LegalZoom Refers The Most Divorce Clients | Santa Clarita

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

LegalZoom Refers The Most Divorce Clients | Santa Clarita

LegalZoom is a company with millions of dollars in advertising that smaller companies like us could never compete with.  They offer legal forms for just about anything you could think of.

It is true that they provide the forms and will even fill them out for you.  Unfortunately, despite the fact that you paid for the service you received, it leaves a lot to be desired.

I am not saying Legal Zoom provides a bad product.  Are you kidding.  One lawsuit from them would put me out of business.  I am just saying that you will get exactly what you pay for when you use their service.

This is not speculation, rather is what I have experienced by speaking to the many clients that have used their service and now have come to me to clean up the mess.

A recent client used Legal Zoom for their divorce.  They paid their fee, answered the questionnaires they use and then LegalZoom sent them every divorce form known to man to file.  They do provide a lengthy description of the process, but even me, with all my experience with divorce, was like, “WTH – What the hell!”  You know the three letters I wanted to say, right?

So this client thought they were following the directions, filed their forms and their judgment and thought they were done.  Only to learn later that their divorce judgment was rejected.

When they came to our office, I reviewed all the forms that Legal Zoom had completed.  Want to know something?  They were all wrong. 

It is not that Legal Zoom did anything wrong.  No!  They typed in the forms, just like you asked.  But where you did something wrong, they just typed it up anyways without a second thought.

If that is the type of service you want, go right ahead.  Either way, I’m sure our paths will cross when you call us to fix the problems.

When I say LegalZoom refers me a lot of business, I mean that a lot of people come to me for help after using Legal Zooms services.

 

Divorce Without A Lawyer In Santa Clarita

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Divorce Without A Lawyer In Santa Clarita

Did you know that you can get divorced without a lawyer?  Most people are aware that divorce lawyers are not a necessary part of getting divorced.

If you are going to get divorced without a lawyer, let us make one recommendation.  Even though you are not going to use a lawyer for your divorce, you should still get the professional assistance and guidance from our divorce legal document preparation firm.

With out service, you can avoid using a lawyer for your divorce and still get attorney-quality divorce documents prepare for you.  When it comes to divorce, there is a lot you need to know and understand about the process and how to fill out the forms.

We have seen too many folks who have attempted to complete their own divorce fail to make it to the end.  Even those that do have the intestinal fortitude to complete it all and submit their judgment to the court, later find that the court rejected their entire case and they had to start over from square one.

Don’t let the fact that you are going to get divorced without a lawyer make you think as though you have to complete the divorce process by yourself. 

I talk to people day in and day out about the process of getting divorced without a divorce lawyer in Santa Clarita. Folks are surprised to find out how well we are able to help them navigate the court system and get through what issues they are having.

Where we do run into issues that may require professional mediation or counselling services, we are happy to refer you to people in that field.  Once those issues are dealt with you simply come right back to us to complete the process.

Whatever steps you take to avoid using an attorney for your divorce will save you time, frustration and ultimately, money.

Divorce without a lawyer in Santa Clarita is possible and thousands of people use our service and get through their divorce.  Give us a call, we would be glad to help you out.

How To Get A Continuance For A Divorce Hearing | Santa Clarita

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

How To Get A Continuance For A Divorce Hearing | Santa Clarita

We have been talking a lot about filing motions this week and have helped several clients set court dates for hearings.  But what do you have to do in order to get a continuance for a hearing you have coming up.

Getting a continuance on a hearing for divorce case such as appearing on a motion that was filed can be quite simple, and in other cases can be a total pain.  It really depends on the cooperation from the other party.

Lets discuss the easy way.  The easiest way to get a continuance is to ask the other party if they would be agreeable to continue the matter.  It could be for a variety of reasons such as wanting to try and work it out before going to court or because you are going to be out of town, etc.

If the other party agrees to continue the matter, all you need to do is call the clerk in the department the divorce case is in.  Make sure you both call in together on a conference call.  The clerk will want to make sure that you both are agreeing the the continuance.

