Our Santa Clarita Divorce Service Is More Than Just Filling Out Forms

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

The service we provide, that of assisting folks going through divorce is more than just filling out forms.  We provide our clients with a complete understanding of the divorce process learned from numerous years in the industry.

As a legal document preparation company, I suppose it is easy to assume that all we do is fill out divorce forms.  That is why I wanted to talk about this issue.  If you are one of our clients, you already know how much information we provide about the divorce process and how the courts work.  We are there when you have questions along the way.  That is where are real value is.  Anybody can fill out divorce forms.  Well, not really, but just wanted to emphasize my point.

So what kind of things can you learn when working with us?  Well, for starters, everything there is to know about divorce.

Let me give you an example.  Many times we will have clients come to us and say they have an uncontested divorce.  Then somewhere down the line, things change and now the parties are not in agreement and we have to take another approach.

This other approach may be us talking to them about possible mediation options.  Sometimes, we have to help one of the parties file a motion with the court asking for some type of temporary order.  Really, the sky is the limit.  And when these things happen, you are going to want to be working with a company that has the experience working with divorce courts and divorce law firms so we can guide you through the process.

Even for those of you that think your divorce will be a no brain-er, there are still lots of questions that you will have about divorce that have to answered.  You will be glad you made the choice to work with us regardless if you have the easy uncontested divorce or a more difficult case requiring the use of our extensive knowledge about divorce.

Does Your Divorce Paralegal Work For The Courts? Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

As it stands now, we are the only licensed and bonded legal document preparation company in Santa Clarita.  In fact we are the only legal document preparation company in all of Los Angeles County that specializes in divorce.

For now, we enjoy not having any competition in the Santa Clarita Valley.  However, there are lots of paralegal companies in the San Fernando Valley, many of whom are not licensed.  But there is certainly more competition in the San Fernando Valley regardless.

One thing we focus on and talk a lot about is regarding our experience in this industry of divorce and family law.  Our claim to fame is that not only are we the only legal document preparation company in all LA County to specialize in divorce, but we are also the only company that has ever worked for the Los Angeles Superior Courts.

That’s right, we have worked for the courts and completed the Los Angeles Counties family law paralegal internships.  We actually still volunteer there to  this day.

Why do I bring this up?  Again, because experience counts.  Don’t you want to work with a company that has the most experience.?  Well, you are probably thinking, “Yes, but how much does that cost?.  The funny thing is, despite the fact that we are the most experiences divorce service in Los Angeles County, our prices are still very low.  In fact we charge what you would pay with one of these other unlicensed companies.

Here is why our work with the courts is so important to you as a potential customer.  We know and understand the process of how the courts work and use that knowledge to help our clients navigate the court system.  We have worked with the Courts. We know the people that work there and are familiar with the landscape of the court.

When we send our clients to court we can tell them exactly who to talk to, where to go and how to get there.  This takes a huge burden off of you trying to figure things out and lessens the stress load considerably.

If you are faced with divorce, consider using the only divorce service in all Los Angeles County that specializes in divorce and has the experience of working with the courts.

Using Our Santa Clarita Divorce Service When Your Spouse Has An Attorney

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

I have been getting more and more clients coming to our office for assistance with their divorce where their spouse has an attorney.   I wanted to address what the benefits are of using our service when your spouse has hired an attorney to represent them.

Just yesterday, I had a new client in this situation.  Her husband hired and attorney and filed for divorce.  When this new client came into our office, she said she had been to a few attorneys, but because she did not have money to retain them, they would not help her.

So she came to my office and we discussed what we could do for her and I wanted to share that with my readers.

Her husband had filed for divorce and she needed to file a Response.  Because she had taken so long trying to find an attorney, we were down the the last day to file her response.  We completed her response and then determined that she needed to file a motion for child support and to ask the court to have her husband pay her attorney fees.

So we drafted a declaration and the Request for Order, filed it with the court and obtained a court date.  We also completed all the necessary documents that go along with filing a motion with the court.

