Taking On More Challenging Divorce Cases In Santa Clarita

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

When I first started this business, my idea was that I would handle the cut and dry divorce cases. Ones where both parties agree on all aspects of the divorce and it is more of a transaction.

While the majority of our cases fit this mold, we are starting to see a large influx of clients who have contested divorce cases or cases where there is no agreements.

These are people who would normally hire an attorney to represent them in their divorce. However, this new bread of people coming into our office who don’t want to spend the money on an attorney or find the costs of hiring an attorney prohibitive.

So we have been taking on these more difficult divorce cases. These are divorce cases where it takes more than just filing out divorce documents and requires an expertise as to court procedure and how to maneuver a case through the courts.

We are able to do this because we have, and continue to, work closely with the Los Angeles Superior Courts and have worked for large law firms in family law.

We have been taking cases where clients are representing themselves in their divorce and we are taking them all the way through the court process. From filing the initial petition, to filing motions for support and custody, all the way to trial. We have concluded several cases that went to trial.

Of course, we are not a law firm and are not attorneys, so cannot give you legal advice, but we can advise you the steps that need to be taken as far as court procedure is concerned and complete the necessary documents to get you into court and help you complete your divorce case in Los Angeles.

If you find yourself among this growing population of people who need assistance with your divorce, but find the costs of hiring a divorce attorney prohibitive, then give us a call. We would be happy discuss how we can help you through the divorce process.

Do You Have Better Chance At Divorce Hearing With Attorney Present | Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

I know this is a very open ended question, so let me clarify a bit what I am talking about.  I had a client call me who said he contacted an attorney because he needed to terminate spousal support.

His child had turned 18 and per the terms of the divorce judgment, he no longer had to pay child support.  In many cases, as with his, before the employer would stop taking the spousal support payments out of his check, they wanted an order from the court that said so.

Because an order was made when child support was ordered, you will need an order to terminate child support as well.

In order to do this you need to file a motion with the court. This would be a Request For Order and you will probably want to go in Ex-Parte so you can get the order signed faster.

If you want more information about how to terminate child support, please give us a call.  But for purposes of this article I want to discuss something intersting this client was told by an attorney.

This attorney essetially told him that he would have a better chance getting the child custody order signed if he had an attorney present. The reason he gave was that he (the attorney) would show up in court and testify that they gave proper Ex-Parte notice.  That is that they called the other party and let them know they would be going to court to request the termination of child support.

I thought that was an intersting sales pitch.  A Request For Order is simply a form you fill out and file with the court to ask for a hearing.  Giving Ex-Parte notice is simply a procedural process.  It requires you call the otherp party, generally 24 hours in advance, and let them know you are going to court.  This gives them a chance to appear.

What the attorney was trying to say is that without an attorney present, the judge may not hear the case because there would be nobody to testify that the Ex-Parte notice was given and there would be a chance the court would not hear the motion.

When you are representing yourself, In Pro Per, you do not have to hire an attorney simpy to give Ex-Parte notice and show up in court.  This attoreny was going to charge him $1,500 to fill out a single form and show up to court.

It is not necessary to hire an attorney for these types of divorce motions.  For an attorney to use the sales pitch that he will testify that Ex-Parte notice was properly given is hardly a reason to use an attorney for thi

Does Signing The Divorce Petition Mean I Agree | Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

There is a huge misunderstanding about a part of the divorce process that I want to clear up.  This is in regards to the California Divorce Petition and the requests you make.

The Petition is a form you will complete when you file for divorce.  It lets the court and the other party know what your are requesting.  Again, it simply tells the court what you are requesting.  They are not orders.

An issue we have been having is when we mail the Petition to the other party and ask them to sign a form acknowledging that they received the Petition.  Doing this helps us to avoid having to hire a process server.  When you sign the acknowledgment, it simply means that you received that divorce papers, not that you agree to the what is in the Petition or remainder of the divorce papers.

We recently mailed out some divorce papers to the respondent in a divorce case.  After the Respondent received the papers, he called the Petitioner and said he is not signing the papers because he does not agree with what the Petitioner is asking for.

So what are the options when this happens.  Well, the first thing you can do is attempt to explain it to them.  But it is unlikely that your spouse will listen to you since you are going through a divorce in the first place, but you can try.

The next thing I would try to do is have them get the answer from someone who is not involved.  Have them go to the court and ask the self help center if signing the acknowledgement of receipt means that you agree with what is in the petition.

If none of these work, then you will simply have to hire a process server to do it.  And again, just because the process server hands them paperwork does not mean they agree with what is in the petition either.

How To Complete Fee Waiver For Your Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

We have been helping a lot of folks over the last few weeks going through divorce in Santa Clarita to get fee waivers so they can avoid paying the filing fee for divorce.

