| Back to Back Issues Page |
 |
|
The FALDP Docket --May 2021 July 18, 2021 |
The FALDP DocketVolume 11 Issue 7; July 2021Stay up to date, and in the know.This is our monthly newsletter. We publish this for the benefit of FALDP members, legal document preparers, and friends. Published monthly since May, 2010 AnnouncementsMembership RenewalWe'll send out one more renewal notice near the end of this month. Don't forget to Renew your FALDP Membership! We're not sure if anything will turn into a pumpkin. But, we do know that any member who has not renewed by the final deadline will be dropped from membership.Annual Conference Registration is OPEN!
Attend if you can! Our conferences have helped launch new businesses; allowed members to create strategic alliances; and consistently brought our members together as colleagues and friends. This year we are lucky to have three guest speakers to teach ... to enlighten ... to inspire. Go to our conference page - Annual-Conference2.html to register, and submit payment. On our conference-info.html page, you can read our speaker's bios. New members can combine their membership fee with the conference fee. And for new members who purchase a Turn Key Business Bundle - Turn-Key-Business.html or one of our All Course-Bundles.html - the conference fee is waived. In the past we allowed members to bring a guest to the conference at no additional charge. However, we changed the policy this year, each attendee who is coming to the conference itself must register and submit payment. As we suspected, people are eager to get out of Dodge and come to Daytona Beach for our business conference, some fun, and sun. Registrations are coming in regularly. When we reach meeting room capacity we will have to stop taking registrations. If you want to attend, register soon. Remember, conference attendees must be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 in order to attend the conference. Conference Agenda9:00 Meet & Greet; Introduce the Day. Time permitting, attendees will introduce themselves.10:00 Guest Speaker - Judge Elizabeth Blackburn, Administrative Law Judge for the Seventh Judicial Circuit – “What Family Court Judges Want Pro Se Litigants to Know” Her Honor has invited us to submit questions ahead of time. If there is something you've always wanted to ask a Family Law Judge, please send your questions to staff@faldp.org – and, if your question is selected, we'll forward it to the judge in advance. 11:00 Bridging the Justice Gap; We Can Do It! Our theme for this year's conference. We know that consumers struggle everyday to access the legal system and we also know that we are part of the solution. 12:00 Lunch 1:00 Guest Speaker, Trish Giaccone, CEO of the Family Life Center in Flagler County, Florida. Ms. Giaccone will discuss aspects of domestic violence and abuse, and try to answer the question: Why won't she just leave? 2:00 Ethics – What Would You Do? Scenarios for discussion. We'll present a series of common or hypothetical ethical dilemmas and discuss the best solutions. 3:00 Guest Speaker, Jack Phifer, Certified SCORE Mentor. Mr. Phifer will present and discuss: "Perspectives on Entrepreneurship". 4:00 Wrap Up – Prizes, Games, Giveaways. Expect prizes for some fun competitions; a business card drawing; a prize for the attendee that has been an FALDP member the longest; a prize for the attendee who came the furthest to attend; and some other prizes we haven't even thought of yet. 11:00 – Meet on the pool deck at the Fountain Beach Resort to receive your first clue. Depending on the number of participants we'll create teams of at least two people. (Two heads are better than one). We'll go over the rules and hand out T-shirts to all participants to wear
during the race. Once you solve your clue, you'll go to the destination and take a picture to text back. If you text back a correct photo, you'll then be sent your next clue. There will be 5-6 destinations in all, and all within a two or three mile radius. Some destinations may be in walking distance of one another. You'll need a cell phone with a data plan so that you can look things up and text pictures. A few dollars in cash or quarters will come in handy. Wear comfortable shoes, not a whole lot of walking, but some. Prizes will be awarded at the end of the race once everyone has returned. At this time the amount of cash prizes has not been determined.