The amount of paperwork we completed that day would have taken a law firm several days to complete and cost her upwards of $2,000.  That is a lot of money just to complete the paperwork.  That money is better spent on the attorney if you need them to give you legal advice or represent you in court.  Not to complete paperwork.

In the end, we were able to get her Response filed and file her motion.  Something a divorce lawyer would not touch because she did not have the $3,500 to $5,000 she was quoted to help her.

I can tell you one thing.  In our request for attorneys fees we asked the court to have her husband pay $5,000 towards her attorney fees.  If she gets this award for attorney fees I would bet she won’t be going back to the divorce lawyers that turned her down when she did not have the money.

You can still use our divorce service, even if your spouse has hired an attorney.  We can get all the paperwork done that you need to complete for a fraction of the cost.  And if you are using our service because you don’t have the money to hire and attorney and want to ask the court to award attorney fees, we can help you prepare the appropriate motion so you can have your day in court to ask the court for attorney fees so you can hire an attorney.

We are a licensed and bonded legal document preparation service in Santa Clarita and divorce is all we do.

Divorce, Divorce, Divorce Is All We Do In Santa Clarita

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Every day, Day in and day out, we deal with folks facing divorce.  After years of working for the divorce courts in Los Angeles County and Santa Clarita area law firms, our experience continues to grow.  And experience is crucial when it comes to divorce.

Because we speak to so many people every day, we sometimes get a question that we have not had before.  Or a question about divorce that is just slightly different because the person asking has a slightly different scenario.  When this happens, we are able to give specific direction on how to tackle their particular situation because of our previous knowledge.

I am amazed at how much there is to know in this industry.  We have been immersed in the culture of divorce now for several years which allows us to provide our clients with an insight into the divorce process like nobody else.

When you are considering hiring a company to help you through the divorce process you need to make sure to use someone with experience.   Not just someone experienced with filling out the forms, but someone like us who can answer specific questions about the process of divorce as well as court procedure and navigating the court systems.

If we had not worked for the divorce courts or in a law firm setting as we have for all those years before opening this business, I don’t see how we could provide this service.  In fact, I don’t see how anybody else could hold themselves out as an expert in divorce without the type of experience we have.

When clients call us or come to our office, they have so many questions about divorce in Santa Clarita.  Many of the questions we answer are based completely on the experience we had with the family law court or while working for a family law firm in Santa Clarita.

I guess what I am saying here is that you need to use a divorce company with experience and not just someone who knows how to fill out the forms.

If you have questions about divorce, please give us a call.

 

How To Get Other Party To File Disclosures | Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

I have a few divorce cases where one of the parties to the divorce is not complying with the necessary steps of the divorce.  In this case we are talking about when one of the parties does not complete their financial disclosures.

The financial disclosures are necessary for both parties to complete when a response has been filed.  It is not required by the Respondent in default cases, however.

So what do you do when this happens?  If you are trying to obtain a divorce when there has been both a petition and response filed in your case and the other party has not yet completed their preliminary declaration of disclosure, you will have to make a formal request to complete them.  The preliminary declaration of disclosure is mandatory.

Of course, you will want to make sure that you have complied and served your financial disclosures before making a demand for theirs.  What you can do is serve the demand letter at the same time you are serving your disclosures.

But what do you put in the letter?  Fortunately, I have found a template letter which is perfect for this.  All you have to do is add your information to the form and check the appropriate boxes.   Click this link for a copy of the demand letter for preliminary declaration of disclosure.

In the demand letter for Preliminary declaration of disclosure, you will want to state the amount of time the other party has to comply. Most agree that if you are just serving your disclosures, that you should give them 30 days to response and complete their disclosures.

If the other party complies and files and serves their disclosures, then the letter served its purpose.

But what if they still don’t complete their disclosures?  As you will notice in the letter, it says that if they do not comply with the demand for disclosures, you will file a motion with the court asking that they pay your attorney fees and filing fees and compel the other party to complete their disclosures or allow you to continue with the divorce without them doing their disclosures.

