The joint petition for divorce in California: one filing, signed by both of you

What a joint petition is

A joint petition is a way for both spouses to open a divorce case with one filing. Family Code section 2330 provides that a proceeding for dissolution is commenced by filing a petition or a joint petition, and section 2342.5, which became operative on January 1, 2026, sets out how the joint petition works. On the Judicial Council's form, the Joint Petition (form FL-700), both of you give your names, state the date of your marriage, and ask the court to end the marriage. Both of you sign it, and it is filed once, with a Summons for a joint petition (form FL-710).

The form itself says who it is for. Its first page says to use it if you are married, want to divorce, and both agree or plan to agree on all issues in your case, and not to use it if you disagree on any legal issue. The Judicial Council's guide says the same thing in plainer words: a joint petition requires both of you to agree to all of the final terms, and if you do not think you will be able to agree on everything, you should not file one.

The two of you are listed on the form as the first and second petitioners. Either of you can be first; the form says there is no legal advantage to being either, and that whoever is first stays first on every later document in the case. For the court's other forms, which were written for a case where one spouse files and the other responds, section 2342.5(a) says the first spouse named is treated as the one who filed and the second as the one who responded. That is a matter of labels on paper, not of who is in charge of the case.

What it does not do

A joint petition starts the case. It does not finish it. The Judicial Council's guide lists what still has to happen after the filing: both of you exchange financial disclosures, both of you make a written agreement about every issue, the judgment is prepared and filed, and the six months run. The judgment at the end is the same judgment as in any other uncontested divorce: section 2342.5(f) says a judgment based on your agreement is in the same form as if one of you had filed a petition and the other had responded.

It also does not let either of you ask the court for temporary orders while the case is open. Section 2342.5(e) provides that a spouse who files a request for order, a discovery motion or a request to set the case for trial must first, or at the same time, file an amended petition or an amended response, and under subdivision (b)(3) that filing revokes the joint petition and the case goes on as an ordinary dissolution. The guide puts it this way: you cannot ask for temporary orders with a joint petition, and the orders the court makes will be the ones in your agreement, at the end of the case.

And it does not shorten the six months. The joint petition changes how the case begins; it does not change Family Code section 2339, under which no judgment of dissolution is final for the purpose of ending the marriage until six months have passed from the service of the summons and petition or the appearance of the other spouse, whichever comes first. On a joint petition both of you appear the day it is filed, so the six months run from that day.

Who it suits, and who should use something else

The joint petition suits two spouses who have already agreed on the division of their property and debts and on spousal support, who will both sign the papers, and who want to begin together rather than have one of you served by the other. It is the path the office's Joint Petition Uncontested Divorce package is built for.

A marriage of five years or less with no children, no real property and limited property and debt may qualify for a summary dissolution instead, which is a different joint filing under Family Code sections 2400 to 2403 with its own form (FL-800) and its own limits. The Judicial Council's guide points joint petition readers to it, and the office's screening checks those limits before anything is charged. A summary dissolution is prepared by the office at $599; the page on summary dissolution explains who qualifies.

Where the two of you agree on every term but your spouse would rather sign the agreement and file nothing, the ordinary petition with a default and an agreement is the other uncontested path, at $1,499. The office's page on the five steps explains it. Where you do not agree on every term, or either of you needs the court to decide something before the end, the joint petition is the wrong form, and the Judicial Council's form says so.

The joint petition is for a divorce or a legal separation. This office prepares uncontested divorces for a flat fee; a legal separation, an annulment, or a case with minor children, a business, a pension that needs its own order, or real property outside California is outside the flat fee. The screening on the start page says so before you pay. For a case outside the flat fee, attorney Rozsa Gyene offers a consultation by phone or Zoom: book one at https://portal.livingtrust-attorneys.com/book, or call the office at (818) 337-4071.

Residence: six months in California, three in the county

Family Code section 2320 provides that a judgment of dissolution may not be entered unless one of the spouses has lived in California for six months and in the county where the case is filed for three months before the petition is filed. Item 4 of form FL-700 asks you to confirm it: one or both of you have lived in California for the last six months and in the county where you are filing for the last three months. One spouse meeting the requirement is enough. The form adds that if you do not live in California, the court may be limited in the orders it can make.

The office's screening asks the county you live in and whether you and your spouse meet the residence requirement, and the joint petition is prepared for the superior court of that county. The court's own filing rules, not the office, decide which courthouse in the county receives it; in Los Angeles County the office confirms the courthouse with you before the petition is prepared.

