Filing an uncontested divorce in Merced County

Two courthouses for family law: Merced and Los Banos

The court's Locations page lists Family Law, Family Court Services and the Self-Help Center among the divisions served at the Ogletree Jr. Courthouse, which it also calls the N Street Building, at 2260 N Street, Merced, CA 95340, main telephone (209) 725-4100. The Ogletree location page puts the Family Law Division on the second floor, with its own telephone (209) 725-4117 and fax (209) 725-4118, and gives its in-person hours as Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.; the same page gives the building's hours as 7:45 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., with the doors opening at 7:45 a.m. The Family Law division page states the same hours in its own way, that the clerk's office is open from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. for all filings, Mondays through Fridays, and adds the Family Law calendar desk, (209) 725-4155. Every hour printed here comes from the location pages and the Family Law division page named in this paragraph; the local rules add that clerk's office hours are posted on the court's website and may be amended, which is a reason to open the court's page before you drive there.

The second building is in Los Banos. The court's Los Banos Division page lists a Family Law Division and states that the Los Banos Division will accept all family law filings, at The Robert M. Falasco Justice Center, 1159 G Street, Los Banos, CA 93635, telephone (209) 725-4124, fax (209) 725-4125, office hours Monday through Friday, 7:45 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The court's dissolution packet agrees: a person filing in Los Banos goes to 1159 G Street, where there is only one clerk's office. Local Rule 402 says documents can be filed and copies obtained at either courthouse. Two other court pages read differently. The Los Banos location page lists the cases served there as adult, civil, criminal, juvenile, small claims and traffic, and the Locations page lists the Los Banos divisions as civil, collections, criminal, Self-Help Center and traffic; neither names family law. No court page read for this page reconciles the two descriptions, so both are printed here, and the court's own family law form captions carry a checkbox for either street address.

A third building appears on the court's family law forms without taking family law filings. The Old Merced Courthouse at 627 W 21st Street, Merced, CA 95340 houses administration, civil, collections, finance, human resources and probate, according to the Locations page. It is also the mailing address printed in the caption of the court's family law local forms for the Merced courthouse, and the local rules give it as the mailing address for all judicial officers. The court's family law form captions print 627 W 21st Street as the Merced mailing address and 1159 G Street for Los Banos; the Family Law division page speaks of mail only for payment by money order or cashier's check, and no court page read for this page describes filing a family law document by mail.

Which courthouse hears your case: the districts and Courtroom 13

Rule 1 of the court's Local Rules of Court, effective July 1, 2026, divides the county into two districts. The West County District is the district consisting of the courthouse located in Los Banos, defined by ZIP codes 95322, 95374, 93620, 93635 and 93665; the Merced District is the rest. The rule says all actions or proceedings shall be heard in the district in which they arose or in which a party resides, and that a case may be transferred between the districts. The same rule describes a direct calendar system, with each case assigned to one judge for all purposes and the assigned judge reflected on the first paper filed, and the family law rules add that a single judge is assigned to the Family Law Department for all purposes.

Local Rule 402 then gives a person in the Los Banos area a choice. All cases opened after January 2017 for persons living in the Los Banos area can be, at the litigant's choice, set for hearing at the Los Banos Courthouse in Courtroom 13; long-cause matters, case management conferences and settlement conferences are heard in Merced in Courtroom 7. The court's Court Information and Services page lists the current assignment of Courtrooms 7 and 13 and the Family Law calendar desk, and Local Rule 402 says hearing dates and times are subject to change and sends the reader to the court's website.

Because Merced County has two family law courthouses, the office confirms the courthouse with you before the petition is prepared, and your written filing instructions name that courthouse and the method of filing. An uncontested divorce on a written settlement agreement is submitted for judgment on declarations under Family Code section 2336 and California Rules of Court, rule 5.409, without a hearing, so the choice of courtroom matters less than the choice of the clerk's office where your papers are filed and your copies are returned.

The counter, the drop boxes and the mail

At the counter, the Family Law division page says payments are accepted with cash, a cashier's check, a money order, or a credit or debit card that carries a Visa or MasterCard logo, with a processing or convenience fee for cards. The court's dissolution packet tells a filer to make two copies each of the Petition, the Summons and the UCCJEA form and take them to the Family Law Clerk's Office to file, and that the clerk returns two file-stamped copies; it also says the Family Law Clerk charges the filing fee when the first papers are filed.

