If a married couple amicably agree to part ways, it should be a simple matter to get a divorce, right? Well, that’s not always the case in California. To get a TOTALLY UNCONTESTED divorce (by which is meant that the parties have agreed on ALL issues regarding property, debts, child custody, child support and alimony), it takes no less than a very minimum of 9 (count them, 9!) separate forms that must be filed with the court, and 3 more that need to be completed but NOT filed with the court.
(Maybe some attorneys in the audience are wondering – “How can he get a divorce done with only 12 forms?” – the secret was evolved from years of trial and error, but is shared for free in the pages of these newsletters!)
To complicate matters, some court clerks have only one purpose in life – to stop or slow down the process of becoming single in any way possible. They will reject documents for very slight errors or Ms. Spelings. Or, sometimes they conveniently lose documents. If, for example, you submitted documents X, Y, Z and W, your request will be rejected because document Y was missing. So you have to re-prepare document Y.
Many people (understandably) want to save a few bucks and try to do all their own paperwork. Some succeed. Those who don’t either give up and decide that they can live with being married – or they call us!
Over the years, we’ve had quite a few clients who started their own divorces, but hired us when they couldn’t seem to get thru the maze. We’ve had a good success rate on getting divorces completed – although in 2 cases, the documents were in such a mess that we had to start over again from scratch. If you’re in such a situation, call for a free estimate on what it will take to become single again.
Needless to say, if you are involved in a CONTESTED divorce (meaning that one or more major issues have not been agreed upon) then it will be even more difficult to navigate your way through the court system. Call Now (213) 509-1515