How do you get a divorce in California, from the first form to the final judgment?

Five ways to end or change a marriage in California

A legal separation doesn't end the marriage, and you can't marry someone else; but only one spouse must live in California to file, with no time requirement, and you can switch to a divorce once you meet the residency rule. A very short marriage is not a reason for an annulment; there are at least 8 legal reasons, and a judge must decide it even if you both agree. California Courts

Who can file: residency and grounds

One of you must have lived in California for six months and in the county where you file for three months, right before the Petition is filed. Fam. Code § 2320(a)

• Not there yet? Wait until you meet the rule, or start with a legal separation and switch to divorce later.
• Same-sex couples married in California who live where they can't divorce can file in the county where they married, without living in California. Fam. Code § 2320(b)
• Registered domestic partners registered in California don't need to meet the usual residency rules. California Courts

California is a no-fault state. The only grounds are irreconcilable differences, which have caused the irremediable breakdown of the marriage, and permanent legal incapacity to make decisions. You don't need your spouse's agreement to get a divorce. Fam. Code § 2310 · California Courts

How to file for divorce in California, step by step

1. 1Fill out the Petition and the Summons. The Petition—Marriage/Domestic Partnership, form FL-100, starts the case. The Summons (Family Law), form FL-110, tells your spouse about the case and that they have 30 days to respond. With children under 18, add the UCCJEA declaration, form FL-105. Some courts require local forms too.
2. 2File them with the court clerk. Bring the originals and 2 copies of each form, in person, by mail with a self-addressed stamped envelope, or online where your court allows e-filing. Pay the $435 fee or file a fee waiver request, forms FW-001 and FW-003.
3. 3Have your spouse served. You can't serve the papers yourself. Someone 18 or older who is not part of the case, such as a friend, a process server or, in some areas, the sheriff, hands your spouse copies of the filed forms and a blank Response, form FL-120.
4. 4File the proof of service. The server fills out the Proof of Service of Summons, form FL-115, and you file it. The court won't move forward until it is filed.
5. 5Share your financial information. Within 60 days of filing the Petition, serve your preliminary declaration of disclosure, and file the proof, form FL-141. See disclosure.
6. 6Finish by default, by agreement or at trial. If your spouse doesn't respond in 30 days, you can ask for a default; if you agree, you submit the agreement; otherwise a judge decides at trial. See finishing the case.
7. 7Get the Judgment and the Notice of Entry. The Judgment, form FL-180, states the date the marriage ends. The Notice of Entry of Judgment, form FL-190, tells you the case is done.

Other ways to serve. By mail with a Notice and Acknowledgment of Receipt, form FL-117: service is complete the day your spouse signs it, and the 30 days run from then. Substituted service, or posting or publication with the court's permission. Out of state, by registered or certified mail with a return receipt; abroad, you may need to follow the Hague Convention. If you are asking for a court date, serve at least 16 court days before it, and add 5 calendar days if you serve by mail. California Courts

The automatic orders that start with the case

The Summons carries standard family law restraining orders that bind both spouses from the start. They last until the case is dismissed, a judgment is entered or the court changes them, and any California police officer who has seen a copy can enforce them. Without the other spouse's written consent or a court order, neither of you may: Form FL-110 · Fam. Code § 2040

• take your minor children out of California, or apply for a new or replacement passport for them;
• cash, borrow against, cancel, transfer or change the beneficiaries of insurance held for you or your children, including life, health, auto and disability;
• transfer, borrow against, hide or dispose of any property, community, quasi-community or separate, except in the usual course of business or for the necessities of life;
• create or change a nonprobate transfer, such as a payable-on-death account, in a way that affects who gets the property.

You must tell each other about any proposed extraordinary expenditure at least five business days before making it, and account to the court for it. You may still use community or separate property to pay a lawyer or court costs. Form FL-110

If you were served: the Response and the 30 days

You have 30 calendar days after you are served to file a Response, form FL-120, and have a copy served on your spouse. Add form FL-105 if you have children under 18. The Response fee is the same $435, or $450 in Riverside and San Francisco, unless you get a fee waiver. A letter, phone call or court appearance does not protect you. Form FL-110 · California Courts

If you don't respond in time, your spouse can ask for a default, and once it is entered you can't file a Response without the court's permission. A default doesn't end the marriage right away: you stay married until the court signs the Judgment. California Courts

Financial disclosure: the forms you exchange

Each spouse must give the other a preliminary declaration of disclosure, at the same time as the Petition or Response or within 60 days after filing it. The parties can't waive it, though they can agree in writing to more time. Form FL-140 · Fam. Code § 2104

• Declaration of Disclosure, form FL-140;
• Income and Expense Declaration, form FL-150, with proof of income for the past two months;
• Schedule of Assets and Debts, form FL-142, or a Property Declaration, form FL-160;
• all tax returns you filed in the 2 years before you serve the disclosure.