The court's Drop Boxes and Locations page describes official drop boxes outside the front doors at 2260 N Street, at 627 W 21st Street, at 720 W 20th Street and in the parking lot of the Los Banos courthouse. The page says the boxes are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to permit the same-day filing of documents deposited before 4:00 p.m. A document placed in a box after 4:00 p.m. is filed the next court day, and the court's Court Holidays page adds that if the filing date of a document falls on a Saturday, Sunday or court holiday, the document is due the next court business day.

The Family Law division page mentions mail only for payment by money order or cashier's check. Electronic filing through an approved provider is open to a self-represented filer and is described in its own section below.

The court's fees, from the schedule its fee page links

The court's Fee and Bail Schedules page offers a link it labels 2026 Fee Schedule, and the link opens the Judicial Council's Statewide Civil Fee Schedule effective January 1, 2026, read for this page on October 18, 2026. The court's Family Law division page carries a related link labeled Filing Fees that still opens the schedule effective January 1, 2024; this page follows the Fee and Bail Schedules page and the 2026 schedule, and the court's own dissolution packet, revised July 1, 2025, states the same first-paper figure for a divorce, legal separation or nullity. The 2026 schedule marks the dissolution fees with an asterisk and explains in a footnote that fees so marked vary in Riverside, San Bernardino and San Francisco because of a local surcharge for courthouse construction. Merced is not named in that footnote.

The family law lines of the Statewide Civil Fee Schedule effective January 1, 2026 that an uncontested divorce can meet:

• Item 97, a petition or other first paper for dissolution of marriage or domestic partnership, legal separation or nullity: $435, citing Government Code sections 70670(b), 70602.5 and 70602.6. The Family Law Clerk collects it when an ordinary petition opens the case.
• Item 98, a response or other first paper filed in response to a petition for dissolution: $435, citing Government Code section 70670(d). It is charged when a response or another first paper is filed in response, and not otherwise.
• Item 99, a joint petition for dissolution or legal separation, except for summary dissolution cases: $870, citing Family Code section 2342.5(h). In the schedule's words, the fee covers the appearance of both petitioners.
• Item 100, a joint petition for summary dissolution of marriage or domestic partnership: $435, citing Government Code sections 70670(b), 70602.5 and 70602.6.
• Court-set charges on the Fee and Bail Schedules page: a clerk's search for a file of ten minutes or more, $15; copies, 50 cents per page; blank forms, three copies for 50 cents. The dissolution packet itself is sold at the Family Law Clerk's office, and its cover prints the price of $11.00.

How many first-paper fees each path pays here

An ordinary petition where your spouse signs the settlement agreement and never files a response pays item 97 once, $435. An ordinary petition answered by a response pays items 97 and 98, $870 between the two of you. A joint petition under Family Code section 2342.5 pays both first-paper fees, $870, the amount the schedule lists at item 99, because section 2342.5(h) provides that a joint petition is filed with the fees under Government Code section 70670(b) and (d) unless both spouses have fee waivers. A couple who qualify for a summary dissolution under Family Code sections 2400 to 2403 pay one first-paper fee, $435, at item 100. The joint petition does not save a court fee in Merced County; it pays both first-paper fees.

The office's charge is a flat fee paid to the office and separate from anything paid to the court: $599 for a summary dissolution, $999 for a joint petition, $1,499 for an ordinary petition. Within it are the preparation and attorney review of every document in a limited scope engagement under California Rules of Court, rule 5.425, written filing instructions for Merced County that name the courthouse you confirmed and the filing method, reviewed by the attorney before they are released to you, one revision round of the settlement agreement, and the first correction of a judgment packet the court returns. A further revision round is quoted to you before any work on it begins. The flat fee is earned in stages; should the representation end before the work is done, the unearned part comes back to you.

The office prepares the documents and you file them. The office does not file, does not serve your spouse, does not appear in court, does not provide a notary, and does not prepare or record deeds. You file as a self-represented litigant with the instructions the attorney reviewed. The office represents one spouse only; in the divorce the other spouse is not a client of this office, is not advised by it, and may consult an attorney of their own choosing.

