The court fee waiver in a California divorce

Why the waiver exists

Government Code section 68630 states the Legislature's findings behind every court fee waiver: that the legal system cannot provide equal justice under law unless all persons have access to the courts without regard to their economic means, that court fees should not be a barrier to court access for those without the means to pay them, and that the procedure for allowing people to use the courts without paying must apply its rules fairly, be accessible to those with limited knowledge of court processes, and not delay access. It also states that those who can pay should, and that a court may recover waived fees from a person who obtains a judgment or a substantial settlement.

Section 68631 provides that an initial fee waiver shall be granted at any stage of the case to an applicant who meets the standards of eligibility and the application requirements, and that it excuses the applicant from paying the fee for the first paper and other court fees and costs as the Judicial Council's rules specify.

Who qualifies: one of three ways

Government Code section 68632 lists the three grounds, and the Judicial Council's guide says you need to meet only one of them.

• Public benefits (section 68632(a)). You receive benefits under one of the listed programs: Supplemental Security Income or State Supplementary Payment, CalWORKs or Tribal TANF, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or the California Food Assistance Program (CalFresh), County Relief, General Relief or General Assistance, the Cash Assistance Program for Aged, Blind and Disabled Legal Immigrants, In-Home Supportive Services, Medi-Cal, the WIC Program, or unemployment compensation. The form asks you to check the program; you do not list income or expenses.
• Income (section 68632(b)). Your monthly household income is 200 percent or less of the current federal poverty guidelines. The Judicial Council publishes a table each year, adjusted for household size, for use with form FW-001; the table is at item 5b of the form. Veterans' service-connected disability compensation is not counted as income.
• Need (section 68632(c)). You cannot pay the court's fees without using money that would normally pay for the common necessaries of life for you and your family. The court decides this one on the income and expense information you give, and where it finds you can pay part of the fees, or pay over time, it may grant a partial waiver after notice and a chance to be heard.

What the waiver covers in a divorce

The Judicial Council's guide lists what a granted waiver may cover: the fee to file your papers, the fee to respond to a case, copies of court papers including certified copies, the sheriff's fee to serve your papers, the court reporter's fee to attend a trial, and the other fees listed at item 4 of the court's order form (FW-003). Form FW-001-INFO lists them in its own words: filing papers in the superior court, making and certifying copies, giving notice and certificates, the sheriff's fee to give notice, sending papers to another court department, the court fee for a telephone hearing, and the reporter's fee where the court is not recording electronically.

In a divorce that means the $435 first-paper fee in Los Angeles County (item 97 of the Judicial Council's Statewide Civil Fee Schedule effective January 1, 2026), the same fee for a spouse who files a response (item 98), the fees for any later request that needs a hearing, certified copies of the judgment, and the sheriff's fee if the sheriff serves the papers. The guide is clear about what a fee waiver is not: it does not decide or help with money issues between you and your spouse. It applies only to court fees.

What it does not cover

A fee waiver does not cover the attorney's fee, a notary, postage or copies made outside the court. Law Offices of Rozsa Gyene's flat fee is unchanged by a fee waiver. The guide lists the other things outside it: a court reporter's written transcript, which is paid to the reporter rather than the court; lawyer fees; private mediation; and fines or penalties ordered by the court. Fees not on the order form can be asked for separately on a Request to Waive Additional Court Fees (form FW-002).

It also does not excuse the other spouse's fee. Each spouse who needs a waiver files their own request, with their own income and expense information. On a joint petition this matters twice: Family Code section 2342.5(h) requires both first-paper fees, $870 in Los Angeles County, unless both parties have been granted a fee waiver, and the Judicial Council's guide says that if you both need one, you each fill out and file your own, and that you should ask the clerk how your court handles the fees when only one of you qualifies.

