Filing an uncontested divorce in Fresno County

One family law courthouse: the B. F. Sisk Courthouse

The court's location page lists Family Law, Family Court Services and the Family Law Facilitator's Office among what is housed at the B. F. Sisk Courthouse, 1130 O Street, Fresno, CA 93721-2220, and its Family Law division page gives the Family Court location as 1130 O Street, Second Floor, with the telephone number (559) 457-2100 and the fax number (559) 457-1792. The same page places the Family Law Clerk's Office on the second floor of that building. Because the court names a single family law location, the filing instructions the office prepares for a Fresno County client name that courthouse without the confirmation step a county with several family law courthouses needs.

The court's Locations and Contact Info page gives the clerk's office hours at the B. F. Sisk Courthouse as Monday through Thursday, 8 AM to 3 PM, and Friday, 8 AM to 12 PM, and the building's hours as Monday through Friday, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, with a main number of (559) 457-2000. The clerk's hours are shorter than the building's, so a person filing on paper plans around the clerk's window, not the front door. The office's filing instructions carry these hours as the court published them on the date they were read, and you check the court's page the week you file in case they have changed.

Who may file here is a question of residence, not preference. Family Code section 2320 requires that one spouse has lived in California for six months and in the county of filing for three months when the petition is filed, and the court's own Family Law page and its Starting a Divorce packet both repeat the rule in their own words: one of you must have lived in California for the past six months and in Fresno County for the past three. The office asks for both dates in the intake, and a couple that does not yet meet the county rule waits, because section 2320 does not let the court enter a judgment until the residence period is met.

The fee schedule the Fresno court uses

The Fresno court does not publish a fee list of its own for family law. Its Fee Schedules page links the Judicial Council's Statewide Civil Fee Schedule and states that the schedule is effective January 1, 2024. The Judicial Council's current schedule, effective January 1, 2026, lists the same $435 for the petition and the response at items 97 and 98. That is the document the court itself points to, so that is the document this page reports, as read on October 18, 2026. The schedule's family law items that arise in an uncontested divorce are listed below.

The schedule marks some fees with an asterisk and explains that those fees vary in Riverside, San Bernardino and San Francisco because of a local courthouse construction surcharge. Fresno is not one of the three counties the footnote names, and the schedule the court links shows no other amount for Fresno. The court's Fee Schedules page lists what the counter accepts for a family matter: cash, personal check, cashier's check, certified check, money order and credit card, with checks payable to Fresno County Superior Court.

• Line 96: a petition or other first paper, including a joint petition, for dissolution of marriage, $435 as of October 18, 2026, citing Government Code sections 70670(b), 70602.5 and 70602.6. You pay this when the petition is filed, unless the court has granted a fee waiver.
• Line 97: a response or other first paper filed in response to a petition for dissolution, $435, citing section 70670(d). Your spouse pays this only if they file a response or an appearance in the case.
• Line 100: a settlement agreement or stipulation for judgment signed by a spouse who is in default and included in the judgment of dissolution, no fee (Government Code section 70677(c)). A spouse who signs the agreement and files nothing of their own is not charged.
• Line 101: an appearance, stipulation and waiver of rights in a dissolution, no fee (Government Code section 70673), where the schedule's conditions for that item are met.

How many first-paper fees each path pays in Fresno County

Count the first papers. A summary dissolution under Family Code sections 2400 to 2403 is one joint petition and pays one first-paper fee. An ordinary petition where your spouse signs the settlement agreement and never files anything pays line 96 once, and the agreement itself is filed with the judgment at no charge under line 100. An ordinary petition where your spouse files a response or an appearance pays line 96 and line 97, one by each of you. A joint petition under Family Code section 2342.5 pays both first-paper fees under section 2342.5(h), which directs that the fees in Government Code section 70670(b) and (d) are both paid unless each spouse has a fee waiver; in Fresno County that is $870 at the schedule the court links. At the clerk's window the joint petition saves nothing.

Fresno's own local rule says the same thing about a spouse who first appears in the judgment papers. Rule 5.3.4 of the local rules, covering an appearance by the responding spouse with a marital settlement agreement or stipulated judgment, provides that the spouse may appear by a Response or by the Appearance, Stipulation and Waivers form, and adds in so many words that a first paper filing fee may be required. The office's filing instructions tell you which fees your path pays and when, so the money is in hand on the day.

The office's own fee is separate from every court fee and is paid to the office, not the court: $599 for a summary dissolution, $999 for a joint petition, $1,499 for an ordinary petition. Each is a flat fee for preparing and reviewing every document in a limited scope engagement under California Rules of Court, rule 5.425, with written filing instructions for Fresno County that the attorney reviews before they are released to you. The fee is earned in stages, and the part not yet earned is refunded if the representation ends early.

