Family Court in Martinez, CA: Filing, Fee Waivers, and CCRC

If you have a divorce, custody, support, or parentage matter in Contra Costa County, the family court in Martinez, CA is the Peter L. Spinetta Family Law Center at 751 Pine Street. It houses five of the county’s seven family law courtrooms and handles nearly every family law filing in the county. The current filing fee for a dissolution, legal separation, or other initial family law petition is $435.¹

Where to Go and How to File

The Spinetta Family Law Center is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The filing clerk windows close earlier, at 4:00 p.m. The family law filing counter is just inside the entrance on the left.²

You have three ways to get papers to the court:

Drop box in front of the Spinetta building, accessible during business hours.
Mail to Family Law, 751 Pine Street, Martinez, CA 94553. Include a self-addressed stamped envelope with enough postage for the court to return your file-stamped copies.³
E-filing through the court’s online portal. Attorneys must e-file family law documents; self-represented litigants may do so if they prefer it to the drop box or mail.⁴

Paper filings must be two-hole punched at the top and submitted in triplicate: the original plus two copies.⁵ E-filing avoids both the trip and the printing.

Two things the Spinetta filing counter does not handle: Domestic Violence Restraining Orders and Temporary Emergency Orders. Those run through a separate process. If that is why you are coming to the courthouse, ask at the information desk before you queue up at family law.²

Filing Fees and Fee Waivers

The $435 fee applies to a petition for dissolution, legal separation, nullity, or other initial family law filing.¹ If you cannot afford it, file a Request to Waive Court Fees (Form FW-001) and the proposed Order on Court Fee Waiver (Form FW-003) at the same time you submit your petition, with an original and one copy of each.⁶

You generally qualify if you receive certain public benefits like Medi-Cal or food stamps, if your household income falls below a specified low-income threshold, or if your income is not enough to cover basic living expenses plus court costs.⁷ The waiver covers more than the initial fee; it reaches other court costs that come up later in the case. Costs outside the court’s control are your responsibility either way, including process server fees (typically $40 to $400) and notary signatures ($15 each in California).⁸

Free Help Before You File

If you do not have a lawyer, visit the Family Law Facilitator’s office before you fill out anything. The facilitator is a licensed attorney employed by the court to help self-represented people pick the right Judicial Council forms, complete the financial disclosures, calculate guideline child support, and understand what happens next.⁹ The service is free, and the same office can assist both sides of a case.

Drop-in help at Martinez is first-come, first-served. People spend hours online decoding forms that someone down the hall will walk them through for nothing.

Serving the Other Party and the 30-Day Clock

Once the court files your petition, you have to arrange for the other party to be formally served with the Summons and Petition. You cannot serve them yourself. The server has to be at least 18 and not a party to the case: a friend, a relative, or a professional process server.¹⁰

The server hand-delivers the papers, completes a Proof of Service describing when, where, and how, and you file that Proof of Service with the court.¹⁰ The date of service matters: it starts the respondent’s 30-day deadline to file a Response. Miss that deadline, and the petitioner can ask the court to enter a default, which lets the case move forward on the petitioner’s paperwork alone.¹¹

A default does not instantly end the case. The petitioner still has to submit the finalizing paperwork and the court still reviews it. If you were served and the 30 days are running, do not wait. Undoing a default is difficult.

Financial Disclosures You Must Exchange

Every dissolution and legal separation in California requires both parties to exchange a Preliminary Declaration of Disclosure: a sworn package covering income, expenses, assets, and debts. The petitioner serves theirs within 60 days of filing the petition; the respondent serves theirs within 60 days of filing the response. Those deadlines can be extended by written agreement or court order.

The disclosure itself is not filed with the court. You serve it on the other party and then file a Declaration Regarding Service of Declaration of Disclosure (Form FL-141) to prove the exchange happened. Without both disclosures on record, the case cannot be finalized. Lying on these forms exposes you to perjury consequences and gives the other side grounds to set aside the judgment later. The Family Law Facilitator can help you assemble the paperwork.

Asking for Temporary Orders

Family cases take months, and in the meantime you may need interim orders for custody, child support, spousal support, or attorney fees. The form is a Request for Order (Form FL-300). The court sets a hearing, and the other party has until 9 court days before the hearing to file a written response.¹²

Contra Costa adds its own rules on top. Before the hearing, both parties must meet and confer: contact the other side, discuss the issues, and make a genuine effort to settle. The only exception is cases involving domestic violence. Any request touching support or attorney fees must come with a current Income and Expense Declaration. Evidentiary attachments are capped at 10 pages without prior court permission, and any legal brief is capped at 15 pages.¹³

Initial Request for Order hearings sit on the short-cause calendar and are capped at 20 minutes. Complex matters get continued to a long-cause date.¹³ Twenty minutes passes quickly. Walk in with your points ordered and your financial documents ready.

