California divorce laws make this a no-fault, community property state: either spouse can end the marriage without proving wrongdoing, most assets acquired during the marriage are split equally, and no divorce becomes final until at least six months after the responding spouse is served. The filing fee runs $435 to $450, with waivers available for people who can’t afford it. The process has the same core steps whether you agree on everything or fight over every dollar.
Who Can File in California
At least one spouse must have lived in California for six months and in the filing county for three months immediately before the petition is submitted. If you’ve just moved and haven’t hit the county mark yet, you can wait it out or file in your previous county. Same-sex couples who married in California but now live somewhere that won’t dissolve their marriage can file in the California county where the wedding took place, even if neither spouse lives in the state anymore.1California Legislative Information. California Family Code 2320
California recognizes only two grounds for ending a marriage: irreconcilable differences, or permanent incapacity to make decisions.2California Legislative Information. California Family Code 2310 Nearly every case uses irreconcilable differences, which means the marriage has broken down and cannot be repaired. You don’t have to prove infidelity, abandonment, or abuse to get the divorce itself. The incapacity ground requires medical evidence that a spouse permanently lacks the cognitive ability to make decisions and almost never comes up.
Two Routes: Standard Dissolution and Summary Dissolution
Most couples go through the standard dissolution process, which involves filing a petition, serving the other spouse, exchanging financial disclosures, and either settling or going to trial. A narrower group qualifies for summary dissolution, a streamlined option that skips the formal service step and uses simpler paperwork.
Summary dissolution has strict eligibility rules. All of the following must be true at the time of filing:
- The marriage lasted no more than five years from the wedding to the date of separation.
- No children were born or adopted during the marriage, and neither spouse is pregnant.
- Neither spouse owns real estate (a lease without a purchase option that expires within a year of filing is allowed).
- Unpaid debts incurred during the marriage total no more than $4,000, not counting car loans.
- Community property is worth less than $25,000 in fair market value (excluding car loans and other encumbrances), and neither spouse’s separate property exceeds $25,000.
- Both spouses give up any right to spousal support.
- The spouses have signed a written agreement dividing all assets and debts.
Even in a summary dissolution, the six-month waiting period still applies, and either spouse can change their mind and revoke the petition before the judgment becomes final.3California Legislative Information. California Family Code FAM 2400 If you miss even one of the conditions, you’re in the standard process.
How the Process Moves
Filing and Service
The case starts when one spouse files a Petition (form FL-100) and Summons (form FL-110) with the Superior Court. If minor children are involved, the petitioner also files a custody jurisdiction declaration (form FL-105). Forms are available through the California Courts website or at any courthouse self-help center. The filing fee is $435 to $450 depending on the county.4California Courts Self Help Guide. File Divorce Papers If you can’t afford it, you can request a waiver with form FW-001 at the same time as the petition; you qualify if your household income makes it difficult to cover basic needs along with court costs.5California Courts Self Help Guide. Ask for a Fee Waiver
Once the paperwork is filed, the petitioner has to arrange for someone else to formally deliver the papers to the other spouse. This is service of process, and it gives the responding spouse official notice of the case. The server fills out a proof of service form (FL-115) confirming delivery. The date of service matters: it starts the six-month waiting period and triggers the automatic restraining orders described below.
Automatic Temporary Restraining Orders
The moment the petition is filed and served, both spouses become subject to automatic temporary restraining orders printed on the back of the Summons. They bind the petitioner on filing and the respondent on service, they are not optional, and violating them can lead to sanctions. The ATROs prohibit both spouses from:
- Moving children out of state, or applying for new or replacement passports for minor children, without the other spouse’s written consent or a court order.
- Hiding or disposing of property, whether community, quasi-community, or separate, except for ordinary living expenses or regular business transactions.
- Canceling, cashing out, borrowing against, or changing beneficiaries on any life, health, auto, or disability insurance covering either spouse or the children.
- Modifying nonprobate transfers such as payable-on-death accounts or transfer-on-death deeds without written consent or court permission.
Each spouse must also notify the other at least five business days before making any extraordinary expenditures and account for those expenses to the court.6California Legislative Information. California Family Code FAM 2040 You can still use community or separate property to pay an attorney, but community funds used for that purpose have to be accounted for. The ATROs stay in place until the divorce is finalized or the court changes them.