The courts allow you to apply for a fee waiver if you meet certain requirements. Watch this short video which will explain more about fee waivers.

The courts provide a few different ways you can qualify for a fee waiver. Some are automatic qualifiers and others need to be decided by the court. Let's talk about a few of these.

When you are filling out the fee waiver request, the first way you can qualify is if you are one some type of government financial assistance. So if you are receiving food stamps, SSI, on welfare or most any other type of assistance, you will qualify for the free waiver. I am not exactly sure why, but my instinct tells me that if you are receiving these types of assistance, your income is obviously low and has been verified by some government agency.

The next way you can qualify is if your household income falls below the minimums as indicated on the fee waiver application. If so, simply mark the box that applies.

If you don't qualify under these first two options, you can apply by indicating that, despite having an income, that you cannot afford to pay the filing and pay your bills.

Essentially, you will have to complete a short financial declaration that will show your income, persons who lives with you and assets and debts. You will have to go into the courtroom and see the clerk and possibly the judge. They will review your fee waiver application and either approve it, deny it or allow you to make payments on the filing fee so you can file your divorce case.

 

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.

Do You Need A Divorce Minute Order | Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

What is a divorce minute order, when will you need one and how do you get one.  All that and more is answered by the article by Tim Blankenship with https://divorce661.com and discussed in the below video.

First off, let’s talk about what a divorce minute order is. A minute order is simply the court clerks detailed notes of what happened in a hearing or trial.  So you won’t have a minute order unless you have been to court.  So if you have had a trial or hearing and need to know what orders the court made on that date, you would get a copy of the minute order.

Now, why would you need one?   Most people will never need a minute order, but there are circumstances where you will.  One such circumstance is if you go to a hearing at divorce court asking the judge to make order after you had filed a motion.  So let’s say you filed a motion for spousal support or child support, the hearing was held and the judge made orders.

If you are representing yourself, the judge may ask you to prepare what is called an Order After Hearing.  It essentially is a “Order… After… The hearing.  You have to type of the order of the court and would use the minute order to get the exact language of what the judge ordered during the hearing.  When you submit the order after hearing back to the court for the judge’s signature, they will verify the language of the order matched that of the minute order.

In the video above we go into a little more detail about how to complete the order after hearing, but that will be for another blog post and another video down the road.

Now, now to you get a minute order.  This is quite simple.  All you need to do is go to the court room your case was heard in (if it was recent) and give the court clerk the date of the hearing and request the minute order.  If it has been several weeks and there are no future hearings, your file may have made it back to the storage area, in which case you would request it from the court clerk’s office.

We specialize in divorce in Los Angeles County and are centrally located in Santa Clarita, CA.  Please give us a call if you would like to learn more about our divorce services.

Need A Divorce Attorney In Santa Clarita? Start Your Divorce With Us Anyways

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

We have been working on getting the word out that you can still use our divorce document preparation service in Santa Clarita even if you know you will later need a divorce attorney in Santa Clarita.  In fact, it might be one of the smartest decisions you make during your divorce.

You see, when you start your divorce, essentially it is simply a lot of paperwork.  I say simply, with a grain of salt.  What I mean to say is that it does not take a divorce attorney to complete these initial set of divorce documents for you.  In fact, none of the divorce documents have to be completed by a divorce attorney.   It just takes a company like us that specializes in divorce preparation to take care of it for you.

So what we want to impress upon you is two things. First, if you absolutely without a doubt will need an attorney for one reason or another, why not start the divorce with out and save a ton of money.  No need to involve an attorney from the beginning if it is just paperwork, right?   Were not saying don’t consult with an attorney, but you should understand when you need an attorney and when you don’t.

The other thing we wanted to say regarding this was to those folks who start with us and then later needed to hire an attorney.  This happens as well.  People call us and start working with our divorce service in Santa Clarita and then something goes sideways and they need an attorney.  This is okay too?

I tell people that fall into either of these two situations that even if they ultimately need a divorce attorney after using our services, they have already saved countless thousands of dollars in the process by not using a divorce attorney up to this point.  It is a win-win either way.

We are headquartered in Santa Clarita and provide a superior divorce service.  We are here to assist you with your divorce either before, during or after you have hired and attorney.  Call us for more information.

Ditch Your Attorney And Start Your Santa Clarita Divorce With Us

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

So you know you are going to get divorced and need some help. But who do you go to? Attorney? Mediator? Divorce document preparation company?

The answer really depends on your situation. Or does it?

The first reaction to thinking about divorce is to consider getting an attorney. But in this article we want to make a suggestion that will save you some money on your divorce.