The court charges its fee twice

This is the part of the joint petition that catches people out, and this page states it plainly beside the price. Family Code section 2342.5(h) provides that the filing of a joint petition shall be accompanied by the fees provided in subdivisions (b) and (d) of Government Code section 70670, unless both parties have been granted a fee waiver. Subdivision (b) is the fee for the first paper of the spouse who files a dissolution; subdivision (d) is the fee for the first paper of the spouse who responds. A joint petition is the first paper of both of you, so the court charges both.

In Los Angeles County the Superior Court's fee schedule, effective January 1, 2026, lists the fee for a petition or other first paper for dissolution, including a joint petition, at item 100, $435 as of October 17, 2026, and the fee for the response or other first paper filed in response at item 101, also $435. Two first papers means $870 to the court on a joint petition in Los Angeles County. The Judicial Council's guide gives the same figure, you must pay the filing fee of $870, while noting elsewhere that the fees it shows are estimates and that the exact fee is on your county court's schedule. Government Code section 70670 sets the base fee at $355 for each first paper; the court's schedule shows the additional amounts the Government Code adds to it.

So the joint petition does not save a court fee. On the ordinary path, a spouse who signs the agreement and files nothing pays the court nothing: item 104 of the Los Angeles schedule lists a settlement agreement signed by a spouse who has not responded and included in the judgment at no fee. Put side by side in Los Angeles County: $999 to the office and $870 to the court on a joint petition, against $1,499 to the office and $435 to the court on a petition with a default and an agreement. The pricing page shows every path in one table.

A fee waiver changes this only where both of you qualify. Section 2342.5(h) excuses the fees only if both parties have been granted a fee waiver, and the Judicial Council's guide says that if you both need a fee waiver, you each fill out and file your own, and that you should ask the clerk how your court handles the fees when only one spouse qualifies. The office prepares each spouse's Request to Waive Court Fees (form FW-001) as part of the flat fee when asked; the court decides each one. The page on the court fee waiver explains who qualifies.

What happens the day you file

Item 8 of form FL-700 lists what both of you agree to by signing it, and each of these takes effect when the petition is filed. Each of you gives up the right to be legally served with a petition and a summons in the case; there is nobody to serve, because both of you are already in it. By filing the form each of you makes a general appearance, which the form explains means you accept the power of the court to make decisions in your case and agree to take part in it. The day of that appearance is the day the six months of Family Code section 2339 begin.

The standard temporary restraining orders listed in the joint summons (form FL-710) apply to both of you from the filing. Family Code section 2342.5(a)(2) requires the joint summons to include the restraining order of section 2040, and the Judicial Council's guide describes what those orders do: they stop either of you from selling property, moving children out of state, or making big changes to money or insurance while the case is open. Section 2040 itself restrains both spouses from cashing, borrowing against, canceling, transferring or changing the beneficiaries of insurance held for the benefit of the two of you, and from creating or changing a nonprobate transfer without the other's written consent or a court order. It does not stop either of you from making or changing a will.

Financial disclosures within 60 days

Every California divorce requires each spouse to give the other a sworn account of what they own, owe, earn and spend. Family Code section 2104 requires each spouse to serve a preliminary declaration of disclosure on a Judicial Council form, including every tax return filed in the two years before it is served. On a joint petition the Judicial Council's guide sets the deadline at 60 days after the joint petition is filed, the same deadline for both of you.

The disclosure is the Declaration of Disclosure (form FL-140), the Income and Expense Declaration (form FL-150) and the Schedule of Assets and Debts (form FL-142) or Property Declaration (form FL-160), with the statements behind each item; the page on the five steps describes each. Section 2104(b) provides that the disclosure itself is not filed with the court; only proof that it was served is filed (form FL-141), and the guide adds that another adult who is not part of the case, not you, mails it to your spouse.

The office prepares your disclosure from the figures you enter in your intake, item by item, with nothing estimated, and prepares your proof of service. The other spouse prepares their own disclosure; the office does not represent them and does not prepare it. Section 2107 gives the court remedies against a spouse who does not disclose, and section 2106 provides that no judgment on property is entered until each spouse has served a final declaration of disclosure or the two of you have waived it in writing under section 2105(d). In an uncontested case that waiver is the usual course, on the Stipulation and Waiver of Final Declaration of Disclosure (form FL-144), which the office prepares with the judgment packet.