It is a good idea to have your calendar out so you know your availability.  The clerk will look for the next available dates to continue your matter to.  Don’t be surprised if it is several months away.  Once you, your spouse and the clerk agree on a date, you are done.  You will most likely have to file a notice of continuance with the court and pay a small fee.

Now, lets discuss a situation where the other party does not agree or does not respond to your request for a continuance.

This is a situation we just had to help a client through.  Husband filed a motion.  When wife was served she realized that the date of the hearing was when she would be out of town, several states away.  She asked Husband for a continuance and he has not responded.

Because the date of the hearing was fast approaching and because she could not cancel her trip, the only thing she could do is petition the court for a continuance.

So what we did is prepared an Ex-Parte Motion requesting the court to grant a continuance.  This is the only way to get in front of a judge so they can make a ruling on it.

It is a huge waste of time and money, but in this case, was the only way she was going to have a chance to ask the judge for a continuance.

What You Need For A Post Judgment Divorce Modification

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

What You Need For A Post Judgment Divorce Modification

Lately I have been getting several cases where the parties have already been divorced, but where they now want to modify some portion of the agreement.

This could be modifying spousal support, child support or even asking the court to enforce the judgement when the other spouse is not complying with the stipulated agreement or order of the court.

We handle both filing of the request for order as well as those who need to respond to a request for order.  We can even help you file and Ex-Parte motion when an emergency exists.

When you are going to file a post judgment modification, you will need to complete the following forms.

1.  FL- 300, which is the application for order (request for order)

2.  Income and Expense Declaration, if the issues is related to money.

3.  Any other attachments that may be required based on your request.

One thing to remember is that if you are filing a post judgment motion, you need to personally serve the documents on your spouse.  you can’t simply mail them to him or her.

In a case we are working on right now, we are helping the spouse to file a response to a motion.  The husband was upset that the wife did not transfer title out of his name like the divorce judgement said and claimed that the wife was paying late on the vehicle causing his credit to be tarnished.

This was a fairly easy response because the wife had already sold the vehicle which took husband off title.  The wife really should not have even had to file a response if husband would take the motion off calendar, but he refused.

If you need to file a motion, respond to a motion, whether it be post judgment or not, we can help.  We will complete the required forms, help you with your declaration and file and serve all the documents.  All you will have to do is show up in court.

We are a full service divorce document preparation service and are headquartered in Santa Clarita, CA, however we serve all of Los Angeles County.

We Have No Property Together | Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

We Have No Property Together | Santa Clarita Divorce

One of the questions I ask folks when they call to find out about our services is in regards to the amount of property that has to be distributed.   What I am  trying to find out is things like homes, pensions, accounts, vehicles and debts.

Many times what people tell me is that they have nothing!  While there are certainly people out there that literally no property, what I end up having to do is explain what property is.

When it comes to disclosing property during a divorce, it is not just tangible things such as cars and homes.  This also includes checking accounts, savings account, credit cards and furniture.  If you own a toaster, you have property.  Even if you have a dog, you have property.

So the likelihood that you truly have no property is very slim.

You have to fill out the preliminary declaration of disclosure whether you have property or not.  You might as well do it correctly and list all property, regardless of which spouse it belongs to.

This brings me to another point.  Just because the property is not in your possession, does not mean you don’t have any property.  I spoke to a young lady the other day who said she had not property because her husband left with everything.  He took the car, the furniture and everything else not bolted to the ground.

So does she still need to list this property on her disclosures?  Hopefully at this point you are saying, “Yes”.

I guess the best way to look at it is not what you literally have in your possession, rather what the totality of the property is whether in your hands or yours spouses.

It does not even matter if your spouse has had an account in his name and you never had access to it.  You still list it.  Why?  So it can be assigned as his account in the final judgment paperwork.