If you cannot afford the fee

Government Code sections 68630 to 68634 let the court waive its fees for a person who receives a listed public benefit, whose household income is at or below the limit the Judicial Council publishes, or who cannot pay the fee and still meet the household's basic needs. The application is Judicial Council form FW-001, and the clerk accepts the petition for filing while the application is pending. The Fresno court has no web page of its own on fee waivers; its Form Instruction Packets page lists a Fee Waiver Packet under General and an item called Instructions For Requesting a Fee Waiver under Family Law, and both open the same packet, revised February 27, 2026, which holds the information sheet FW-001-INFO, the application FW-001 and the order form FW-003.

A Fresno fee waiver reaches further than the filing fee. Local Rule 4.1.2 provides that a party with a fee waiver who files electronically is exempt from the fees and costs of electronic filing, and Rule 1.1.19 provides that a party who has been granted a fee waiver is not charged for a video or audio appearance if a hearing is ever held remotely. The Family Law Facilitator's Office lists preparing fee waiver applications among its services. The office prepares the FW-001 and the FW-003 as part of the flat fee when you ask for them, and the fee waiver page on this site explains who qualifies. A waiver covers the court's fees only; it does not reduce the office's fee.

Filing on paper or electronically

The court's eFile Resources page states the rule for family law: documents filed by represented parties in all civil, family law and probate actions must be filed electronically unless the court excuses them, and self-represented parties, although not required to, are encouraged to participate in electronic filing and service. Local Rule 4.1.2, Electronic Filing, effective January 1, 2024 and revised in the July 1, 2026 publication of the local rules, says the same and requires electronic filing to go through the court's electronic filing service providers. You file as a self-represented party, since the attorney drafts your documents in a limited scope engagement and does not appear in the case, so paper or electronic filing is your choice.

If you file on paper, Local Rule 1.1.14 governs: papers not subject to mandatory electronic filing are submitted at the Clerk's Office during normal business hours, a paper submitted after hours is filed the next court day, and the rule allows a drop box only where the court has posted a policy permitting one. The office's instructions therefore send you to the Family Law Clerk's Office on the second floor of the B. F. Sisk Courthouse during the clerk's hours. If you file electronically, the court's Electronic Filing Service Providers page lists the vendors it accepts, about one hundred and twenty of them, each with its own website; the court's Family Law Department answers e-filing questions at family.efile@fresno.courts.ca.gov and (559) 457-2100.

The court's eFile Resources page carries a warning that it cannot redact electronically filed documents and that the filer alone is responsible for redacting them before transmission. The documents the office prepares are written to that standard: Social Security numbers and account numbers do not appear in a paper filed in the public file, and your financial disclosure, which does carry account information, is served on your spouse and never filed with the court; only the declaration that it was served is filed. The court also offers Guide & File interviews that let a self-represented person prepare a dissolution petition or response online and either file it electronically or print it to file in person. Your documents are prepared by the attorney, so you do not need the interview, but the court's page is the place to read about it.

Since July 1, 2025, the court's Family Law page says, a represented party must accept electronic service, and an unrepresented party may consent to it using the Consent to Electronic Service and Notice of Electronic Service Address form in the Family Law section of the court's Local Forms page, with a Withdrawal of Consent form beside it. Consenting is optional for you. The summons and petition are served on your spouse by someone other than you, and the proof of that service is what the court files.

What you bring at each step

At the petition. The court's own Starting a Divorce packet, revised July 3, 2025, lists only Judicial Council forms: the Summons (FL-110), the Petition (FL-100), the Proof of Service of Summons (FL-115), the Declaration Under UCCJEA (FL-105) where there are children, the Declaration of Disclosure (FL-140), the Schedule of Assets and Debts (FL-142), the Income and Expense Declaration (FL-150) and the Response (FL-120). No Fresno local form is filed with the petition. You bring the original and the copies the office's instruction sheet calls for, signed in ink where it shows, with the fee or the FW-001 and FW-003. On a joint petition the set is the Joint Petition (FL-700) and its summons (FL-710); on a summary dissolution it is the Joint Petition for Summary Dissolution (FL-800) with the property settlement agreement and the Judgment (FL-825). The clerk keeps the original, stamps the copies with the date and the case number and, on an ordinary petition, issues the summons; you enter the date and number in your portal and the next set is prepared from them.

At service and disclosure, on an ordinary petition. Nothing is filed until your server has served your spouse and signed the Proof of Service of Summons (FL-115), or your spouse has signed the Notice and Acknowledgment of Receipt (FL-117). The Declaration Regarding Service of Declaration of Disclosure (FL-141) is filed once the preliminary disclosure has been served; the disclosure itself stays out of the court file. Fresno's Rule 5.3.3 later asks for a declaration of service of the preliminary disclosure from each spouse, so your spouse's FL-141 is part of the judgment set too.