The agreement, then the judgment

With the disclosures exchanged, the settlement agreement is signed. The office drafts the marital settlement agreement from the terms the two of you have already agreed: the division of community property, the confirmation of separate property, who pays each debt, and spousal support waived, reserved or agreed. The page on the settlement agreement describes what it covers and why an attorney drafts it from your terms. One revision round is included in the flat fee.

The judgment packet on a joint petition is the set the Judicial Council's guide lists for a joint petition case with no minor children: the Appearance, Stipulations, and Waivers (form FL-130), which both of you sign to tell the court you are both taking part and agree on how to resolve the case; the Stipulation and Waiver of Final Declaration of Disclosure (form FL-144), which both of you sign; the Declaration for Default or Uncontested Dissolution (form FL-170), signed by one of you; the Judgment (form FL-180), with the signed agreement attached; and the Notice of Entry of Judgment (form FL-190). Each of you files your FL-141 with it if you have not already.

The packet is prepared to California Rules of Court, rules 5.405, 5.411 and 5.415, which fix the forms a court may require, the form of a stipulated judgment and the envelopes and copies that must accompany it; the page on the five steps sets them out. Your filing instructions tell you what to bring.

Family Code section 2336 allows the judgment in an uncontested case to be entered on a written declaration rather than at a hearing, and rule 5.409 provides that courts must allow it and must not require a hearing in every such case. The court reviews the packet; if everything is in order the judge signs the judgment and the clerk mails the filed Judgment and Notice of Entry of Judgment to each of you in the envelopes you provided. Section 2340 requires the judgment to state the date on which it becomes finally effective to end the marriage, and that date is never earlier than six months from the filing of the joint petition. If the court returns the packet with instructions, the first correction is included in the flat fee.

If one of you changes your mind

Either spouse can end the joint process at any time before the judgment is entered. Family Code section 2342.5(b) provides that, without leave of court, the first spouse named may file an amended petition or the second an amended response, and that when either is filed the joint petition is deemed revoked and the proceeding goes on as a petition for dissolution under section 2330. The Judicial Council's forms for this are the Notice of Revocation of Joint Petition (form FL-720) together with an Amended Petition (form FL-100) or a Response (form FL-120).

Three things survive the revocation. The case does not close and does not start over: subdivision (b)(3) provides that the filing date of the joint petition is the filing date for the action and for every deadline, including the six months of section 2339. The restraining orders in the joint summons stay in effect: subdivision (b)(4) says so. And the other spouse has 30 days from being served with the amended paper to file and serve their own amended paper: subdivision (b)(2). The amended forms must be served the ordinary way, by an adult who is not a party, with a proof of service filed.

Revocation takes the case outside the flat fee. The office prepares an uncontested divorce; once the two of you no longer agree on every term, the engagement ends as the engagement letter provides, any unearned part of the fee is refunded, and your portal offers a consultation with attorney Rozsa Gyene by phone or Zoom for the contested case. The thirty-day deadline is the court's, and it runs whether or not anything is filed on your behalf.

What the office prepares for the flat fee

Law Offices of Rozsa Gyene prepares the Joint Petition Uncontested Divorce for a flat fee of $999, attorney-prepared and attorney-reviewed, in a limited scope engagement under California Rules of Court, rule 5.425, which recognizes an arrangement in which a party contracts with an attorney to draft or assist in drafting legal documents and the attorney does not make an appearance in the case. You file the documents with the court yourself, with written filing instructions for your county, and your portal shows which step is open.

The package includes:

• FL-700 joint petition and FL-710 joint summons
• No service: the petition is deemed served on both of you when it is filed
• Preliminary declaration of disclosure (FL-140, FL-142, FL-150, FL-141)
• Attorney-drafted marital settlement agreement, one revision round included
• FL-180 judgment packet with every attachment
• Filing instructions at each step
• One correction of a rejected judgment packet included

What the office does not do

The office represents one spouse only. The other spouse signs the joint petition and the agreement but is not a client of this office in the divorce and is not advised by it; the agreement says so, and the other spouse may take it to an attorney of their own choosing before signing. Both of you sign the agreement before a notary of your own choosing; the office does not provide one, does not file the papers, and does not pay the court's two fees. Where the agreement awards a home to one of you, the two of you arrange the deed yourselves through a title company, an escrow company or a real property attorney; the office prepares none.

Nothing the office does shortens the six months, and nothing on this page suggests otherwise.

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