New MembershipOur Membership fee for new members is $104.This includes the fee for the Avoid UPL! Course. Members are to review the information in that course every year, but only need to pay for it once. We always welcome new members. Please make sure that you have submitted a Membership Application along with your membership payment. Without the application, we have no way to contact you or process your membership. Please note, we now require completion of an Entrance Exam prior to submitting your application. This applies to new and returning members. Take the Entrance Exam, and submit payment and your application on our premium-membership.html page. WebinarsSaturday, July 24th at 11:00 a.m. EST. Invitations will go out to all members the week prior to the 24th. If you've ever wondered why we at FALDP are so vigilant about teaching our members to avoid UPL, attend this training webinar to find out. While we don't want any document preparer to leave this business due to the possibility of stepping over the UPL line, we do want to make sure that our members are well informed. We strive to keep you (our members) - "Safe in the Marketplace".If you are a current member and do not receive an invitation, please contact us at faldp2010@gmail.com. See you there! And check this page - training-webinars.html for updates. If you have a request or question about our webinars, call or email us. staff@faldp.org or 800-515-0496. See you there! Does Business Seem Slow?If so, there are probably reasons for that. And, it's probably nothing to do with you. Like many businesses, our industry has its ups and downs, hills and valleys. My theory is that when there are distractions or important things people must attend to, they often put their own needs and wants on hold. Following are a few reasons consumers might be putting off having their documents prepared:
But, I'm no Chicken LittleNo, the sky is NOT falling. There are hills and valleys in every business, and even throughout life. This too shall pass. Not only that, but there is a plausible possible positive outcome to every challenge I mentioned. Once children go back to school, adults will have more time to attend to personal business. Their personal business (which has been on hold), might be filing suit for an unpaid debt or attending to that family law matter. Covid concerns will be with us for a while. Until enough people are vaccinated the specter of an out of control pandemic are real. And, inflation isn't all bad. Some amount of inflation stimulates economic growth. Don't forget interest rates are at an all time low, and have been kept at an artificially low rate for some time. Enjoy the hills and valleys. Nothing is constant except change. Member Directory Overhaul
In August we plan to restructure the online Member Directory. The goal is to make it easier for consumers to use, making it easier for consumers to find members, the result is our members are found more easily (and more often); therefore our members make more money. Everything we do … we do for our members. At the moment, we can't explain our plans in detail as the details are still evolving. However, we can say this: Expect positive changes like more exposure for members' businesses; and the mini-pages becoming more important. If you already have a mini-page, good for you, please check it to make sure its up to date. If you've never set up your optional mini-page, now would be a good time. The information that members provide for the county directory will most likely stay the same. Please check your listing to make sure all is correct. Any changes or updates should be made through the Members Only area. Please don't send an email requesting a change or update on a member listing. These requests can easily get lost in our mail, and your change won't be made. Please note: We will no longer add member information to the Member Directory for those members who have neglected to do so. New MarkNow Available!
The new logo is now available for member's use. We have already begun including the new Logo Pack in the Welcome Package for new members. It is also available inside the Members Only area. Right click and "save image as" to save it to your computer. Or send us an email to request that we email them to you. Please keep in mind that the old (legacy) logo is still completely valid and you can continue to use it for the time being. Eventually we may retire the legacy logo, but we have no immediate plans to do so. You can share our videos & articles!We have a growing list of videos on our channel. They're all about different aspects of document preparation, branded with the FALDP logo and information. Members are invited to use our videos on their sites, online ads, or on social media. Depending on where you display, you can share from YouTube, by using the share link or embed code. For example, on your own business FB page, you could share one of our divorce videos, and above it simply state that you are an FALDP member, and you prepare documents for divorce. Check out our videos here - FALDP on YouTube
And, FALDP members are also invited to use content from our blog on their site and social media. Check out our searchable blog on Legal Sunshine Please remember to give proper attribution. Almost all blog articles were written by Ruth Tick, a few are guest posts. Excerpts are allowed, as some of the articles are very long. Be sure to state that this is an excerpt of ... Spanish Parenting Course Now AvailableThe Spanish version of the Parenting Course, offered through our sister company, Horizon Research Network, LLC, has been approved by DCF. We received notification of its approval on October 9th, 2020. Prices are the same as our English version. $29.99 and $14.99 for low income. Here's the link directly to the Spanish version - spanish parenting course The Spanish version is also displayed on our FALDP site, and can be accessed by going to the English version.
Parenting CourseParental 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
RemindersBusiness 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. If you operate your business as an LLC, you should have already received a renewal notice from the Florida Division of Corporations. You must renew no later than May, or incur a penalty. Make sure you've taken the Avoid UPL! course prior to renewal of your FALDP membership, and since August of 2020. Our renewal period began until April 1, we suggest that you complete the course now (if you haven't done so this year already), so that your membership renewal is not delayed for your failure to complete this course. 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 |
| Back to Back Issues Page |
