Valencia Divorce : I Have A Divorce Attorney & Case Is Going Nowhere

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

I get so many calls where people have divorce attorneys in Valencia and they call me because their case is going nowhere. Their case is going nowhere and they have spent 1000’s of dollars on their divorce. In fact, I have had numerous clients who have tried to use an attorney and dropped a $5000 retainer only to have their case filed and not a whole lot else happening.

(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

There is a time for attorneys and there is a time to take a step back and try to figure everything out on your own. You were married for a period of time and were able to make that work for a time, so take just a few more days, weeks or months to work through your issues regarding your divorce.

The alternative is spending money to have someone else (divorce attorney) figure out your problems for you. An attorney will never help you more than you can help yourself. All they are is a conduit (and a bad one) between you and your spouse (and their attorney)

Did you ever do an experiment in school, grade school perhaps or even college, where you lined up and the person at the beginning whispered something into the ear of the person #1 and then each person had to whisper the same phrase to the next person?

If you did, you know the experiment was to show you that what comes out the other end, was not what was said in the beginning. When I was in school the phrase that came out the end wasn’t even close to what was said initially.

Why do you think this would be any different with attorneys. You tell your attorney something. It goes through their filter (meaning they try to figure out what you want and then filter it through their life experience and brain) then they say that to the other attorney (but usually through a letter, because they can charge you more money for a letter than a phone call) then the receiving attorney gets the letter your attorney wrote and then instead of calling their client, writes, their own letter to their client (because they can charge more to write a letter than calling their client) and out comes nothing close to what you said to begin with.

Sigh….

Divorce can be so much easier. And I have gotten way off topic.

The topic was supposed to be that if your Valencia divorce is going nowhere and you are wondering why, give us a call. Our recommendation is to take a step back from what got you to where you are at in your divorce and see if there is any way you and your spouse can come to some type of agreement.

Perhaps you can work towards some type of cooperation where you both decide to give in a little bit and get your divorce case settled.

That is my take on things anyways.

Valencia Divorce : How Long Is This Divorce Going To Take?

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Oh my god! I get this questions every day, like 5 times a day, even though I scream it on this blog, social media, my podcast and everywhere else.

That’s okay, it comes with the territory.

Here is the answer….

It is going to take way longer than you think..

Here is another podcast I have done on the subject… again.. 🙂

But here is the real deal.

The soonest your divorce in Valencia can be finalized is 6 months after the case has been filed and served. Not after it is filed, but after it is served.

Oh and another thing I hear all the time which is not correct.

People think that since they have been separated for more than 6 months already prior to filing for divorce that the six months started when they separated. This is not the case. In fact, I am going to do an entire blog post just on this wrong information.

So it is 6 months after the case has been filed and served. And by the way, the case has to be filed before it can be served. I see a lot of people thinking they can complete the divorce paperwork and serve their spouse before the case has even been filed. Oh, and people are serving their own documents. You can’t do that either.

That is for another blog post as well.

(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

And here is the other thing you need to know. You don’t have to wait 6 months to turn in all your paperwork. 6 months refers to when the court will approve your judgment. This does not mean that you can’t turn your paperwork into the court prior to the six months. In fact, we turn our divorce cases as soon as 30 days after the case has been filed and served.

And guess what? We get our cases through the court in just about 3 months total, way before the 6 months. The thing is, the court will place an effective date of 6 months out from the date of service on your judgment paperwork.

Just give us a call and we’ll handle your divorce case for you.

That was easy!

Can My Spouse Stop The Divorce? Valencia Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

We get asked by clients what happens when one spouse does not the divorce. What they are asking is, “Can my spouse stop the divorce?” In California divorce there is no requirement that the parties agree to actually get a divorce. Meaning, when one party files for divorce, there is no way to file a Response saying you don’t want the divorce as the other party.

(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

So what if your spouse does not want to get divorced? You would still file for divorce and have them served. Then you would have to wait 30 days to see if they Respond. The reason for doing this is because in California, there is a process called a “default”. A default is what happens when the other party has not responded to the divorce and 30 days has gone by.

The default process allows you to finalize the divorce process without the cooperation of the other party.

Now, I will tell you this. It is much easier to complete the divorce process by agreement. Even if you are the party that does not want the divorce, everything will go smoother if you both agree. If the two of you agree, you will not only be able to make decisions in both of your best interests, but you will also, in most cases, avoid having to go to court.

