How much does an uncontested divorce cost in California?
Three numbers make up the cost: the attorney's fee, the court's fee, and a few small costs along the way. Here is each one, with nothing left out.
The attorney's flat fee
Law Offices of Rozsa Gyene prepares and reviews every document in an uncontested divorce without minor children for a flat fee of $1,499, from the petition through the judgment, with a settlement agreement drafted by the attorney from the terms you and your spouse agreed. A marriage of 5 years or less with limited property may qualify for a summary dissolution, at $599.
The fee is the whole charge for the attorney's work. There are no hourly charges, and the fee is stated before you pay, on the screening page, once your answers show the service fits. It is earned in stages stated in the engagement letter, and any unearned portion is refunded if the representation ends early.
The court's filing fee
The court charges its own fee to file the first paper in a dissolution: $435 as of September 7, 2026 in Los Angeles County, set by the court under the Government Code and paid by you directly to the court. It is the same fee for a regular petition and for a joint petition for summary dissolution.
If your income is low or you receive public benefits, you may qualify for a fee waiver (form FW-001). The office prepares the fee waiver forms as part of the flat fee when you ask for them; the court decides the request.
On the regular track, a spouse who files a response or an appearance pays the court a first-appearance fee of the same amount, unless the court waives it. A spouse who signs the settlement agreement and files nothing pays the court nothing.
The small costs people forget
None of these goes to the office. Each is paid to the person or business that provides it.
- A notary for the settlement agreement: both spouses sign before a notary of their own choosing, commonly between ten and twenty dollars a signature in California.
- Postage: stamped envelopes go in with the judgment packet so the clerk can mail the notice of entry to each of you.
- A certified copy of the judgment, sold by the clerk, if an agency asks for one when you change a name or a title.
- Recording fees, if your agreement awards a home to one of you and a deed is recorded; the deed itself is a separate engagement with the office.
What raises the cost
The flat fee covers an uncontested divorce: you and your spouse have agreed on property, debts and spousal support, and your spouse cooperates. A dispute, minor children, a business, a pension that needs a domestic relations order, or real property outside California is outside the flat fee, and the screening says so before you pay.
Two things within the flat fee have a limit: one round of revisions to the settlement agreement, and one correction of a judgment packet the court returns. A further round is available and quoted on request.
What no fee can buy
California law requires six months between the day your spouse is served or appears and the day your marriage can legally end (Family Code section 2339). No service, no software and no attorney shortens it. What the attorney's fee buys is documents that are accepted the first time, so that when the six months are up, you are done.
Rozsa Gyene, State Bar of California No. 208356, 3500 W. Olive Ave., Suite 300, Burbank, CA 91505.