really can add up.

So what would be some of the uses for contempt of court?

  1. Contempt of Court of California Child Support Orders
  2. Contempt of Court of California Spousal Support Orders
  3. Contempt of Court for Failure To Pay Attorney Fees
  4. Contempt of Court for Failure To Follow an order to seek work
  5. Contempt of Court for violation of domestic violence or other restraining orders
  6. Contempt of Court to enforce nonpayment of the debt
  7. Contempt of Court of California child custody and visitation orders
  8. Contempt of Court for failure to pay an equalization payment
  9. Contempt of Court in splitting property assets

The above contempt of court charges are the most common.  Probably the most filed contempt of court charges are in relation to contempt or child support and spousal support.

If you need assistance filing a contempt of court case against your spouse please give us a call.

Santa Clarita Divorce | What Is Short Title On Divorce Forms

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Santa Clarita Divorce | What Is Short Title On Divorce Forms

A lot of people try to start their own divorce before calling us.  That is fine, but they usually run into some trouble along the way and need our Santa Clarita divorce service to bail them out.  And we are able to do that by picking up where you left off in the process.

The forms are very confusing for many and people have a lot of questions.  One of those questions I was asked recently was, “What is the short title mean on the divorce forms?”

Some of the divorce forms have a field where it says, “Short Title.”

What the courts are looking for here are one of 2 things.  They want to know who the parties are, but not the entire names.  So this is what you would put in the “Short Title” box of the California divorce forms.

1.  The first option is to put your last name vs. their last name.  So if you guys were married it may be, “Smith vs. Smith.”  If your last names were different you would want to use the correct last names of course.

2.  The other option is to put, “IRMO Smith”.  IRMO stands for “In Re Marriage Of” and is used to reference the case by last name.  If you were every to look up a case file online you would search by using In Re Marriage Of.

Both of these practices are used by the Courts, but keep in mind that each Court and each County will have a local rule on which they prefer to be used.  Even if you use the wrong one I doubt it would ever become an issue.

So there you have it.  Now you know what to use in the field, “short title.”

I figured it was an easy post to write especially since someone had asked me about it, figured someone else would also have the same question.