Valencia Divorce : Telling Your Spouse You Want A Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Over the several years I have been helping people get through the divorce process I can tell you that one of the things you will have to do is break the news to your spouse that you want a divorce.

Now with many of our clients, when I ask them if they have told their spouse they want a divorce, they will say that they have or at least they know it will not come as a surprise. For some, however, they have not told their spouse they want a divorce, even though the writing has been on the wall for years.

(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

There is no easy way to tell your spouse you want a divorce. For those who have already discussed it, it usually comes about as they are having an argument on too many occasions and someone says maybe we should just get a divorce.

If you are thinking about getting divorced, I think in most cases and is the experience of our clients, that the other spouse should be at least somewhat aware that you want to get a divorce or that things are bad enough that you don’t want to be married anymore.

I say this with a grain of salt thought, because I know that having done this for so long that the majority of people filing for divorce are woman and many of the men say they had no idea that things were so bad that their wife wanted a divorce.

I hear often from women that things were just in a rut and the men just went along with their daily routine as if everything was fine while the wife wanted things to change. One day I will figure out what this is all about.

If you have not told your spouse you want to get a divorce I would say that there is probably no right time, but that sooner is probably better than later. You don’t want to get to a point where you despise the them because you held off from telling them for so long.

My clients have told me that when they finally got to telling their spouse they wanted a divorce that after the encounter they felt a sense of relief and calm as the anxiety from holding this back was a source of great stress.

My Valencia Divorce Judgment Rejected 3 Times

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

I hear it every day.  I tried to do my own Valencia divorce and my Valencia divorce judgment was rejected. In this case, this gal’s Valencia divorce judgment was rejected 3 times.

Why Your Valencia Divorce Judgment Is Being Rejected

This is not the most times someone has told me their . Nope, the most times someone said their Valencia divorce judgment was rejected was 7 times.  Can you imagine having your Valencia divorce judgment rejected 7 times?  Even if you have had your Valencia divorce judgment rejected once, it is enough to frustrate you completely.  You think you have completed your Valencia divorce properly and then one day, you receive the rejected Valencia divorce judgment in the mail.

Valencia Divorce Judgments Get Rejected All The Time

Valencia divorce judgments get rejected all the time.  In fact, so much that we have a service just for cleaning up the judgement and resubmitting.  But we have talked about that in many articles and if you find yourself in a situation where your Valencia divorce judgment has been rejected.

But the purpose of this article was not so much to talk about our service is it is to discuss a situation I ran into today.

So today, I received a message on Facebook from someone I knew several years ago.  Someone that worked in an office near me.  So not friends, per se, but an acquaintance would be the best way to explain it.

Anyways, I ran into her in the Ralph’s grocery store in Valencia about 6 months ago. She said she knew I was doing divorce’s and said she was having trouble with her divorce as far as the paperwork was concerned.  So she asked me for some advice and I gave her a few pointers to trouble shoot her case based upon what she told me the problems were.

Back to today.  She reached out to me via Facebook and asks me how much it would be to fix her Valencia divorce paperwork.  I give her a price via messenger and explain that we will take care of everything.  Her response was, ” It is just the judgment, everything else is fine”.

Honestly, this irritated me.

Here is why.  I know that not “everything else is fine” when you are turning in your divorce judgment.  This is because when you turn in your divorce judgment, this is the first time that the court reviews any of  your paperwork.

Everyone things all their divorce forms are correct, until they turn the judgment into the court.

Why Your Valencia Divorce Will Be Rejected Multiple Times

Here is a secret that I have told a million times.  When you turn in your judgment to the court, the clerks will find one or two maybe three reasons to reject your divorce judgment paperwork and send it back.  You fix those few mistakes and then they reject it again.

This is why we have created Valencia divorce judgment checklists.

Why do you think the judgment gets rejected so many times?  If everything is fine then why does it keep getting rejected for new reasons?

Exactly.

What also irritated me is that I also have her a second option.  I said, “pay for the California Divorce Tutor Uncontested Divorce package which is just $97 and I will walk you through wrapping up your Valencia divorce case.

I didn’t get a thank you or even a reply.

If you are not willing to spend even $97 to finalize your Valencia divorce, then I suppose your only option is to keep having your Valencia divorce judgment rejected.

Look folks, the Valencia divorce process is complicated.  You need professional help.  Otherwise you will struggle and your divorce will take years.