Make sure to keep a copy of your letter for your records.  It is likely that you will need to offer it as proof if you end up having to go to court.

If this happens to you, please know that we can help you file the motion to compel the other party to complete their preliminary declaration of disclosure.

You Will Have Lots Of Questions About Divorce | Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

If I had to describe what I do on a daily basis, I would say that I spend a huge amount of my day talking to clients and answering their questions about divorce.  Interestingly enough, I answer the same questions over and over again.

That is why I started blogging and writing articles about divorce.  So that I could provide a way to answer folks questions about divorce.  In fact, that is what i do on a daily basis.  Whenever I get a question that I don’t think I answered in my blogs, I will make sure to take the time to not only write an article about it and also do a YouTube video on the issue.

In fact, if you are on this site now because you had a question about divorce, make sure to search through this site.  I have written over 800 articles (as of this writing) about divorce.  I have also created over 120 videos and a bunch of Podcasts.

The idea here is to inform the public about how divorce works.  Despite the fact that there is a ton of information on the internet about divorce, it is written in a legalese fashion making it hard to understand.  Divorce attorneys have not figured out that they need to talk about divorce in plain English. Why say the word “Pleading” when you can just say “forms”.  It is much more understandable that way.

A good example of this is with the computer guy that was just at my office to “network” my computers.  I knew what that meant, but why not just say “connect the two computers together” so they can talk to each other?  I am sure there are just as many people out there that don’t speak “computer” as there are people who don’t speak “divorce”.

You will have lots of questions about divorce. Feel free to read our blogs and search our divorce information.  There is a lot of information you can learn from our sites.  And as always, you can always call us to get answers and help on divorce.

We are a licensed and bonded legal document preparation firm in Santa Clarita that specializes in divorce and serves all the courts in Los Angeles.

Divorce Process Takes Longer Than Expected | Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

One of the most frequently asked questions about the divorce process is, “how long does it take”.  There is really two answers to this.

I used to simply say that the fasted a divorce can be completed is in 6 months.  That is 6 months from the day your spouse is served or files their response, whichever occurs first.  But what this article is about is more related to the process and how long it “really feels” like is it taking.

The reason I am writing this article is because many of my clients say that the process seems like it is taking very long to complete.  The funny thing is that these calls and emails come in after only 30 days have passed since we started the process.

What this tells me is that when going through a divorce, time will really drag on.  It can be an emotional process and people just want it done as fast as possible.  They want this other person out of their life and just move on.

So a lot of my job is trying to express that divorce is a process and it is going to seem like it is taking longer than it really is.  There is nothing I can do about it and there is nothing that will make things go faster.  While it is possible to get all the paperwork out of the way quickly, you will have to wait for the courts approval on the divorce judgment which is taking anywhere from 3 to 6 months to approve these days.

I understand that you are frustrated and the divorce process seems slow.  I write many emails to my clients to try and relax and that it will all be over soon.  Just not as soon as you would have hoped.

So if you are going through the divorce process or getting ready to start, just know that it is a process and takes time.  Our divorce sevice will make the process that much easier, but no matter what happens, the soonest it can be completed is in 6 months.

Started My Divorce And Now Need Help | Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

If you started your own divorce and now need help, you are not alone.  Many people are convinced that they can complete the divorce process on their own.

While there are people that get through the divorce process on their own, they did not do it without facing many problems along the way.  How do I know this?  Because I have lots of people who call me who started their divorce and later found that it was not as easy a process as they thought it was going to be.

People who start their own divorce generally feel that their divorce is pretty cut and dry because they either have an agreement on the terms of the divorce or because they figure it is just a matter of filing out a bunch of forms.

While it is true that the divorce process is just filing out a bunch of forms, a large percentage of people who take on the divorce process on their own are not able to succesfully complete the divorce process without some outside assistance.