This article is for folks who feel they will, at some point, need an attorney for their divorce. This means that you feel that no matter what, you will need someone to represent your interests and there is no way you and your spouse are going to agree on everything.

Under this assumption that you will need an attorney for your divorce, do you feel that you need to start your divorce case with an attorney? Why not start your Santa Clarita Divorce using our divorce document preparation service instead and save some money on your divorce.

Attorneys do two things. They represent you in court and give legal advice. Do you need either one of these right away? Perhaps you need an attorney consultation about your divorce, but very few cases, if any, go immediately to court.

The initial steps to divorce are all about completing paperwork. Filing out forms, filling them with the court and completing mostly procedural steps such as serving the divorce papers on your spouse. Using an attorney to complete the routine tasks can cost you a small fortune.

What we suggest is this. Go ahead and get a divorce consultation with an attorney. Get your legal questions answered. Then give us a call so we can start the divorce for you. We will prepare your summons and petition, file it with the court and assist you in getting your spouse served. Then, we would help you prepare your financial disclosures. These two steps do not require a law degree so why would you pay lawyer fees for this service?

We estimate the time it takes to complete these 2 steps if done with an attorney to about 5 hours of work. If you take the average cost of a divorce attorney at say $300 per hour, you are looking at $1,500 just to get these initial documents prepared. Wouldn't you rather spend that money on your attorney when he or she is doing what they do best, instead of paying them to prepare forms?

What you do is ultimately up to you. We just wanted to throw this out there for you to consider.

As licensed and bonded legal document assistants specializing in divorce in Santa Clarita, we help people save money on their divorce. Let us get you as far as we can before you spend the big money on an attorney.

And you never know. Maybe you will find that you never needed a divorce attorney in the first place.

Baby Boomers Divorce Rate Now 25%

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

A Recent article in the Los Angeles Times now estimates that the baby boomer generation divorce rate is now at 25%, up from 10%.

What is being called a “Gray Divorce Boom” is being led by baby boomers once again. Most of us are keenly aware of how this huge population of people have effected the economy throughout history.

Now they are creating a boom in divorce.

Working with people who are going through divorce everyday, I can attest that we get our fair share of baby boomers coming through our doors. In fact, I would say it represents closer to 40% of our clients, not just 25%.

But what explains this increase in this older folks getting divorced? Is it the change in how we look at divorce overall as a culture?

I am in my 40's and my parents never divorced. My friends parents did not divorce, at least that i can recall. So divorce was just something that was not as prevalent as it is today. It has become the, “well, everyone else is doing it” scene.

We never make is our business why someone decides to get divorced. Getting divorced is a personal decision and only you know what is best. We are not here to judge, rather if you have made the decision to get divorced, we simply want to make the divorce process as simple and smooth as possible.

If you are a baby boomer or fall in this “gray divorce boom” you are obviously not alone. The divorce rate is climbing every year and is impacting all ages and generations.

For there to be this drastic of an uptick in divorce, one must conclude that there has been a dramatic shift in how our culture looks at divorce and marriage. Perhaps folks stayed in marriages due to social pressures as getting divorced in the past was not as prevalent.

We are a licensed and bonded legal document preparation firms specializing in divorce. We are headquartered in Santa Clarita, CA and serve all of Los Angeles County.

Keeping Santa Clarita Updated About Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

The divorce process is confusing for most, we know that. That is why we are constantly keeping Santa Clarita updated about divorce.

On our blogs and websites, we write daily articles about some part of the divorce process. Sometimes we write multiple articles a day. It just depends on what happened recently in our business that inspires us to write and discuss specifics related to divorce.

Whenever we come across a questions we have been asked that we have not answered, we will often write about them so folks can find the answers online.

In addition to our blogs, we also upload at least one video per day that discusses divorce. This may be about how to complete certain forms or about a specific process. We plan on consistently producing videos that are helpful to folks attempting to learn about the divorce process.

So we have talked about our blogs, websites and videos. Did you also know we do a daily podcast? Yep, we also have a daily podcast where we discuss some of the issues people are running into when going through divorce.

We figure by having multiple channels for people to find out about divorce, we not only establish ourselves as the leader in divorce legal services in Santa Clarita but also provide a hub for information with multiple ways to get information.

If you are going through divorce or considering getting divorced in Los Angeles County, make sure to spend some quality time on our blogs, websites, watching videos and listening to our podcasts. There is a wealth of information out there and it is good to be informed.

As always, if you have a question you cannot find the answer to, simply ask us on our home page and we will make sure to answer it for you.

We are licensed and bonded divorce legal service in Los Angeles, CA. We are located in Santa Clarita and specialize in divorce in all of LA County Courts.