 

What Property Do You List During Divorce | Santa Clarita

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

What Property Do You List During Divorce | Santa Clarita

When it comes to getting divorced, there is a lot of confusion on what property you are supposed to list when you complete your financial disclosures.

Most people are under the impression that they only list what property is theirs or that they are going to keep.  This is not the case.

When you are completing the financial disclosures which are the income and expense declaration and schedule of assets and debts, you are supposed to list all property, regardless of which spouse it belong too and regardless of when it was purchased or the debt was accrued.  It also does not matter if the asset or debts in one persons name only.

So, in essence, the financial disclosures will be used as a template for the totality of the assets and debts between the spouses which can be later used to determine how you want to divide it.

For instance, when you are completing the schedule of assets and debts you will notice that their is a space after where you list the property to say whether it is separate property and when the property was acquired.  This can be used to help determine who should get the property.

So if you want to say that a certain vehicle should go to the Petitioner, you simply place a “P” in the separate property box. If you want to say that something belongs to the Respondent or should be assigned to the Respondent you would place a “R”.

In many cases, you will not know how you want to divide up most of the property.  In the uncontested divorce cases I handle, we deal with the division of assets and debts after both spouses have filed and served their preliminary declaration of disclosure.  The division can be documents on the judgment forms that deal with the property accumulated before marriage, during marriage and after separation.

For more information about going through divorce or with understanding the divorce forms, please feel free to give us a call.  We are a local legal document preparation service that specializes in divorce.

More Divorce Form Rejection News | Santa Clarita

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

More Divorce Form Rejection News | Santa Clarita

I met a client to day who filed their own divorce in 2009.  They thought they did it all correctly however a few months after they submitted their judgment to the court, they received the entire package back in the mail.

This is called having your divorce judgment rejected and it is really upsetting to people.  They fill out all the forms and everything seems okay. Then your divorce is rejected and you get a laundry list of thing you did wrong.

Then, when looking at your divorce reject sheet, which is a pre-printed form with check boxes for the clerk to mark off what is missing or wrong,  you notice that the items they said were wrong, were things you filed in the very beginning of your divorce case.  Why didn’t they tell you then, you ask?

This is because it is not the clerk who stamps your forms to tell you that you did something wrong, even if they see it!

That is the problem with the divorce courts.  They allow you to represent yourself, but don’t tell you when you do something wrong, at least, not until the very end.

Imagine struggling to complete your own divorce ( or if you are reading this because you have, no imagination required).  You spend countless hours figuring out the forms.  You file them, serve them and eventually submit your judgment.  You think to yourself how much more free time you know have and are glad this is behind you.  So much time goes by that you forget about it and if you do, assume everything is fine.

Then, 3 months later (yes it is taking that long) you get everything back in the mail with a list of reasons why your divorce was rejected.  To say people are frustrated is an understatement.

A large portion of my client base calls me for exactly this reason.  They absolutely don’t what to attempt it again and are really glad they found our service so they can literally dump everything in our lap.

Go ahead and dump it on us.  That is what we do best.

We are a full service divorce document preparation service.  Call us for more information about your specific case.

 

Issues You May Have When Self Completing Divorce Forms | Santa Clarita

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Issues You May Have When Self Completing Divorce Forms | Santa Clarita

I have been getting a lot of people calling me because they have attempted to complete their own divorce or used some black market paralegal service to help them complete their divorce only to find out it was done completely wrong.

The client had used LegalZoom to prepare all the documents.  The way LegalZoom works is you fill out a questionnaire and then the program automatically fills in the divorce forms.

Because you are not paying for any type of assistance regarding filing or how the process works, you are on your own in that regard.  You got what you paid for.  The forms completed and nothing else. Why do you think it is so cheap?

The problem here, is that the automated forms that they complete leave some blanks for you to complete.  If you don’t know (and how would you?) that there is more to complete on some of the forms, they will be wrong.

As I have mentioned countless times, it is not up to the court clerk to verify you have completed the divorce forms correctly.  It is not their job.  They will simply stamp your forms, even if they know they are wrong.

