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The FALDP Docket -- Florida Association of Legal Document Preparers Monthly Newsletter April 15, 2020 |
The FALDP DocketVolume 10 Issue 4; April 2020This is our monthly newsletter. We publish this for the benefit of FALDP members, legal document preparers, and friends. Published monthly since May, 2010 AnnouncementsEarly Membership Renewal
Coronavirus RelatedFamily Law Doc Preparers:Except as indicated below, the requirement that Florida Family Law Forms be notarized or signed in the presence of a deputy clerk remains suspended, if the filer includes the following statement before the filer’s signature: Under penalties of perjury, I declare that I have read this document and the facts stated in it are true. This exception does not apply to Florida Family Law Forms 12.902(f)(1), Marital Settlement Agreement for Dissolution of Marriage with Dependent or Minor Child(ren), 12.902(f)(2), Marital Settlement Agreement for Dissolution of Marriage with Property but No Dependent or Minor Child(ren), 12.902(f)(3), Marital Settlement Agreement for Simplified Dissolution of Marriage, and any other family law form that transfers the ownership of property, which must continue to be notarized or signed in the presence of a deputy clerk prior to filing. This measure initially took effect on March 24, 2020. (AOSC20-17) Document preparers please note, many of the family law forms do not need to be notarized during this pandemic, providing the required language is present. Florida Supreme Court OrdersAll Florida courts are responding to the COVID-19 outbreak. On Monday, [April 8, 2020] Chief Justice Canady issued AOSC20-23 to extend, refine, and strengthen previously enacted temporary remedial measures through May 29, 2020. This is one of the latest Administrative Orders issued by Chief Justice Canady in response to COVID-19 in the Florida State Courts System. Further orders may continue to be issued as the need arises during the pandemic. These statewide orders may be supplemented by local administrative orders issued by chief judges. Florida Supreme Court Orders and a link to Administrative Orders from all Florida jurisdictions can be found on the Florida Supreme Court site. Member document preparers are advised to find the most recent Administrative Order for their jurisdiction(s) to find out how these orders may affect their daily work. FALDP WebinarInvitations for the next webinar, "Doing Business in the Time of Coronavirus", went out this morning [4/15/2020]. The webinar will be on Saturday, 4/18 @ 11:00 a.m. EST. We expect this to be the last time to hold this webinar. If you have recently attended an FALDP webinar, this is the same or similar content. There is no need to attend again. If you plan to attend, please use your phone set for audio, and not your computer speakers. We do a presentation with a screen share, and discussion follows. RON CertifiedFlorida now allows Remote Online Notarizations, RON, and many members have gone through the certification to be able to do this. Online notarizations became possible as of January 1, 2020, and right now online may be the best and safest way to have documents notarized. Sign up for the RON Certified Directory is in the Members Only area. Please wait until you're ready to notarize documents online before submitting your sign up form to us. New Private Facebook GroupSo many people who were not FALDP Members were asking to join the FALDP Members FB group, that we started a new group. Its called Florida Pro Se Help It is open to pro se litigants and document preparers alike. But, it is not meant to be a commercial group, just people helping people. Pro se litigants are very confused about courthouse closing and procedure. And, most do not have the ability to search out the information they need.
Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE!We have a growing list of videos on our channel - FALDP on YouTube They are meant to explain, inform, and advertise our services. Please take a look, make a comment, and help us spread the word about our members' services.
FALDP CertificationMembers receive information about the FALDP Certification process in their Welcome Package when they join. Our FALDP Certification is 100% voluntary, and is meant to allow members to show consumers that they are serious about their business, and have gone the extra mile to distinguish themselves. Only members in good standing who have completed the certification process are allowed to display the FALDP Certified Badge.