If you cannot afford the fee

The court's Fee Waivers page opens with a plain statement: if you cannot pay your court fees, you may qualify for a fee waiver. It offers an information flyer in English, Hmong and Spanish and a downloadable Fee Waiver Packet, with the instruction to print the forms, complete them and file them with the court. The packet holds the Judicial Council's Request to Waive Court Fees, form FW-001, in the revision of March 1, 2026, with that year's income table. The English flyer tells a filer to complete FW-001 and item 1 of the Order on Court Fee Waiver, form FW-003, make one copy of each, and turn the forms in with the copies to the clerk. The court's dissolution packet says the Fee Waiver packet is free and that a filer requests it and files those forms when filing the first papers.

The grounds are statewide, in Government Code sections 68630 to 68634: a listed public benefit, a household income at or below the Judicial Council's published limit, or an inability to pay the fee and still meet the household's basic needs, and under section 68634(c) the clerk files the petition while the request is decided. The court's Local Rule 2 refers every party who asks about a waiver to California Rules of Court, rules 3.50 to 3.58, and the same rule permits a party to file the application electronically and provides that a party with a fee waiver who files electronically is exempt from the fees and costs associated with electronic filing.

On a joint petition, Family Code section 2342.5(h) calls for both first-paper fees unless both spouses hold waivers, so a couple who both qualify each complete a request of their own. The office prepares the request and the order form inside the flat fee when you ask for them. The waiver reaches the fees the court charges and the e-filing charges the rule names; it does not change the office's fee.

E-filing: required of attorneys, a choice for you

Local Rule 2, under the heading Electronic Filing, says parties must file documents electronically in limited, unlimited and complex civil actions and in non-DCSS family law and probate matters, and then provides that self-represented parties are exempt from mandatory electronic filing and service requirements. You file the documents yourself, as a self-represented party, so you may e-file or file on paper as you choose. The rule's own dates show it was adopted July 1, 2004 and revised January 1, 2026.

The rule requires an approved electronic filing service provider and says approved providers are listed on the court's website. The court's E-Filing page names the platform, Odyssey eFileCA, describes it as a way to open court cases and e-file documents, links the platform's site, and notes that the platform's vendor applies a minimum credit card convenience fee to e-file transactions; the page itself lists no providers. The court's Online Form Preparation page carries E-Filing Instructions for a person filing without a lawyer: select an authorized e-filing provider from the list the page links, create an account, and upload the documents from home; the provider may charge its own fee, and the court's filing fee is still due unless a fee waiver is filed or granted. The list the page links is hosted on the platform vendor's site rather than the court's, and it was not read for this page, so no provider is named here.

Local Rule 2 sets the clock for an e-filed document: a document received before midnight is deemed filed that day, with 5:00 p.m. as the cutoff where same-day service is required, and no document transmitted electronically is deemed filed unless it is accepted for filing by the clerk. The court's Forms and Filing page adds that it is the sole responsibility of the filer to ensure all documents are properly redacted before transmission. The Self-Help Center page says computers are available for public use to complete forms online, to e-file and to look up case information, in both the Merced and the Los Banos centers.

Local rules and the local forms

The court's Local Rules page posts the edition of the Local Rules of Court effective July 1, 2026, 112 pages. Its family law rules run from Rule 400, Family Law, General Policy Statement, through Rule 401, Matters Assigned to the Family Law Division, Rule 402, Request for Order and Title IV-D Calendar, Rule 407, Lack of Appearance or Tardiness, Rule 408, Telephone Appearances, which refers to Rule 2.2, Rule 415, Income and Expense Declaration, Rule 417, Case Management, Rule 418, Settlement Conferences, and Rule 419, Trials and Long Cause Hearings. Rule 2, Filing Procedures, reaches a dissolution twice: all papers necessary to a hearing in default cases, including default dissolutions, and agreements in dissolution actions, shall be filed on the third court day preceding the date set for hearing; and no hearing will be set in a default or uncontested matter until all requisite pleadings and documents have been filed and the clerk has entered the default.

The court's Local Forms page lists its family law forms with a status for each. The Request for Default Setting, local form MSC-FL-024, effective January 1, 2020, is listed Optional; it is a petitioner's request, after a default has been entered, to set the case for an uncontested trial on the relief the form lists, among them the determination and division of community property. The court's Divorce or Separation page explains when each setting form is used: if a response has not been filed, MSC-FL-024; if a response has been filed, the At-Issue Memorandum, local form MSC-FL-022, which comes in the court's At-Issue Memorandum packet, revised August 10, 2018, titled To Request a Trial Date for your Divorce. Both forms set a hearing or a trial; a judgment entered on declarations without a hearing under Family Code section 2336 and rule 5.409 is not set by either.

