To fill out FL-190 in California, complete only the header at the top of the form: your name and contact information, the court and county, the petitioner and respondent names, and the case number. Everything below that — the judgment type checkboxes, the entry date, the effective date, and the clerk’s certificate of mailing — is filled in by the court clerk after the judge signs your judgment. You submit FL-190 as part of your full judgment package, along with two stamped envelopes.
What FL-190 Is
FL-190 is the Notice of Entry of Judgment. It is not a form that asks the court for anything. It is the notice the clerk uses to tell both parties that a judge has signed the final judgment in a dissolution, legal separation, nullity, parentage, or related family law case. When you get it back stamped “filed,” your case is officially concluded, and if you filed for divorce the form will show the effective date your marriage or domestic partnership ended.1California Courts. FL-190 Notice of Entry of Judgment (Family Law—Uniform Parentage—Custody and Support)2Judicial Branch of California. Finish Your Divorce After a Trial (When No Minor Children Together)
You can download the current form from the California Courts self-help website.3California Courts | Self Help Guide. Find Your Court Forms
The Part You Fill In
Only the header block at the top of the form is yours to complete. It looks like the identifying block on every other California family law form.
In the upper-left corner, enter your full legal name, mailing address, telephone number, and email address. If you have an attorney, put their name and State Bar number there instead. Below that, write the name of the superior court, the county, and the specific branch where your case is filed. Fill in the petitioner’s and respondent’s names in the fields provided. In the box in the upper right, write your case number.1California Courts. FL-190 Notice of Entry of Judgment (Family Law—Uniform Parentage—Custody and Support)
Use the same spelling and format for names that appear on your petition and your Judgment (FL-180). If you used a middle initial on one form, use it on all of them. Small inconsistencies are one of the most common reasons a clerk rejects a judgment package.
The Part You Leave Blank
Do not check any of the boxes below the header. Do not fill in an entry date. Do not sign the clerk’s certificate of mailing at the bottom.
Those sections are for the court. After the judge signs your judgment, the clerk checks the box for the type of judgment granted, stamps in the date of entry, fills in the effective date of termination of marital or domestic partnership status where that applies, and completes the certificate of mailing when the copies go out.1California Courts. FL-190 Notice of Entry of Judgment (Family Law—Uniform Parentage—Custody and Support)
The Envelopes You Have To Include
California Rule of Court 5.415 requires you to submit two stamped envelopes with your judgment.4Judicial Branch of California. Rule 5.415 Completion of Notice of Entry of Judgment The clerk uses them to mail conformed copies of the judgment and FL-190 back to both sides.
Each envelope must be large enough to hold the full set of judgment documents, and each must carry enough postage for that weight, not the weight of a single sheet. Address one envelope to yourself and the other to the other party. If either party is represented, address that envelope to the attorney instead. On both envelopes, use the court clerk’s office as the return address, not your own, so that undeliverable mail goes back to the court.4Judicial Branch of California. Rule 5.415 Completion of Notice of Entry of Judgment
Some courts also want a separate smaller envelope for the FL-190 itself in addition to the larger envelopes for the full packet. Call your court’s clerk office or self-help center before you go to confirm what your branch requires.5California Courts Self Help Guide. Finish Your Divorce After a Trial (When You Have Minor Children Together)
Filing FL-190 With The Judgment Package
FL-190 does not go in on its own. It is filed together with the Judgment (FL-180), any court orders or attachments to the judgment, and any settlement agreement or other required forms. Make three copies of everything. Take the originals and two copies to the clerk, and keep the third set at home.5California Courts Self Help Guide. Finish Your Divorce After a Trial (When You Have Minor Children Together)
The clerk will check that the case number and party names are consistent across every document and that your envelopes are properly addressed and stamped. If anything is off, the whole package can be rejected.
Most California family law courts still require judgment packages to be submitted on paper — in person, by mail, or through a drop box. Even courts that accept e-filing for other family law documents often exempt judgment packets because of the envelope requirement. Confirm the accepted method with your local court.
Mistakes That Get The Package Rejected
If the clerk rejects your judgment package, you’ll need to fix the errors and resubmit. There is no additional filing fee for a corrected resubmission, but the delay pushes back the date your judgment is entered. The recurring problems are simple:
- Names spelled or formatted differently across forms in the same package.
- Old mailing addresses for a party who has moved since the case was filed.
- Envelopes without enough postage for the full weight of the packet.
- Envelopes that show your address as the return address instead of the clerk’s.
- Fewer than the required number of copies.
- Case number that doesn’t match the FL-180 or the other documents.
Proofread every form the day before you file. Most rejections come from inconsistencies a careful second read would catch.
What The Form Tells You When It Comes Back
Once the judge signs and the clerk processes your judgment, you’ll receive a stamped copy of FL-190 in the envelope you provided.2Judicial Branch of California. Finish Your Divorce After a Trial (When No Minor Children Together) Two dates on it matter.
The entry date is the date the judgment was formally entered. It starts the clock on post-judgment deadlines, including the 60-day period to file a notice of appeal after the clerk serves the notice6Judicial Branch of California. Rule 8.104 Time to Appeal7California Legislative Information. California Family Code 21218Judicial Branch of California. Legal Reasons a Judge Can Set Aside an Order or Judgment Keep the form somewhere safe.
The effective date of termination applies only if you filed for dissolution. Under California Family Code section 2339, no divorce becomes final until at least six months have passed from the date the responding spouse was served or first appeared in the case, whichever came first.9California Legislative Information. California Family Code 2339 If the judge signs your judgment before that six months is up, the effective date on FL-190 will be later than the entry date, and neither party can remarry or enter a new domestic partnership until that later date.1California Courts. FL-190 Notice of Entry of Judgment (Family Law—Uniform Parentage—Custody and Support) The waiting period doesn’t apply to legal separation or nullity judgments; those take effect on entry.