Are you FALDP Certified yet? If you've already earned your certification, remember to keep track of your CEUs so that you can maintain certification. There are many ways to earn CEUs:These are just a few ways to earn CEUs to apply for or maintain certification. Complete
Certification Information
information is on our site. To take the exams and apply for FALDP Certification go to the Members Only pages. Free Book - "You've Been Sued!"Pay only $9.95 Shipping & Handling
Got debt? Many consumers are faced with extreme debt. Some people who are facing debt are not able to file for bankruptcy. Quite often, consumers are sued by a collection agency for a debt they do not owe. Or the debt has already been paid. Or the debt is way beyond the statute of limitations. Visit Consumer Debt Defense to submit order form. Please do not submit payment without also submitting the order form. We won't know where to ship your book, unless you submit the form!After submitting your order, and submitting payment for shipping and handling, you'll be redirected to a page on our site which will offer you a $50. discount on our Debt Defense Document Preparation Course. Our courses were created for document preparers, but anyone is eligible to take our courses. New Logo Display GuidelinesDisplay the FALDP logoFALDP logo: As of our conference in October 2018 we decided that all members who have a website are required to display the FALDP logo on their sites. We are making a special marketing effort to distinguish FALDP members from document preparers who are not FALDP members. The goal is to show the world that FALDP members are the best possible choice for document preparation. For some time we've considered upgrading the FALDP logo display requirements. One of the main reasons is to give consumers a bit more understanding of what we are, rather than a logo with no explanation. We will create a short video similar to the ones shown here for each member. We intend to start with existing members who have a website, and/ or are active on social media; and new members. The idea is to replace the static logo with the short video. Once we create the logo video, we'll send you the embed code and the share link. Since the logo video is on your site or your social media, we don't intend to include your contact information as that will already be displayed. Here are a couple of examples: You Tube video logo - fcf and You Tube video logo - ftp We don't want to make this cumbersome for anyone. If you need help adding this to your site, please let us know, we'll help you find a low cost solution. We're rolling out our new video logos for FALDP members. These are to be used on members' websites, online advertising, and in social media. The video logos provide a bit more information about our association, instead of a static FALDP logo with no explanation. Static FALDP logos are still available to be used in your print advertising such as business cards and newspaper ads. FALDP Members – to request your video logo, please send your logo image (if you have one) and your coverage area to FALDP2010@gmail.com . Coverage areas can include your county, your three couties on the Member Directory, or all of Florida. If you prepare documents outside of Florida, we may be able to include that as well with a phrase like – Also Serving the Entire U.S. for a certain type of service. Remember, we are a Florida trade association and will not mention other states or locations, unless we first mention Florida. Parenting Course Affiliate Opportunity
Our Parenting Course Affiliate Program is here. All FALDP members who refer divorcing/ separating parents to our FALDP endorsed Parenting Course can participate. No need to sign up. Consumers pay $29.99 or $14.99 for low income and indigent. Referrers receive $3.00 for every full pay referral, and $1.50 for low income/ indigent referral. When consumers enroll in the course, have your customers enter your name as the referring party, and keep track of who you referred. Send us an invoice by the 10th of the month for all referrals in the previous month, and we'll send you your affiliate compensation. We can send payment through Google Pay or Paypal only. And, remember it is up to you to send us an invoice or request for payment. Simple? RemindersBusiness presence in FloridaDon't forget to renew your Limited Liability Company. Notices went out from the Division of Corporations already. You have until May 1 to renew without penalty. Business presence in Florida - Members who are not physically in Florida are required to maintain a business presence in Florida. This means if you are physically located out of state, you must either form a Florida corporation or Florida LLC, or register as a foreign entity. Mandatory Course - Avoid UPL!
Most members have completed this course by now. If you have not yet taken this course, please do so as soon as possible. This is a Members Only course. If you did not purchase this course when you joined, you can register for it inside the Members Only area. Any member who has not taken this course by renewal time, will be required to pay for it a second time. Members who have not completed the course by July 31 may be suspended. Suspension means that your information will be removed from the Member Directory and you'll be required to remove the FALDP logo from yur advertising. Members are required to take this course every year. It is your responsibility to let us know you've completed the course by taking the quiz, completing the essay, and/ or submitting the exit survey. If you have any question as to whether you completed the course - contact us. This course was designed to protect our members from falling into the vast sea of nothingness and confusion, also called a UPL investigation. Watch the updated course video: Avoid UPL! Course informationRuth Recommends:Apache OpenOfficeOpenOffice is a robust program comparable to Microsoft Word. It is also FREE. You can get it here: open office downloadFoxit PDF ProgramI highly recommend Foxit Reader as a free alternative to Adobe Acrobat. One of the best features (besides that its free) is that the typewriter allows you to type into most PDF documents, even though they're not fillable.Parenting Course
Parental Education and Family Stabilization Course is mandatory for all divorcing couples who have children; and all people seeking a paternity action. The cost is $29.99 and $14.99 for indigent.Here's the link directly to the - Parenting Course Private Investigation Services
Fax: (772) 672-7130 Freedom VoiceI also highly recommend Freedom Voice for your toll free service. I have used Freedom Voice for the past eight years, and have never had an issue with their service. Learn more here - Freedom Voice
Don't have a site yet? Try Monarch Web Strategies
FALDP Private Facebook GroupAbout one third of our membership has joined the FALDP private Facebook group. We created it to make it easier to interact with each other. So far, people have given work referrals to one another; asked questions to the group; received help in locating a form; and discussed various issues. If you're working toward FALDP Certification, you earn one CEU just by joining the group. So, what are you waiting for? Look for the private group after going to the official FALDP Facebook page at FALDP,LLC on Facebook. Member's Announcements & ContributionsHave something to share?We accept member's announcements and appreciate your contributions. If you have an announcement about your business, an expansion of services, moving your offices, or winning awards, please send us the information and we'll include it in our newsletter. Your announcement needs to be pertinent to your business, we are unable to include announcements about other trade associations, clubs or groups.If you would like to write an article, editorial, opinion piece, or web page please let us know. We are always in need of fresh information and insights. FALDP Contact Information: Main number – (941)237-0951 Toll free - (800)515-0496 Email – staff@faldp.org |
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