Two local forms attach to a judgment. The Marital Settlement Agreement Addendum, local form MSC-FL-034, and the Marital Settlement Agreement Addendum with Child Support, local form MSC-FL-033, both revised February 25, 2020, are listed Mandatory on the Local Forms page and in the approved-forms list inside the local rules, where each is titled Addendum to Judgment. The forms' own footers read For Optional Use. Both descriptions are printed here because the court prints both; the office prepares the addendum with your judgment. The form states that the agreement may be incorporated into a final judgment and made an order of the court, and may be signed by a court commissioner as a judge pro tem. It also carries a checkbox for the case in which a default has been entered, stating that the respondent's signature has been notarized.

The Local Forms page lists other mandatory family law forms, among them MSC-FL-030, Approval for Confidential Records, MSC-FL-032, Statement of Issues and Contentions, for a trial, and MSC-FL-035, Request for Separate CCRC Session, and an optional Merced County Department of Child Support Services Court Information Sheet, local form MCDCSS-123, which the court's dissolution packet says a petitioner with a minor child files with the petition. A case with minor children is outside the flat fee, so that form does not arise in a case the office prepares.

Finishing the case: what the court says about the judgment

The statewide rules fix the contents of a judgment packet. Under California Rules of Court, rule 5.405 a court may ask for no more than the Judgment Checklist, form FL-182, and the forms it lists; a stipulated judgment falls under rule 5.411; rule 5.415 requires stamped envelopes addressed to each spouse for the Notice of Entry of Judgment, form FL-190; and Family Code section 2336 with rule 5.409 allows the judgment to be entered on your declaration without a hearing. Family Code section 2104 requires each spouse's preliminary declaration of disclosure, and section 2105 permits the final declaration to be waived in writing.

The court's own material on finishing a case is brief, and this page reports it as written. The Family Law division page's FAQ says all of the basic forms for finalizing a divorce are in the Divorce packet sold in the Family Law Clerk's office. The Divorce or Separation page offers two ways to prepare the finishing forms: an online form program reached through a link labeled Finish a Divorce/Legal Separation by Default, or, to fill out the forms by hand, an email to selfhelp@mercedcourt.org asking for help to finish the case. The dissolution packet says you cannot obtain a judgment until you have served the disclosures and filed the Declaration Regarding Service of Declaration of Disclosure, form FL-141, and that the case is not complete until a judge signs the judgment. The court's Local Forms page and its divorce pages list no judgment packet.

No court page or packet read for this page states a procedure for submitting a judgment packet, a count of copies or a count of envelopes for a judgment, and none is invented here. What the court does state about getting a document to the clerk applies to a judgment as to any other paper: the Family Law Clerk's Office at 2260 N Street or the clerk's office at 1159 G Street during the hours above; the drop boxes, with same-day filing for documents deposited before 4:00 p.m.; and e-filing through an approved provider, which Local Rule 2 leaves optional for a self-represented party; the Family Law page speaks of mail only for payment. Rule 5.415 supplies the envelopes. Your filing instructions name the route, and if the clerk returns the packet, the first correction is part of the flat fee.

One county point touches the spouse who files nothing. The Marital Settlement Agreement Addendum carries the statement that where a default has been entered the respondent's signature has been notarized. The office does not provide a notary; the notarization is one you and your spouse arrange. The judgment the office drafts states the date your marriage ends, as Family Code section 2340 requires, and is accompanied by the Addendum to Judgment the court's forms list names.

Appearing remotely, if a hearing is ever set

In an uncontested divorce on a written agreement no hearing is required, because Family Code section 2336 and rule 5.409 allow the judgment to be entered on declarations. If a hearing is set in your case, the court's home page states that remote access is coordinated through Zoom. The Remote Appearances page says the court utilizes Zoom for remote or telephonic appearances, that there is no cost to appear by Zoom, and that each case type has its own page; the Family Law Remote Appearance page cites California Rules of Court, rule 3.672 and the local rules, and posts the Judicial Council's Notice of Remote Appearance, form RA-010, and Opposition to Remote Appearance at Evidentiary Hearing or Trial, form RA-015.