These forms go to your spouse, not to the court; you don't mail them yourself, and if they go with the Petition and Summons they must be served in person. You file only the Declaration Regarding Service of Declaration of Disclosure, form FL-141. Spouses who agree can waive the final disclosure by filing form FL-144. If you hide information or leave things out, the judge could take away some of your property or order you to pay your spouse's attorney's fees. California Courts · Form FL-144

Finishing the case: default, agreement or trial

With children, the Judgment adds the Child Custody and Visitation Order Attachment (FL-341), and you file the Child Support Case Registry Form (FL-191) separately, not attached to the Judgment. A commissioner can review an uncontested declaration on paper and decide whether you must appear. A status only judgment can end the marriage while property or support is decided later. California Courts · Form FL-170

The 6-month waiting period, exactly

No divorce judgment ends the marriage until six months have passed from the date your spouse was served with the summons and petition, or the date your spouse first appeared in the case, whichever occurs first. The court can extend the six months for good cause; it can't shorten them. Fam. Code § 2339

• The Judgment must state the date it becomes final for ending the marriage, so you can read the date there. Fam. Code § 2340 · Form FL-180
• For a joint petition and a summary dissolution, the 6 months run from the day you file. Fam. Code § 2342.5 · Form FL-800
• A legal separation and an annulment have no waiting period.
• Until that date you are still married and can't remarry.

Summary dissolution: who qualifies

A shorter divorce, with fewer forms, for couples who agree and have little property. You both sign a Joint Petition for Summary Dissolution, form FL-800, and file it with a signed property agreement and the Judgment form FL-825; one $435 fee covers both of you. You qualify only if all of these are true: Fam. Code § 2400 · Forms FL-800, FL-810

• You meet the residency rule and the marriage has irreconcilable differences.
• Five years or less from the marriage to the date you separated.
• No children born or adopted during the marriage, or before it to both of you, and no pregnancy.
• No real property anywhere, except a lease on your home that ends within a year of filing and has no option to buy.
• Debts of no more than $7,000, not counting car loans.
• Community property worth less than $57,000, and neither spouse with separate property over $57,000, not counting cars and what you owe on them.
• You both give up spousal support, a trial and an appeal, and you have read the summary dissolution brochure, form FL-810.

Your Judgment will be dated 6 months after you file, and either of you can stop the summary dissolution before then with a Notice of Revocation, form FL-830; you then stay married. The dollar limits are adjusted every odd-numbered year; these are the amounts on the forms revised April 28, 2025. Fam. Code § 2400(b) · Form FL-800

The joint petition, new since January 1, 2026

Spouses who agree on all the final terms can now start the case together. You file a Joint Petition, form FL-700, and a Summons—Joint Petition, form FL-710, plus form FL-105 if you have children under 18, and pay $870, which covers both of you. You are Petitioner 1 and Petitioner 2, and the standard restraining orders start when you file. Fam. Code § 2342.5 · California Courts

• The 6 months run from the day you file the joint petition, and there is no wait for a legal separation.
• You can't ask for temporary orders on a joint petition; asking for them revokes the joint process.
• Either of you can revoke it before the judgment is final, with a Notice of Revocation of Joint Petition, form FL-720. The case doesn't close or restart: it moves to the regular process, and the filing date stays the same for the 6 months.
• If you both need a fee waiver, each of you files your own request.

What a California divorce costs, and fee waivers

Fees come from the statewide civil fee schedule effective January 1, 2026. Serving the papers costs extra if you use a process server or the sheriff. Judicial Council of California

A fee waiver covers court fees, including the sheriff's fee to serve your papers. You need to meet only one of three tests: you get public benefits such as Medi-Cal, CalFresh, SSI, CalWORKs or unemployment; your household's gross monthly income is below the limit on form FW-001; or you can't pay for basic needs and court fees. File the Request to Waive Court Fees, form FW-001, with the Order on Court Fee Waiver, form FW-003. California Courts

Tell the court within 5 days if your income goes up, on form FW-010. The court can order you to pay back fees it waived. Form FW-001, revised March 1, 2026 · Form FL-110

Property, debts and support

• Community property is divided equally. What you own or owe together from the marriage is community property, and a judge divides it equally. Each spouse keeps their separate property: what they owned before marrying or after separating, and gifts or inheritances. Property earned while living outside California is treated like community property. Until there is a court order, property and debts from the marriage still belong to both of you.California Courts
• Temporary spousal support. It can be requested as soon as the case is filed. A common formula is 40% of the higher earner's net monthly income minus 50% of the lower earner's, but your court may use a different one.California Courts
• Long-term spousal support. For marriages under ten years, a starting assumption is that support lasts half the length of the marriage; for marriages over 10 years, there is no such assumption. The judge weighs the Family Code § 4320 factors, and support ends if the supported spouse remarries or either spouse dies.California Courts · Fam. Code § 4320

More on each: property division, alimony, child custody and child support.

