California Form FL-105: How to Complete, File, and Serve

California Form FL-105 is the Declaration Under Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act, a mandatory Judicial Council form you file alongside any family law petition or response involving minor children. It tells the judge where each child has lived for the past five years and whether any other court has already handled custody of those children, so California can confirm it has authority to make custody orders. The form carries a dual designation, FL-105/GC-120, because the same disclosure is required in probate guardianship cases for a minor.¹

Where to Download the Form

A fillable PDF is available on the California Courts self-help site.² County superior court self-help centers usually stock printed copies, and the clerk’s office can hand you one at the filing window. If your children have different address histories, download Form FL-105(A)/GC-120(A) at the same time; you’ll need it as an attachment.³

When the Form Is Required

Any family law case involving minor children needs an FL-105. That includes a petition for divorce, legal separation, or annulment when children are part of the family; a petition to establish a parental relationship; and a standalone petition for custody and support filed without a divorce.¹ The responding party files one too. The form also applies in guardianship and conservatorship proceedings under Probate Code sections 1510(f) and 1512, which is the reason for the GC-120 alternate designation.

The reason the court needs this information: California can only make custody orders if it qualifies as the child’s home state, meaning the child lived here for at least six consecutive months before the case was filed. If the child left California within those six months but a parent still lives here, the state can still qualify.⁴

How to Fill Out Each Section

Work through the numbered items in order and sign under penalty of perjury at the bottom.

Item 1: Case Caption

Fill in the petitioner and respondent names, court name, and case number exactly as they appear on your petition. If you’re filing FL-105 with the petition itself and don’t yet have a case number, leave that field blank for the clerk to stamp.

Item 2: Children’s Information

List every minor child in the case, oldest first. For each child, give the full legal name, date of birth, place of birth (city and state), and current address.¹ Enter the total number of children at the top of the section. Check spelling and dates against each child’s birth certificate; small discrepancies can slow the case down.

Item 3: Five-Year Address History

This is the most demanding part of the form. You need every address where the child has lived over the past five years, the start and end dates for each, and the name and current address of each person the child lived with at every location.

Check box 3a if you have only one child, or if all children in Item 2 have lived together for the entire five years, and fill in the history on the main form. Check box 3b if you have more than one child and they haven’t all lived together for the full period; then attach Form FL-105(A)/GC-120(A) with a separate history for each child.³

Gather this information before you sit down. Old leases, school enrollment records, and medical records can help reconstruct dates. The court is checking whether California has been the child’s home state for at least six months, so gaps or guesses weaken the filing.

Item 4: Other Court Cases

Disclose whether you have participated in, or know of, any other court proceeding involving custody or visitation of any child in this case, whether in California or another state. This covers past and pending matters. If one exists, provide the case name, number, court, and date of any order.¹

Item 5: Restraining or Protective Orders

Indicate whether any domestic violence restraining order or protective order is currently in effect involving a child in this case. If so, provide the details so the court can coordinate with the existing order before issuing new custody arrangements.

Item 6: Non-Party Custodians

If anyone who isn’t a party to the current case has physical custody of a child, or claims custody or visitation rights, list that person’s name, address, and the nature of their claim. Grandparents, other relatives, and foster parents sometimes fall into this category. Leaving out someone with a legal interest in the child can derail the case later.

Signature

Sign and date the form. Your signature is made under penalty of perjury under California law, so every statement must be true and complete to the best of your knowledge. A false statement can trigger criminal penalties and hurt your credibility with the judge.

Children With Different Address Histories

When siblings lived at different addresses at any point during the past five years, you’ll need the supplemental Form FL-105(A)/GC-120(A). Use one attachment per child whose history differs from the others. Number each item and page consecutively, and staple all pages behind the main FL-105.³ Check box 3b on the first page of FL-105 to signal that attachments follow, and label each attachment page with the child’s name so the clerk can match it to the correct child.

Keeping a Confidential Address Off the Form

If you’re alleging domestic violence or child abuse, any address the other party doesn’t already know is confidential and must not be disclosed on the form.⁵ FL-105 includes a checkbox that lets you provide only the state of residence instead of a full address. Use that checkbox rather than leaving the field blank; a blank field reads as an incomplete form and may prompt the clerk to reject the filing.

California’s Safe at Home program, run by the Secretary of State, provides a substitute mailing address for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, and human trafficking.⁶ If you’re enrolled, you can use the substitute address on court filings. Tell the clerk about your enrollment when you file so your actual address stays out of the public record.

Filing and the Fee

Submit FL-105 to the superior court clerk at the same time you file your petition or response. There’s no separate fee for FL-105; it’s part of the petition package. The filing fee for a family law petition (divorce, legal separation, annulment, or parentage) is $435, and the responding party also pays $435 when filing a response.⁷ Fees can run slightly higher in a few counties because of local courthouse surcharges.

If you can’t afford the fee, file Form FW-001 (Request to Waive Court Fees) with your petition. You automatically qualify for a waiver if you receive certain public benefits, and you can also qualify by showing the court that your income is too low to cover both basic household expenses and court costs.⁸

Serving the Other Party

Once the clerk stamps your filed FL-105, a copy must go to the other party through formal service. The person who delivers the documents has to be at least 18 and not a party to the case; a friend, relative, or professional process server can do it.⁹

Service happens two ways. With personal service, the server hands the documents directly to the other party and then completes Form FL-330 (Proof of Personal Service). With service by mail, the server mails the documents to the other party’s last known address and completes Form FL-335 (Proof of Service by Mail).¹⁰ File the completed proof of service with the clerk. Without it, the court has no evidence the other side was notified, and the judge won’t move forward on custody orders.

Your Ongoing Duty to Update the Court

Filing FL-105 is not a one-time task. The form itself carries a notice at the bottom stating that you have a continuing duty to inform the court if you learn of any other custody proceeding, in California or elsewhere, concerning a child in your case.¹ Family Code section 3429(d) makes that disclosure duty ongoing rather than fixed to the date you signed.⁵ If you move, or a child’s living situation shifts during the case, tell your attorney so a supplemental notice can be filed. Failing to disclose a new custody case in another state can undermine your position and lead the judge to doubt your earlier declarations.

What the Judge Does With FL-105

The judge reviews every FL-105 in the case to decide whether California has jurisdiction. If the children have lived in California for at least six months before the filing date, the court will generally confirm jurisdiction and move ahead.⁴ If the residence history raises questions, such as a child splitting time between two states, the court may hold a hearing to gather more facts before ruling on jurisdiction. When the judge decides another state is a more appropriate forum, California law allows the court to pause the case and direct that a custody proceeding be started in the other state.¹¹ The cleaner and more complete your FL-105, the less likely you are to face a jurisdictional challenge that delays your custody orders.

1
Judicial Council of California. Declaration Under Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act
2
California Courts | Self Help Guide. Declaration Under Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA)
3
Judicial Council of California. Attachment to Declaration Under Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA)
4
California Legislative Information. California Family Code FAM 3421
5
California Legislative Information. California Family Code FAM 3429
6
California Secretary of State. Safe at Home
7
Judicial Council of California. Statewide Civil Fee Schedule
8
Judicial Council of California. Information Sheet on Waiver of Superior Court Fees and Costs
9
Judicial Council of California. Proof of Personal Service
10
Judicial Council of California. Proof of Service by Mail
11
California Legislative Information. California Family Code FAM 3427