Financial Disclosures
California imposes a fiduciary duty between spouses that runs from the date of separation through the final distribution of every asset and debt. Each spouse must give a full, accurate disclosure of all assets, debts, income, and expenses, and update it immediately whenever anything material changes.7California Legislative Information. California Family Code 2102
Both spouses exchange a Preliminary Declaration of Disclosure early in the case and a Final Declaration of Disclosure before judgment. Skipping or shading these disclosures is one of the fastest ways to lose credibility with a judge, and it can lead to the court setting aside a property division even after the divorce is final. If a new investment or income opportunity grows out of something the couple built together, the spouse who discovers it has to disclose it in writing and give the other spouse time to decide whether to participate.
The Six-Month Waiting Period and the Judgment
No California divorce becomes final until at least six months after the respondent was served or made a first appearance, whichever comes first.8California Legislative Information. California Family Code 2339 The six months apply even when both spouses filed on day one and agree on everything. The court can extend the period for good cause but cannot shorten it. While it runs, you are still legally married; you cannot remarry, and your marital status for legal and tax purposes hasn’t changed.
The divorce is complete only when the court issues a Notice of Entry of Judgment (form FL-190). The judgment does not enter automatically once the six months pass. Someone has to prepare and submit the judgment paperwork, and if the required disclosures, agreements, or trial steps aren’t done, the case can sit for years. Courts will not finalize until both spouses have exchanged disclosures and either settled or gone to trial on every unresolved issue.
How Property and Debt Get Divided
California presumes that everything acquired during the marriage while the couple lived in the state is community property.9California Legislative Information. California Family Code 760 That includes wages, retirement contributions, business income, and debts. Unless the spouses agree in writing to a different split, the court must divide the community estate equally.10California Legislative Information. California Family Code FAM 2550 Equal doesn’t mean selling everything and splitting the cash. One spouse might keep the house while the other takes retirement accounts of equivalent value.
Separate property is anything owned before the marriage, along with gifts and inheritances received individually.11California Legislative Information. California Family Code 770 Income generated by separate property, like rent from a building you owned before the wedding, is also separate. The problem is commingling. Once separate funds get mixed into joint accounts or spent on community property, tracing them is complicated and expensive. If you deposited an inheritance into a joint checking account and spent from that account for years, proving which dollars were yours takes forensic accounting. A spouse who used separate money to improve community property may be entitled to reimbursement, but only with documentation.
The Date of Separation Sets the Cutoff
Anything earned or acquired after the date of separation belongs to the spouse who earned or acquired it, which makes that date one of the most consequential in the case. California defines it as the day a complete and final break in the marriage occurred, shown by two things: one spouse communicated the intent to end the marriage to the other, and that spouse’s conduct was consistent with ending it.12California Legislative Information. California Family Code 70
Disputes get expensive here. Saying you want a divorce but continuing to live together, share finances, and attend events as a couple muddies the picture. Courts look at the totality of the evidence, so the further apart the words and conduct, the harder a clear separation date becomes. The ambiguity can shift tens of thousands of dollars from one column to the other, so documenting when you separated and how your living arrangements changed is worth the effort.
Retirement Accounts and QDROs
Retirement benefits earned during the marriage are community property, and the court must ensure each spouse gets their full share.13California Legislative Information. California Family Code FAM 2610 For employer-sponsored plans governed by federal law (401(k)s, pensions, 403(b)s), dividing the account requires a Qualified Domestic Relations Order. A QDRO is a separate court order directing the plan administrator to pay a portion of the benefits to the non-employee spouse as an “alternate payee.”14U.S. Department of Labor. QDROs: An Overview
Many couples finalize the divorce and assume the retirement split happens automatically. It doesn’t. The QDRO has to be drafted, approved by the court, and accepted by the plan administrator. Forgetting it can cost one spouse their entire share of the account.
Taxes on Property Transfers
Transferring property between spouses as part of a divorce is generally tax-free under federal law. No gain or loss is recognized on a transfer to a spouse or former spouse as long as it happens within one year after the marriage ends or is related to the divorce.15Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 1041 – Transfers of Property Between Spouses or Incident to Divorce The receiving spouse takes over the transferring spouse’s tax basis in the asset, so the tax bill is deferred, not erased. A stock portfolio with a low cost basis will trigger capital gains tax when you eventually sell, which means the paper value of an asset may not match what you keep after taxes.