You are undoing a marriage of how ever many years.  Get it done right and have a professional company handle your divorce case.

Valencia Divorce Form FL-150: How To Complete FL-150: California Divorce Tutor

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Valencia Divorce Form FL-150 – Income and Expense Declaration

If you are going through a Valencia Divorce one of the forms you will need to complete is the divorce form FL-150 also known as the Income & Expense Declaration. The FL-150 is needed for multiple reason during the divorce process. Even if you are going through an amicable divorce, you will have to complete a FL-150, income and expense declaration.

Other uses for the FL-150, income and expense declaration, is when you are filing a motion, called a Request For Order. The FL-150, income and expense declaration is used for motions when you are dealing with anything having to do with money.

Read more below video…

 

For instance, if you file a motion for child support or child support, you will need to complete the Valencia divorce form FL-150, Income and Expense Declaration.

In fact, I am working with a client right now where the spouse filed a motion for child support and spousal support and they completed their FL-150, income and expense declaration and we will be filing her Responsive Declaration which will also include a FL-150, income and expense declaration.

If you are going through a Valencia, California divorce or considering going through a Valencia, California divorce you have many options. You can either decide to do it yourself or hire us for our full service divorce options. Both are popular and we did this so that regardless of income, people have access to affordable Valencia divorce services in Valencia.

Feel free to call us for a free phone consultation at 661-281-0266. To check out the tutorial for Valencia Divorce form FL-150, income and expense declaration, you can also go to our other do-it-yourself, website at California Divorce Tutor where you can view live videos of how to prepare each of the California divorce forms.

Bifurcate Divorce: What Is A Bifurcation? California Divorce Tutor

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

What is a bifurcation of your divorce?

A bifurcation is a fancy word that means “to separate”. For purposes of bifurcating your divorce, this is usually referring to separating the marriage portion of your divorce from everything else such as the asset and debt division or children, custody, support, etc.

In short, a bifurcation would allow the parties to get divorced, while leaving all the other issues left over to decide. It is pretty common for divorcees to want to bifurcate the status of their marriage (meaning to go from married to single) when the divorce case is taking to long or there are other reason why one of the parties wants to end the status of their marriage sooner than the entire divorce case being finished.

(Read more below video)

Completing a bifurcation during your divorce can be achieved by agreement of the parties, which is the easiest way to do it. If your spouse does not agree to stipulate to a bifurcation, you can always file a motion with the court, called a “Request for Order”, and have a judge make a ruling on the matter. But by agreement is always easier.

Valencia Divorce Judgment Should Include FAM-031

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Why You Should Submit Form FAM-031 Request For Default Setting

There are reasons you want to file a FAM-031 when submitting your final California divorce judgment to the court. The main reason is that if you submit the divorce judgment to the court and they have questions, all they can do is reject your judgment and send it back to you asking you to set the matter for a hearing called a default setting.

If you submit it, even if the court does not need it, they won’t set the default hearing, they will just approve the judgment. But submitting the FAM-031 just in case could save you several months in processing time.

 

FAM-031 Valencia Divorce : Do I Have To Go To Court?

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Should You Submit A FAM-031 With Your California Divorce Judgment?

We are always recommending that you file a FAM-031 with your California Divorce Judgment. We have done several videos on this.  But we did get a question the other day from a client that I wanted to answer. His questions was, ” If we submit the FAM-031 will I have to go to court?”  His questions was whether the Judge would set a hearing whether they needed one or not just by submitting the form.

The short answer is no.  But watch the video below where I explain how and why you would submit the FAM-031 as part of your California divorce judgment.

We provide a full service divorce throughout California as well providing an online California Divorce service at California Divorce Tutor.

 

Valencia Divorce : Post Judgment Modifications : Divorce Agreements

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

When going through a Valencia Divorce ( or a divorce anywhere in California) one of the tools that may be useful is a Stipulation and Order. A Stipulation and Order is documents that allows the parties to a divorce to draft agreements they have related to the issues of their case.

For instance, if you have agreed to spousal support or child support and just about any agreement you want to document, instead of going to court and asking for the judge to rule on something, it is easier if a Stipulation and Order is drafted.

All that is done is the agreements are placed in the Stipulation and Order, both parties sign and then it is sent down to court for the judge to sign.

We offer this service both as a full service option or as a self-help service at California Divorce Tutor

Watch this video for more information.