We got back together. How do we stop our divorce?

Dismissal is how a filed case ends without a divorce

Filing a petition starts a court case, and getting back together does not close it. The Judicial Council's self-help page on this subject puts it directly: if you filed for divorce or legal separation and no longer want to go forward, you can ask the court to cancel, or dismiss, the case.

The rule behind that page is in the Code of Civil Procedure rather than the Family Code. Section 581 lists the ways an action can be dismissed, and subdivision (a)(1) defines an action as any civil action or special proceeding. Two of its paths matter here. Subdivision (b)(1) allows a dismissal with or without prejudice on the written request of the plaintiff to the clerk, filed with the papers in the case, at any time before the actual commencement of trial. Subdivision (b)(2) allows a dismissal with or without prejudice by any party on the written consent of all the other parties. Subdivision (c) adds that a plaintiff may dismiss the complaint in its entirety before trial begins.

Two special procedures have their own exit instead. A summary dissolution is stopped by a notice of revocation under Family Code section 2402, filed before the application for judgment, and a joint petition can be revoked under section 2342.5, which does something different from ending the case. Both are covered below.

Whether your spouse has to sign

The answer turns on whether the other spouse has filed a response. The self-help page says that if you started the case and your spouse never filed a response, you can dismiss it without your spouse signing anything. If your spouse did file a response, your spouse has to sign the request, saying they agree to the dismissal.

The page also covers the reverse situation. If your spouse is the one who started the case and is the one who wants it dismissed, your spouse follows the same instructions. Section 581 has one more condition: under subdivision (j), a dismissal under subdivision (b)(1) or (b)(2) requires the written consent of the attorney for the party asking for it, or, if that consent is not obtained, an order of dismissal by the court after notice to the attorney.

The two forms and the steps, in order

The self-help page names two Judicial Council forms: the Request for Dismissal (form CIV-110) and the Notice of Entry of Dismissal and Proof of Service (form CIV-120). Filing does not have to be done at the counter: the page says you can file by mail, with the original, two copies and a self-addressed stamped envelope, and that some courts accept filing online.

The steps the page describes, in the order it gives them:

• Fill out the Request for Dismissal. Check "without prejudice," which the page explains means either of you can file for divorce or legal separation later. Check "Entire action of all parties and causes of action" so that the whole case is dismissed. If your spouse responded to the petition, your spouse signs item 3 to agree.
• Fill out the Notice of Entry of Dismissal down to the Proof of Service section, and set it aside for later.
• Make two copies of the Request for Dismissal. File the original and the copies with the clerk of the court where the case was filed. The clerk keeps the original and returns the copies stamped, one for you and one for your spouse.
• Have someone who is 18 or older, and is not you, mail your spouse the notice with a copy of the filed Request for Dismissal attached.
• The person who mailed it completes the Proof of Service section of form CIV-120 and returns it to you. Make one copy, file the original with the court, and keep the copy the clerk returns.

What without prejudice means for later

A dismissal without prejudice ends this case but does not bar a new one. That is the reason the self-help page tells you to check that box. A dismissal with prejudice, which section 581 also allows, is a different result, and the page does not suggest it for a couple who reconcile.

The page is equally plain about the cost of changing your minds again. Once the case is dismissed, a later divorce or legal separation starts over from the beginning with a new case, and the filing fee is paid again unless the court grants a fee waiver. The page closes its instructions by saying that, once the proof of service is filed, the case is dismissed, and that anyone who later decides on a divorce or legal separation will need to file a new case.

The sources read for this post do not address what a dismissal does to an agreement the two of you signed while the case was open, or to anything else either of you did during it, so this post does not answer those questions.

Once a judgment has been entered

Timing changes the rule. A judgment of dissolution can be entered before it becomes final, and Family Code section 2338(c) addresses that gap: after the entry of the judgment and before it becomes final, neither party has the right to dismiss the proceeding without the consent of the other.

So once a judgment has been entered, and before the date it names for ending the marriage, neither of you can dismiss the case alone, not even the spouse who filed it. The statute stops there. It does not describe how a dismissal is made at that stage, and it does not say that the consent of both spouses is enough to end the case.

The self-help page treats a case with a judgment differently from one without. It says that undoing a divorce or legal separation after it is final, which it describes as when there is a judgment in the case, takes different steps from the dismissal request described above, and it directs readers to their court's self-help center. The sources read for this post do not describe those steps, so this post does not either.

A joint petition or a summary dissolution

Under Family Code section 2342.5, operative January 1, 2026, spouses who agree can begin a case together on a joint petition. Section 2342.5(b) lets either spouse, at any time before judgment, file an amended petition or an amended response, and when that happens the joint petition is deemed revoked and the case continues as an ordinary petition under section 2330. The self-help page on joint petitions says the spouse who revokes fills out a Notice of Revocation of Joint Petition (form FL-720) along with the amended form.

That page describes the result in plain words: if one of you revokes, the case does not close, does not restart, and moves to the regular divorce process, with the restraining orders still in place. Revoking a joint petition is a way to disagree, not a way to stop. Neither section 2342.5 nor the self-help pages read for this post describe a separate procedure for dismissing a joint petition case, and subdivision (g) of section 2342.5 applies the Family Code's general divorce provisions to a joint petition unless the section says otherwise.

A summary dissolution works differently. Under Family Code section 2402(a), at any time before the application for judgment is filed under section 2403, either spouse may revoke the joint petition for summary dissolution and thereby end the summary dissolution proceeding. The revocation is made by filing a notice of revocation on the Judicial Council's form with the clerk of the court where the case began, and the revoking spouse mails a copy to the other spouse by first-class mail at the last known address. The dismissal page identifies the form as the Notice of Revocation of Petition for Summary Dissolution (form FL-830) and says it cancels the summary dissolution case. Timing matters here too: section 2403 directs the court to enter the judgment once six months have passed from the filing of the joint petition, unless a revocation has been filed.

Where this fits in an uncontested divorce

In an uncontested divorce, a reconciliation can come at any point: before service, after a response, after the settlement agreement is signed, or after the judgment is entered and before the date it names. The rules above tell you which situation you are in. The questions are whether a response was filed, whether a judgment was entered, and whether the case is a joint petition or a summary dissolution.

If a couple decide after all to go ahead with an uncontested divorce, the papers can be attorney-prepared: Law Offices of Rozsa Gyene, charging one flat fee, prepares and reviews each of them in an engagement whose scope is limited by rule 5.425 of the California Rules of Court. Only one spouse is the client. That spouse files the papers with the court, guided by filing instructions in writing that the attorney has looked over. The office's work ends before filing and service, never includes a court appearance or a notary, and leaves deeds, whether preparing or recording them, to others. Rozsa Gyene, State Bar of California No. 208356, 3500 W. Olive Ave., Suite 300, Burbank, CA 91505.