Child Custody and Visitation
California courts decide custody based on the best interest of the child. The factors include the child’s health and safety, any history of abuse by a parent or person seeking custody, substance abuse patterns, and the nature and amount of contact with each parent.16California Legislative Information. California Family Code FAM 3011 The law doesn’t create an automatic preference for joint or sole custody; judges have wide discretion to craft whatever arrangement fits the child.17California Legislative Information. California Family Code 3040
Legal custody is the right to make major decisions about education, healthcare, and welfare. Physical custody determines where the child lives day to day. Either can be joint or sole, and the labels often combine, such as joint legal custody with primary physical custody to one parent. When choosing between two parents, courts consider which one is more likely to encourage the child’s relationship with the other. Judges notice when a parent badmouths the other or interferes with visitation. If parents can’t agree, the court refers them to mediation through Family Court Services before any hearing. A detailed parenting plan covering holidays, school breaks, transportation, and communication reduces the need for future court involvement.
If a court finds that a parent committed domestic violence within the past five years against the other parent, the child, or the child’s siblings, there is a presumption that giving that parent custody would harm the child.18California Legislative Information. California Family Code FAM 3044 The violent parent can overcome the presumption, but the bar is high and typically requires completion of a batterer’s intervention program and, where relevant, substance abuse counseling and parenting classes.
Child Support
California calculates child support using a statewide formula with little room for negotiation. The guideline uses each parent’s net disposable income and the percentage of time each parent has physical custody. It also accounts for tax filing status and costs like health insurance premiums. For multiple children, the base amount is multiplied by a statutory factor — 1.6 for two children, 2.0 for three, and so on.19California Legislative Information. California Family Code 4055
Courts can deviate from the guideline in unusual circumstances, but it’s rare. The formula is designed to produce consistent results regardless of which courtroom you’re in. Most attorneys and many self-represented litigants use software like DissoMaster or Xspouse to run the calculation. If income or custody time changes substantially after the order is entered, either parent can request a modification.
Spousal Support
Spousal support comes in two forms. Temporary support is calculated during the case using a local county formula that roughly resembles the child support guideline. Long-term support ordered at judgment is different. The court weighs a list of factors, including:
- The standard of living established during the marriage.
- The supported spouse’s earning capacity and the time needed to become self-sufficient.
- Contributions one spouse made to the other’s career, such as working to put a partner through school.
- The supporting spouse’s ability to pay while covering their own expenses.
- The length of the marriage. For marriages shorter than ten years, support generally lasts about half the length of the marriage. For marriages of ten years or more, considered “long duration,” the court retains jurisdiction indefinitely.
- Documented domestic violence.
- Age and health, including physical limitations that affect employability.
The overriding goal is for the supported spouse to become self-supporting within a reasonable period.20California Legislative Information. California Family Code 4320 One tax point to keep in mind: for divorce agreements executed on or after January 1, 2019, alimony is not tax-deductible for the payor and not taxable income for the recipient. That shifted the economics significantly compared with older agreements.
Life After the Judgment
Claiming the Children on Taxes
The default rule ties the dependency claim to the custodial parent, the one the child lives with for more than half the year. The custodial parent can release the right to the noncustodial parent by filing IRS Form 8332, for a single year or multiple years, and can later revoke the release.21Internal Revenue Service. About Form 8332, Release/Revocation of Release of Claim to Exemption for Child by Custodial Parent The tax benefit has real dollar value, which is why it often appears as a negotiating chip in settlement discussions.
COBRA Health Coverage
If you’re covered under your spouse’s employer-sponsored health plan, divorce is a qualifying event that lets you continue coverage for up to 36 months under COBRA. You or the covered spouse must notify the plan within 60 days of the divorce or legal separation. The employer will not do this for you. Miss the window and you lose the right to continue coverage.22U.S. Department of Labor. FAQs on COBRA Continuation Health Coverage for Workers COBRA premiums are typically expensive because you pay the full cost of coverage plus an administrative fee, but it keeps you insured while you line up a new plan.
Social Security on a Former Spouse’s Record
If your marriage lasted at least ten years before the divorce, you may qualify to collect Social Security on your ex-spouse’s earnings record. This doesn’t reduce your ex-spouse’s benefit; it’s an additional option for the lower-earning spouse. You must be at least 62, currently unmarried, and not entitled to a higher benefit on your own record. If you were married to the same person in separate stretches that add up to ten years, Social Security can count those periods together if you remarried no later than the calendar year following the divorce.23Social Security Administration. If You Had a Prior Marriage
If a Former Spouse Files Bankruptcy
Child support and spousal support obligations survive bankruptcy. Federal bankruptcy law specifically exempts domestic support obligations from discharge regardless of the chapter filed.24Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 U.S. Code 523 – Exceptions to Discharge Property division obligations from a divorce judgment also get significant protection, though the rules differ slightly between Chapter 7 and Chapter 13. If your ex files, support payments should continue, and you should file a claim with the bankruptcy court to protect your rights to any property-related obligations.