At the default. Where your spouse signs the agreement and files nothing, the court's Entry of Default packet, revised July 2, 2025, lists the Request to Enter Default (FL-165), the FL-160, the FL-141 and, where there are minor children, the FL-155, submitted as an original plus one copy with one stamped envelope addressed to the other party at their last known address. The office prepares the default set once the time to respond has run and your portal shows the date.

At the judgment. The court's judgment packet, How to Request Judgment of Dissolution or Legal Separation or Nullity, revised September 1, 2024, lists the Declaration for Default or Uncontested Dissolution (FL-170), the Judgment (FL-180), the Notice of Entry of Judgment (FL-190), the attachments to the FL-170 and to the judgment, and the FL-191 where there are children, and points the reader to the Judgment Checklist (FL-182). It says the original documents and two copies of all your forms must be submitted to the court for filing, with two large stamped envelopes, one addressed to each party, and that the clerk mails the filed copies in them. The section on the judgment packet below gives the local rules that shape what goes inside.

The local rules and local forms that touch an uncontested divorce

Fresno's local rules are published as one document, the July 1, 2026 publication, and family law is Chapter 5. The family law judgment rules in that publication are: Rule 5.3.1, Requirements for Every Judgment, effective January 1, 2019; Rule 5.3.2, Default and No Agreement; Rule 5.3.3, Default with Marital Settlement Agreement, effective January 1, 2019; Rule 5.3.4, on an appearance by the responding spouse with a marital settlement agreement or stipulated judgment; and Rule 5.3.5, where the uncontested judgment is entered in court. Rules 5.6.1 to 5.6.6 cover Family Centered Case Resolution and case status conferences, and Rule 5.1.3 covers remote appearances in family law.

Rule 5.3.3 is the one that reaches an agreed divorce where your spouse files nothing. It requires that the defaulted spouse's signature on the marital settlement agreement be notarized; that each unrepresented spouse who signs the agreement give the Declaration of Unrepresented Party, either in the agreement's text or attached to it; that each spouse submit a declaration of service of the preliminary disclosure; and that each spouse submit either a declaration of service of the final disclosure or a separate waiver under Family Code section 2105. The office drafts the settlement agreement with the declaration language the rule calls for and prepares the section 2105 waiver for both signatures. The office does not provide a notary, so your spouse arranges the notarization of their signature where they are, and the instructions say so.

The court's Local Forms page, Family Law section, lists two local forms that fit this path, by title: Family Code Section 2105 Waiver, numbered FFL-08 on its face, in which both spouses mutually agree to waive the section 2105(a) requirement that they complete and exchange final disclosure declarations; and Declaration of Unrepresented Party, numbered FFL-09, in which the signer declares that before signing the agreement they were advised to consult an attorney and declined to do so. The page also lists the Request for Status or Family Centered Case Resolution Conference (PFL-15), which the local rules' forms list marks Mandatory, and the electronic service consent and exemption forms described above. Your spouse is not a client of this office in the divorce, is not advised by it, and may consult an attorney of their own choosing before signing the agreement or the FFL-09; the choice is theirs.

Rule 5.3.2 governs a default with no agreement, which is not an uncontested divorce on a settlement agreement and not the office's path, but its detail shows how closely this court reads a judgment: a supplemental declaration attached to the FL-170 must identify the children, the proposed division of community property, every vehicle by license plate, every boat by CF number and VIN and every aircraft by N number, and the court may set a prove-up hearing. A couple with an agreement avoids all of that by putting the division in the agreement, which is one of the reasons the agreement is the heart of the flat fee. One revision round of the settlement agreement is included; a further round is quoted before any work is done.

The judgment packet in Fresno County

Rule 5.3.1 opens in capital letters: every judgment submitted to the court must have the case name, case number and page number clearly set forth. Its subdivision D then lists what a judgment by declaration must contain in this county: the Declaration for Default or Uncontested Dissolution; the Judgment with the by declaration box checked; attachments in pleading form; the legal description of any real property to be divided; and the Notice of Entry of Judgment with two large stamped addressed envelopes, where the addresses in the boxes on the notice must be the same as the addresses on the envelopes. The rule also requires that any envelope addressed to a defaulted spouse carry the Clerk's address as its return address. These sit on top of the statewide rules: California Rules of Court, rule 5.405, fixes the forms on the Judgment Checklist (FL-182), rule 5.411 governs a stipulated judgment, and rule 5.415 is the source of the envelopes and the notice.

One Fresno requirement concerns a single box on the Judgment form. Rule 5.3.1.D provides that unless a specific date in the future is requested, the date for termination of marital status is left blank. The office prepares the FL-180 to that rule, leaves the date blank, and explains in the instructions why the box is empty. Where a couple asks for a particular later date, the agreement says so and the form requests it.