That is where we come in.  If you have started your divorce and realize that you are not going to complete it on your own, there is help.  Maybe you got in over your head and the paperwork got confusing or perhaps you got through all the paperwork, only to submit you final judgment paperwork and have it rejected by the court.  What’s worse, is that your case was rejected for forms you completed several months ago in which the clerk stamped, but did not say there was anything wrong with them.  Frustrating to say the least.

We can assist you with your div0rce regardless of where you are at in the process.  We get lots of cases every week which are at different points in the divorce process.  Some have just filed and others did all the paperwork,  but later found they had wasted their time becuase it was all incorrect.

If you need assistance, please give us a call.   We would be happy to take a look at your divorce paperwork and complete a quick review to see where you went wrong. Often, we find that the very first documents completed were wrong and need to start from the begining.  Sometimes we find that the other party was never served.  Rest assured, we will get to the bottom of it and make sure your divorce case is completed.

We are a divorce document prepa

Can I Mail The Divorce Declaration Of Disclosure? Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

I had another great question about divorce come through our “ask Tim a question” on our blog and, as I always do will answer by writing an article about it. Why? Because is one person has this question, so do others.

This question was in regards to who can serve the Declaration of Disclosure. This is referring to the FL-140 which essentially is the cover sheet advising the other party that you are serving them with the income and expense declaration and schedule of assets and debts.

I have talked a lot about who can serve what during divorce and which has to be personally served and which forms can be mailed. But i don't think I have ever answered this specific question.

So here is the question. Can you as one of the parties serve your own declaration of disclosure? As this person says, there is nothing on the form that says otherwise nor is their even a place for anyone to say who served it.

In regards to the Declaration of Disclosure, you can mail serve this yourself. You do not have to have someone else do this for you and you do not have to do it personally, but you can if you want. You can either mail this to your spouse or hand it to them.

But don't forget this one critical step that I find self represented clients make. Don't forget to file the FL-141 with the court. This is the Declaration Regarding Service of Declaration of Disclosure. This form needs to be filed with the court.

Here is the video on how to file the FL-141.

Make sure you check the appropriate boxes on the FL-141. For instance, if you are the Petitioner you will mark the box indicating that and that you are serving your forms on the other party either by mail or in person. Don't forget to put the date you served them or the form will be rejected. (everyone misses this) Then simply date and sign your form and file it with the court.

Keep this filed copy handy because you will have to re-submit it to the court when you file your judgment.

I hope this has been helpful. I have also recorded a video on how to complete this form. Now you will know how to serve your declaration of disclosure and how to file the appropriate documents with the court.

 

How To Get Your Spouse To Pay Your Attorney Fees – Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Lately i have been coming across several clients who truly need to hire an attorney due to the nature of their divorce, but are unable to hire one due to lack of money.

In most cases, it has been because of lack of access to money, either because the spouse was a stay at home mom and never had access to the main accounts or because they were cut off when their spouse closed the account so they would not have any money.

So what are you to do when this happens? Sadly, divorce attorneys will not take your case if you don't have any money to retain them. Trust me, I have tried to find an attorney that would do this. They are non-existent.

What you need to do in cases like this is to ask the court to make an order that your spouse pay some of your attorneys fees to you have access to representation. There is a law that says both parties should have equal access to representation. The courts have even said that they are willing to make awards for attorney fees to clients that need them.

The problem is that how to you get a hearing for attorney fees if you can't get an attorney until you have the money?

Here is what I have done for the last couple of clients who have been in this situation. The goal is to file for divorce and complete the necessary request for order motion for attorney fees so we can get a court date set for a hearing.

We will literally prepare all the documents to get you one your way toward a court date where you can ask the judge to make an order that your spouse pay some or all of your attorney fees.

Once you have had your hearing with the judge and they have awarded attorney fees, you can then go out and hire an attorney. The nice thing about working with us is that you will not have spent a bunch on money on an attorney up to this point and no you can move on from where we left off.

If you find yourself in this position, please feel free to give us a call so we can discuss helping you obtain attorney fees so you can hire an attorney for your divorce.