Custody Disputes: Mandatory CCRC

If your case involves a dispute over custody or visitation of minor children, you do not go straight to the judge. Both parents must first attend Child Custody Recommending Counseling (CCRC), a confidential session with a court counselor who tries to help you build a parenting plan.¹⁴

Before your CCRC appointment, you have to complete a mandatory online orientation. Set aside about 60 uninterrupted minutes; you cannot pause and resume. It covers how to use the mediation session, how family conflict affects children, co-parenting communication, and safety planning. At the end you fill out a Parent Intake Form to document completion.¹⁵

If the parents reach agreement, the counselor writes it up for the judge. If they do not, the counselor submits a written report with recommendations, which the judge reviews before issuing custody and visitation orders. Skipping the orientation or missing the CCRC appointment can mean fines or a rescheduled hearing.

Showing Up for Your Hearing

Bring photo ID, your case documents, and any evidence you intend to reference. Arrive on time. The court plays an advisement video or hands out a brochure at the start of each session covering your rights, and missing it starts you off behind.¹⁶ Dress for court, take off hats and sunglasses before entering the courtroom, and silence your phone.

Need an interpreter? Tell the court as early as possible so one can be arranged. Planning to call witnesses other than yourself or the other party? Contra Costa’s local rules require you to file and serve a witness list, with a brief description of the anticipated testimony, at least 14 calendar days before the hearing.¹³

The Six-Month Wait and the Final Judgment

California imposes a six-month minimum before any divorce becomes final. The clock starts the day the respondent was served with the Summons and Petition, or the day the respondent first appeared, whichever comes first. However quickly you and your spouse agree, the court will not sign a final judgment inside those six months. The rule sits in California Family Code Section 2339.

To finalize, you submit a Judgment (Form FL-180) along with attachments covering child custody, child support, spousal support, property division, and any other orders.¹⁷ The judge reviews before signing. The same is true in a default case: the paperwork still has to be completed and the six months still have to run.¹¹

A Few Things the Martinez Case Will Not Handle on Its Own

Some issues come up alongside a family case but need their own paperwork or expertise:

Dividing a 401(k) or pension. The divorce judgment alone will not move retirement funds. You need a Qualified Domestic Relations Order drafted to the specific plan’s requirements under federal law, and plan administrators reject orders that were written without reviewing the plan documents first.¹⁸
If a party is on active military duty. The federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act blocks default judgments without a sworn statement about the other party’s military status, and an active-duty servicemember can request a stay of at least 90 days when duties prevent them from participating.¹⁹
Taxes. For divorce or separation agreements executed after December 31, 2018, alimony is neither deductible by the payer nor taxable to the recipient. Child support is never deductible and never taxable, whenever the agreement was signed. Which parent claims the child as a dependent generally follows where the child lives for more than half the year; to shift the claim to the other parent, the custodial parent signs IRS Form 8332.²⁰

Work these out during settlement negotiations, not after the judgment is signed.

1
Judicial Branch of California. Superior Court of California Statewide Civil Fee Schedule
2
Superior Court of California, County of Contra Costa. Spinetta Family Law Center – Section: Filing Windows
3
Superior Court of California, County of Contra Costa. Family and Children
4
Superior Court of California, County of Contra Costa. Court E-Filing Services
5
Contra Costa Superior Court. Family Law – Filing and Serving Your Papers
6
Contra Costa Superior Court. Fee Waiver
7
Judicial Branch of California. Request to Waive Court Fees FW-001
8
California Secretary of State. 2025 California Notary Public Handbook
9
Superior Court of California, County of Contra Costa. Family Law Facilitator
10
California Courts. Serving Court Papers
11
California Courts. Default in a Divorce or Legal Separation
12
California Courts. Request for Order Form FL-300
13
Superior Court of California, County of Contra Costa. Local Rules of Court
14
California Courts. Child Custody Information Sheet – Recommending Counseling
15
Superior Court of California, County of Contra Costa. Online Orientation
16
Superior Court of California, County of Contra Costa. Preparing for Court
17
California Courts. Judgment FL-180
18
U.S. Department of Labor. QDROs – The Division of Retirement Benefits Through Qualified Domestic Relations Orders
19
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 50 – 3931 Protection of Servicemembers Against Default Judgments
20
Internal Revenue Service. Child Tax Credit