If you are going to get a divorce you have a few options. You can hire an attorney, hire a professional service like ours or do it yourself. The direction you go depends on your specific circumstances.
I want to speak about the folks considering doing their own divorce and more specifically, those considering using an online divorce service.
There are hundreds of online companies out there of varying levels of cost. You can find services from $39 up to about $300.
They have very attractive pricing models which many people fall victim to and think that the fees they pay these online companies is all that is needed to complete their divorce.
What people don’t know (until it is too late) is that all you are paying for is for the divorce forms to be filled out. You are the one that is responsible for figuring out how to file, serve and process your divorce case. And if you have not figured it out, that is where things get really complicated.
There is more than just filling out forms when you are going through a divorce. If you have children, you will need a parenting plan. If there is going to be child support or spousal support, you are going to need calculations done to figure out what the right amount is. You are going to have hundreds of questions that these online divorce services cannot help you with.
I understand that the reason people turn to these online services is to save money. Unfortunately, these folks end up spending more money in the end. We get several calls a month from people who have attempted to use these online services and who could not get their divorce case processed and have had their divorce case rejected by the courts on numerous occasions.
Then, after they have determined they will not successfully negotiate the divorce courts, they then call us to step in and complete their divorce case for them.
Tim Blankenship is a Legal Document Assistant (LDA) specializing in California divorce. For more information about our services, please visit www.Divorce661.com or contact us for a free phone consultation at 661-281-0266.