How the request is made, and what you do not have to provide

The request is the Request to Waive Court Fees (form FW-001), together with item 1 of the Order on Court Fee Waiver (form FW-003), which the court completes with its decision. Government Code section 68633 provides that the application is a Judicial Council form asking for your address, occupation and employer and a financial statement of monthly income, expenses, assets and liabilities, and that at the time it is submitted you are not required to provide documents proving income, dependents or expenses, to provide evidence of identity, to submit to an interview, or to be physically present. The clerk must provide the forms free of charge and may not require any form other than the Judicial Council's.

You sign under penalty of perjury. Form FW-001-INFO says it plainly: answer truthfully, accurately and completely, and the court may later ask for information and evidence, including proof of eligibility, and may end the waiver if you do not appear when asked. The information on the request is confidential, the guide says: only the court sees it, and you do not give it to the other side.

Section 68634 governs what happens next. Every application must be accepted for filing, and a person who has filed one may file their petition or other papers immediately, without paying any fee. The court grants the application if the information on it shows eligibility; denies it if it is incomplete, with notice of the reason and a chance to submit a revised application; denies it if the information conclusively shows ineligibility, with notice and a chance to request a hearing; or sets a hearing on ten days' notice where it has good reason to doubt the statements or where the information neither establishes nor rules out eligibility. The clerk may be delegated the power to grant a request that meets the standards, but never the power to deny one or grant it only in part. Section 68634 also provides that the application is decided without regard to what your petition asks for: the court looks at your means, not at your case, and the clerk may not refuse to file your petition because the fee has not been paid while the request is pending.

How long it lasts, and when fees can come back

The Judicial Council's guide says a fee waiver expires 60 days after the judgment is entered, the case is dismissed or the judge makes a final decision, and that it can also end if the court decides you no longer qualify. Anything you need to do in the case after it expires, such as a later request for an order, needs a new request if you still cannot afford the fee.

Form FW-001-INFO explains the duty that comes with a waiver: you must tell the court within five days if your finances improve or you become able to pay court fees during the case, on a Notice to Court of Improved Financial Situation or Settlement (form FW-010), and you may be ordered to repay amounts that were waived after your eligibility ended. In a family law case the court may also order you to pay all or part of the waived fees if, when it enters a judgment or a support order, it finds your circumstances have changed so that you can afford them; the guide says the court must tell you first and give you a chance to ask for a hearing. Section 68630(c) is the policy behind this: those who are able to pay court fees should do so.

How the office prepares it, within the flat fee

When you say in the screening that you want to ask for a waiver, the FW-001 and the court's order form (FW-003) are attorney-prepared with your petition, from the figures you enter in your intake, and reviewed like every other document. Where you qualify by public benefits, the form names the program and the income pages are left as the instructions require; where you qualify by income or need, the income and expense items are completed from your intake. The items the intake does not ask are named for you to complete in ink before you file, and you sign the request yourself, because it is your statement under penalty of perjury. The clerk files your petition without payment while the court decides.

A fee waiver on a summary dissolution or a joint petition is prepared the same way for the spouse who engages the office. The other spouse is not a client of this office in the divorce and prepares their own request, if they need one, on the same form from the court's website.

If the request is denied

A denial for an incomplete form comes with the reason and a chance to submit a revised application. A denial on the merits comes with the reason and a chance to request a hearing, where you may give the court more information. The Judicial Council's guide has a page on what to do after a denial. If the waiver is refused, Government Code section 68634(g) gives you ten days after the clerk's notice of denial to pay the fee, or the partial payment the court ordered, unless within those ten days you submit a new application or request a hearing; if you do not pay on time, the clerk voids the papers that were filed without payment. A court that finds you can pay part of the fees, or pay over time, may grant a partial waiver instead of none (sections 68632(c) and 68634(e)).

The office's flat fee is the same whether or not a waiver is granted, and the fee waiver forms are included in it at no charge. What is not included is the court's fee itself, which is paid by you to the court if the court does not waive it. If you receive a notice of denial or a hearing date, your portal is the place to tell the office, so that the filing instructions for the next step can say whether the fee is due with it.

Rozsa Gyene, State Bar of California No. 208356, 3500 W. Olive Ave., Suite 300, Burbank, CA 91505.