How to Complete and File SFUFC Form 11.17: Filing, Service, and ADR Methods

SFUFC Form 11.17 is the San Francisco Superior Court’s “Notice of Nature and Availability of Alternative Dispute Resolution Methods in Family Law Matters,” a signed certification that you have read the court’s information about mediation and collaborative practice.¹ It is a local requirement, not a Judicial Council form, and the clerk will refuse to accept most family law filings in San Francisco unless a signed copy is attached.²

When You Have to File It

San Francisco Local Rule 11.17 (reorganized under Rule 11.16(B) in the 2026 local rules) requires a signed copy of the form with any petition or response filed under the Family Law Act or the Uniform Parentage Act.²

The requirement also attaches to later filings that will produce a hearing or trial:

Orders to Show Cause and responses to them
Notices of Motion and responses to them
Any other family law pleading or response that will result in a court hearing or trial

There is one break in the pattern. If you already filed SFUFC-11.17 in the same proceeding within the last 180 days, you do not need to re-file it with your next pleading. Once more than 180 days have passed, a fresh signed copy has to go in with whatever you file next.²

Cases That Don’t Need the Form

Three categories of family law proceedings are exempt from SFUFC-11.17:

Domestic violence cases filed under California Family Code Section 6200 and related statutes
Cases involving the Department of Child Support Services
Matters pending before a private judge

The form also may not be served on an employee pension benefit plan. If your case falls into any of these categories, you can file your pleading without SFUFC-11.17.²

What’s on the Form

SFUFC-11.17 is a read-and-sign document. You are not asked to describe your case, list disputed issues, or disclose finances. Download the fillable PDF from the court’s local forms page, where it is listed under Family Law.³

Header Block

Enter the attorney or self-represented party’s name, address, and telephone number in the upper-left block. Add the petitioner’s and respondent’s names exactly as they appear on the petition, along with the case number. If you are filing the petition itself for the first time, leave the case number blank for the clerk to assign.

Informational Sections

Three short sections make up the body of the form. You read them; you do not fill them in.¹

Section A states the court’s policy encouraging ADR in family law and defines ADR as methods for resolving disputes without formal adversarial court proceedings.
Section B describes mediation and collaborative practice, including how each works and the confidential nature of both.
Section C warns that mediation and collaborative practice may not be appropriate when there is a history of domestic violence.

The notice also reminds you that when child custody or parenting disputes cannot be resolved voluntarily, California law requires parties to participate in custody mediation through the court’s Office of Family Court Services.

Signature Block

The bottom of the form contains a certification that the signer has read the notice in compliance with Local Rule 11.17. There are four signature lines: petitioner, respondent, petitioner’s attorney, and respondent’s attorney. A self-represented party signs only the party line. Both sides sign the same form in principle, but in practice each party files its own signed copy with its own pleading.

Filing and Serving the Signed Form

San Francisco Superior Court accepts family law dissolution filings through approved electronic filing vendors listed on the court’s e-filing page.⁴ You can also file in person at the Civic Center Courthouse, Room 402, Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to noon and 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., excluding court holidays.⁵ Attach the signed SFUFC-11.17 to the pleading it accompanies; the clerk processes them together.

You also have to serve a signed copy on the other party, using the same method of service the underlying pleading requires. For personal service, the person who delivers the documents completes Judicial Council form FL-330. That person has to be at least 18 and not a party to the case.⁶ For service by mail, the server completes FL-335 instead, confirming the same age and non-party requirements and that the mailing was done from the county where the server lives or works.⁷ File the completed proof of service with the court. Without it, the clerk may reject the associated pleading.

If You Skip the Form

The clerk will refuse to file whatever pleading you submitted without SFUFC-11.17 attached.² Your petition does not start the case, your motion does not get calendared, your response does not get recorded. No warning, no cure period. The filing simply does not go through.

California Code of Civil Procedure Section 575.2 gives courts broader authority to sanction parties who violate local rules. Available sanctions include striking pleadings, dismissing part or all of a case, entering default against the non-complying party, and ordering payment of the other side’s reasonable expenses including attorney fees. When the failure is the attorney’s rather than the client’s, the statute directs sanctions at the attorney so the client’s case is not harmed.⁸

The Two ADR Methods the Notice Describes

Signing SFUFC-11.17 does not commit you to any particular process. It confirms only that you know the options exist. Two of them appear on the form.

Mediation

Mediation is a voluntary, confidential process in which a neutral mediator helps you and the other party work toward an agreement. The mediator does not make decisions or impose outcomes. If you reach an agreement, it can be submitted to the court as a stipulated judgment. If you do not, nothing said during mediation can be used against you later. For custody and visitation disputes that private mediation does not resolve, the court requires parties to go through custody mediation with the Office of Family Court Services before a judge will hear the matter.¹

Collaborative Practice

In a collaborative process, each party retains a private attorney and everyone signs a written agreement to resolve disputes cooperatively, without filing motions or threatening litigation. California Family Code Section 2013 authorizes this process for any matter the family court has jurisdiction over.⁹ If either party later decides to go to court anyway, both collaborative attorneys must withdraw and the parties start over with new counsel. The form notes that collaborative practice, like mediation, may not be appropriate in cases involving domestic violence.

Common Mistakes

Forgetting the form exists. SFUFC-11.17 is a San Francisco local requirement, not a statewide form, so litigants transferring from another county or using general California self-help guides sometimes miss it. Before each new filing, check whether 180 days have passed since you last filed it.
Serving but not filing the proof of service. Serving the other party without filing FL-330 or FL-335 with the court leaves the record incomplete, and the clerk may treat it as if you did not serve at all.
Using the form in an exempt case. Attaching it in a domestic violence or Department of Child Support Services matter will not cause problems, but it is unnecessary, and the form’s encouragement of mediation should not be read as an expectation of mediation in a domestic violence proceeding.
Treating the form as a substitute. SFUFC-11.17 is an accompaniment. It does not replace declarations of disclosure, income and expense declarations, or any other document your case requires.

1
Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco. Notice of Nature and Availability of Alternative Dispute Resolution Methods in Family Law Matters
2
Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco. Uniform Local Rules of Court
3
Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco. Local Forms
4
Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco. Electronic Filing (E-Filing) Information
5
Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco. Family Law
6
Judicial Council of California. FL-330 Proof of Personal Service
7
Judicial Council of California. FL-335 Proof of Service by Mail
8
California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure CCP 575.2
9
California Legislative Information. California Family Code FAM 2013