Local Rule 2.2, Remote Appearances, adopted July 1, 2017 and revised January 1, 2026, says the court has one remote appearance platform available, Zoom. It presumes that parties set for a hearing in non-criminal proceedings will appear in person unless the person participating requests, or notifies the court of an intention, to appear remotely; it requires remote appearances in contested hearings to be by video; and for parties appearing remotely in Courtrooms 7 and 13 it requires that the arrangements, including obtaining the Zoom appearance link, be made before the scheduled hearing time. Neither the rule nor the Family Law Remote Appearance page says how the link is obtained or whom to ask, so this page cannot say. The office does not appear in court. If a hearing is set in your case, the court's notice of it and Rule 2.2 say what is asked of you.

The Self-Help Center and the Family Law Facilitator

The court's self-help service is called the Self-Help Center on its pages, and its dissolution packet refers to the Family Law Facilitator in the Self-Help Office at the court; no court page read names a facilitator or publishes a separate facilitator page, so the Self-Help Center is the contact the court publishes. The center has two locations: Room 1400 on the first floor of the Ogletree Jr. Courthouse, 2260 N Street, Merced, CA 95340, and the first floor of The Robert M. Falasco Justice Center, 1159 G Street, Los Banos, CA 93635. Its telephone is (209) 725-4168, answered Monday through Friday between 8:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m., and its email is selfhelp@mercedcourt.org. The Self-Help Center page states that the center is closed to the public for walk-in services and that services are by appointment, by telephone, by video or in person at Merced and Los Banos. The Los Banos location page prints in-person Self-Help hours of 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. while repeating that the center is closed to walk-ins; the two statements differ, and this page follows the Self-Help Center page and prints the telephone hours only.

The page describes three steps. First, triage by telephone or email. Second, forms and instructions, sent by email as highlighted packets or purchased at the clerk's office without the highlighting. Third, an appointment, booked through a link the center sends with the second step. A team of paralegals and an attorney assist with the case types the page lists, family law among them, and the Self-Help landing page draws the line in its own words: the staff do not give legal advice; they can tell you how to do something but cannot tell you what choice you should make. Computer terminals with internet access are available at both centers, and the dissolution packet sends readers to the Self-Help Center page for current hours and locations.

The center's staff give information and not legal advice, and are not your lawyer.

The flat fee does not reach every case. A case with minor children, a contested case, a business, a pension that needs an order of its own, real property outside California, a legal separation or an annulment, and a spouse who cannot be found are each outside the flat fee. 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.

Summary dissolution in this county

The court's site has no page or packet of its own on summary dissolution; its Divorce or Separation page links the Judicial Council's divorce guide, Divorce in California, which carries the summary dissolution pages. The qualifications are statewide, in Family Code sections 2400 to 2403, and the Judicial Council's Summary Dissolution Information, form FL-810, is the test of whether the two of you meet them. The couple files the Joint Petition for Summary Dissolution, form FL-800, with the property settlement agreement and the Judgment of Dissolution and Notice of Entry of Judgment, form FL-825, and section 2403 enters the judgment at six months unless a revocation has been filed.

In Merced County that petition pays one first-paper fee, $435, at item 100 of the statewide schedule, and it is filed at either clerk's office, in a drop box or through a provider like any other first paper. For a summary dissolution the office charges $599, its flat fee for that path.

After the judgment, in this county

The dissolution packet says the case is not complete until a judge signs the judgment, and the Family Law FAQ places the finishing forms in the same packet as the petition. Family Code section 2339 keeps the marriage in place until six months have passed from the day your spouse is served or appears, and the Judicial Council's form FL-107-INFO, which the court includes in its dissolution packet, counts the earliest date as six months and one day. The judgment states the date the marriage ends, under Family Code section 2340. Nothing filed in Merced County shortens that period.

The clerk mails the entered judgment and the Notice of Entry of Judgment to each spouse in the envelopes rule 5.415 requires. The office does not prepare or record deeds, so a transfer of California real property that your agreement calls for is handled after the judgment by a title company or another attorney. The residence rule is Family Code section 2320, six months in California and three months in the county before the petition is filed, and the court's own packet puts it in one line: you must file in the county where you or your spouse have been a resident for the past three months.

Every source in the list below was read on October 18, 2026. Each address, hour, fee, rule and form number on this page traces to one of them, and nothing the Merced court's materials left unconfirmed appears here.

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