The court reviews the packet on paper. Family Code section 2336 and rule 5.409 allow the judgment to be entered on your declaration without a hearing, and the court's own judgment packet is written for exactly that, listing the FL-170 declaration as the first form. The packet also notes that if a judgment is entered, any future Family Centered Status Conference is vacated, which matters in this county because Chapter 5 provides for those conferences and the PFL-15 request form is a mandatory local form. You submit the originals and two copies at the Clerk's Office during its hours, as Rule 1.1.14 provides for a paper filing, or through an electronic filing service provider; the court's materials read for this page do not say whether the packet may be mailed, so the office's instructions do not tell you to mail it. If the court returns the packet with a correction, the first correction is included in the flat fee, and the office prepares the corrected set from the clerk's note.

Appearing remotely, if a hearing is ever set

An uncontested divorce on a written agreement is decided on the papers, and this court's packet and rules are built for that. If a hearing is ever set in your case, the court's Family Law page explains that the emergency orders which allowed remote appearances during the pandemic expired on June 30, 2022, and that civil and family law matters now proceed under Code of Civil Procedure section 367.75 and California Rules of Court, rule 3.672. The court's Remote Appearance Procedural Requirements page for family law adds Local Rule 1.1.19: a party asks to appear remotely with the Notice of Remote Appearance (RA-010) and a proposed order (RA-020), the other side may oppose with the RA-015, and the deadlines depend on whether the hearing is evidentiary.

The platforms the court names in Rule 1.1.19 are Zoom for video and audio, CourtCall for audio only, and a direct telephonic appearance, and Rule 5.1.3 repeats that family law parties may appear by Zoom, CourtCall or telephone as the court orders. For a case management conference in family law no request is needed; Rule 5.1.3 and the court's page say a party contacts CourtCall directly for a telephonic appearance. A party with a fee waiver is not charged for a video or audio appearance. The office does not appear at hearings in your case; if one is set, your portal shows it and the office's instructions tell you what the court has asked for and which form requests the remote appearance.

Help the court itself offers: the Self-Help Service Center and the Facilitator

The court's Self-Help Service Center, which its page also calls the Centro de Recursos Legales, is on the first floor of the B. F. Sisk Courthouse, 1130 O Street, Fresno, CA 93721-2220, telephone 559-457-2143, email SelfHelpFamilyLaw@Fresno.Courts.Ca.Gov. Its hours as published: walk-ins Monday 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and Tuesday and Wednesday 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.; email and telephone assistance Thursday and Friday 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The page lists Dissolution first among the forms the Center has instructions for, in Spanish and English, says the Center gives general legal information and cannot give legal advice, and says there is no charge for using its services, with a nominal charge for self-help packets and documents prepared or copied at the office.

The Family Law Facilitator's Office shares the first floor location, the information line (559) 457-2143 and the hours. Its page says its priority is child and spousal support, that it can set only limited appointments and give limited help with divorce, custody or visitation documents, and that staff will not complete forms for a customer but will review papers to determine whether they are complete and ready for filing. It lists preparing fee waiver applications and helping with proofs of service among its services, states that it may not assist a party who is represented by an attorney, and warns that self-help customers can expect to spend a few hours at the office. The documents the office prepares for you are written to be filed without the Center's help, and your portal and the office are where your questions go first; the court's own desks answer what only the court can, such as what a clerk wants on the day.

The Center and the Facilitator may help both spouses, and your spouse is free to use them; the office represents one spouse only and does not advise your spouse. It does not file, does not serve, and does not prepare or record deeds. Outside the flat fee here as in every county: a case with minor children, a contested case, a business, a pension that needs its own order, real property outside California, a legal separation or an annulment, and a spouse who cannot be found. The State Bar of California's Lawyer Referral Service directory, at calbar.ca.gov/Public/Need-Legal-Help/Lawyer-Referral-Service, lists the certified lawyer referral services for every county.

After the judgment, in this county

The clerk mails the entered Judgment and the Notice of Entry of Judgment (FL-190) to each spouse in the two large stamped envelopes the packet required. The court's Family Law page puts the timing plainly: the earliest date your marital status can end is six months and one day from the day your spouse is served with the papers or files a response, whichever is earlier, which is Family Code section 2339 as form FL-107-INFO counts it, and the judgment states the date under section 2340. The same page says the judgment is not automatic, that an uncontested case may take several months, and that you should not assume you are divorced until you have seen a file-stamped Judgment from the court that says so. Nothing the office does shortens the six months.

A former name restored in the judgment is changed on your identification with a copy of the judgment, as the Judicial Council's guide on life after the divorce explains; the court's fee page and the schedule it links are where the current charge for a certified copy is found. The office's Fresno County filing instructions are built from the court's materials listed below, each read on the date shown, and the office does not release instructions for any county whose court data it has not read in the court's own words.

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