Getting your former name back

You can return to a former name, such as your birth name, in the divorce: tick item 12 on form FL-170 and write the name in item 4(f) of the Judgment, form FL-180. After the Judgment, use the Ex Parte Application for Restoration of Former Name, form FL-395. A new name you never used needs a separate name change case. California Courts

Free help in California

Common questions about divorce in California

Official sources

1. California Family Code § 2320: residence requirements leginfo.legislature.ca.gov
2. California Family Code § 2310: grounds for dissolution leginfo.legislature.ca.gov
3. California Family Code § 2339: the six-month waiting period leginfo.legislature.ca.gov
4. California Family Code § 2340: the date the judgment ends the marriage leginfo.legislature.ca.gov
5. California Family Code § 2342.5: joint petitions (operative January 1, 2026) leginfo.legislature.ca.gov
6. California Family Code § 2400: summary dissolution leginfo.legislature.ca.gov
7. California Courts self-help: Divorce in California (the five routes, residency) selfhelp.courts.ca.gov
8. California Courts self-help: The divorce process selfhelp.courts.ca.gov
9. California Courts self-help: Fill out your divorce forms selfhelp.courts.ca.gov
10. California Courts self-help: File your divorce papers selfhelp.courts.ca.gov
11. California Courts self-help: Serve your divorce papers selfhelp.courts.ca.gov
12. California Courts self-help: Notice and Acknowledgment of Receipt (FL-117) selfhelp.courts.ca.gov
13. California Courts self-help: Respond to divorce papers selfhelp.courts.ca.gov
14. California Courts self-help: Financial disclosures selfhelp.courts.ca.gov
15. California Courts self-help: Gather and share disclosure documents selfhelp.courts.ca.gov
16. California Courts self-help: Default in a divorce or legal separation selfhelp.courts.ca.gov
17. California Courts self-help: Finish your divorce by default selfhelp.courts.ca.gov
18. California Courts self-help: Finish your divorce with a written agreement selfhelp.courts.ca.gov
19. California Courts self-help: Default with children selfhelp.courts.ca.gov
20. California Courts self-help: Finalize your divorce selfhelp.courts.ca.gov
21. California Courts self-help: Legal separation selfhelp.courts.ca.gov
22. California Courts self-help: Annulment selfhelp.courts.ca.gov
23. California Courts self-help: Joint petition for divorce or legal separation selfhelp.courts.ca.gov
24. California Courts self-help: Summary dissolution qualifications selfhelp.courts.ca.gov
25. California Courts self-help: File a summary dissolution selfhelp.courts.ca.gov
26. California Courts self-help: Fee waivers selfhelp.courts.ca.gov
27. California Courts self-help: Property and debts in a divorce selfhelp.courts.ca.gov
28. California Courts self-help: Temporary spousal support selfhelp.courts.ca.gov
29. California Courts self-help: Long-term spousal support selfhelp.courts.ca.gov
30. California Courts self-help: Custody mediation selfhelp.courts.ca.gov
31. California Courts self-help: Changing your name in a divorce selfhelp.courts.ca.gov
32. Judicial Council form FL-100: Petition—Marriage/Domestic Partnership (PDF) courts.ca.gov
33. Judicial Council form FL-110: Summons (Family Law), with the standard restraining orders (PDF) courts.ca.gov
34. Judicial Council form FL-140: Declaration of Disclosure (PDF) courts.ca.gov
35. Judicial Council form FL-144: Stipulation and Waiver of Final Declaration of Disclosure (PDF) courts.ca.gov
36. Judicial Council form FL-170: Declaration for Default or Uncontested Dissolution (PDF) courts.ca.gov
37. Judicial Council form FL-180: Judgment (PDF) courts.ca.gov
38. Judicial Council form FL-800: Joint Petition for Summary Dissolution (PDF) courts.ca.gov
39. Judicial Council form FL-810: Summary Dissolution Information (PDF) courts.ca.gov
40. Judicial Council form FW-001: Request to Waive Court Fees, income limits (PDF) courts.ca.gov
41. Judicial Council of California: statewide civil fee schedule, effective January 1, 2026 (PDF) courts.ca.gov

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