Case in point.  The forms this client filed using Legal Zoom were all wrong.  They were either missing the dates of service (very important) or missing the box they were supposed to check saying what form had been served.  But for the laymen, the form looks complete.

So I pointed out all the issues with the forms this client had filed.  What we have to do know is correct everything she has done .  Starting over would be easier, but since the forms were already filed, we will have to file amended forms of everything.

The sad part about this is that this client had already paid LegalZoom for the forms.  LegalZoom did not rip her off, she got exactly what she paid for.  She got document preparation and nothing more.

When you use our divorce document preparation you get full support, we complete all the forms, file all the forms and advise you of court procedure.  We are a full service divorce document preparation service that will take care of everything so you don’t have to go  through what this client did.

Difference Between Legal Document Assistant and Legal Technicians

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Difference Between Legal Document Assistant and Legal Technicians

As the State of California attempts to deal with the fact that most people cannot afford an attorney for their legal issues, their response is to create a new legal specimen they will call “Legal Technicians”.

These new legal technicians are really just a new name to an old industry called Legal Document Assistants.  Why they think that creating a new name will help people get more legal assistance is beyond me.

As it stands now, the Legal Document Assistant industry (which is what we are ) is a barely known term.  And this is after 13 years!  In fact, there are less than 600 legal document assistants in all of Los Angeles County.  And many of these are folks out of the County who want to carry multiple licenses so they can obtain business in other Counties.

It is almost laughable.  California is looking at Washington State for guidance on the issue.  What they don’t realize is that the requirements to become a legal technician is the exact same as that of legal document assistants currently in California.

There is one small condition that is different.  You have to take a test.  In California, you have to meet certain educational and experience guidelines to become a legal document assistant.  You also have to get licensed and bonded in the County you provide services.  The only difference is that you do not have to pass a test.

However, California has what is known as the CLA which stands for certified legal assistant.  This test is mostly for Paralegals who are working under an attorney, but how much do you want to bet that this test becomes the standard in California if they ever try to bring Legal Technicians to fruition in California.

I, for one, don’t think that they will ever develop a legal technician industry in California.  Heck, they can’t even get the legal document assistant name off the ground in over 13 years.

We are a licensed and bonded legal document assistant firm in Santa Clarita that specializes in divorce.  If they ever do bring the legal technician profession to California we will simply take the test and change what we call ourselves.  But again, I don’t think it will ever happen.

Non Attorney Divorce Service Santa Clarita

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Non Attorney Divorce Service Santa Clarita

I recently read an article by the California State Bar that, among other things, said that attorneys are not serving the demand of the vast majority of citizens when it comes to their legal needs.

I am not saying I am smarter than they are, but I realized this a long time ago.  People just can’t afford the high cost of attorneys, whether it be for divorce or any other type of legal matter.

That is where my business model comes in handy.  While we are restricted from giving legal advice, we can share with you our knowledge of the law, things we have learned by reading and researching the readily available free information on courts websites, etc.

In essence, we are not giving legal advice in any way.  We are simply sharing with you, that information which we have found published by legal authorities.  Namely the courts.

It’s funny really.  Everyone says that there is a huge gray area between what is considered giving legal advice and what is not.  We are not trying to skirt around this nor do we want to give anyone legal advice.

But is it giving legal advice if we know something to be true because that is what the courts say on their published websites?  We don’t think so.  Especially, if we point you to the source of where we are getting the information.

Is it giving legal advice to make you aware of how a legal proceeding is held?  How to handle filing a motion? How to file paperwork?  No!  These are procedural court issues, they are not giving legal advice.

I know I am a little bit on a rant, but sometimes I just have to speak my mind as I grow tired of hearing attorney’s complain about completely legal, competent companies like ourselves that operate within the confines of the law and feel we are taking business away from them.

It’s just not true.  Most people just can’t afford your divorce attorney service is all.