Filing an uncontested divorce in Monterey County

Five courthouses, one family law venue

Monterey County has a single superior court, and its Locations and Contact Information page lists five courthouses: Salinas at 240 Church Street, the Juvenile Justice Court at 1422 Natividad Road in Salinas, Monterey at 1200 Aguajito Road, King City at 250 Franciscan Way, and Marina at 3180 Del Monte Boulevard. Only one of them takes a divorce. Local Rule 2.2, titled Venue, Monterey Division, lists the actions that must be commenced in the Monterey Division, and family law proceedings are on that list under the heading of civil proceedings. There is no choice to make and no zip code to look up: a petition for dissolution in Monterey County is filed at the Monterey Courthouse.

The court's page for the Monterey Courthouse gives the address as 1200 Aguajito Road, Monterey, CA 93940, the telephone number as (831) 647-5800, and the building hours as Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. It houses Courtrooms 13 through 17 and lists civil, family, probate and self-help services among the case types served there. The court's own divorce packet and both of its judgment packets direct a filer to the first floor Family Law filing window in that building. No court page read for this page gives separate hours for the filing window, so the building hours are the only ones printed here.

The other buildings are named so that you do not drive to the wrong one. The Salinas Courthouse page lists criminal, juvenile and mental health as the cases served at 240 Church Street, and Local Rule 2.2 places family law in the Monterey Division. The Marina Courthouse at 3180 Del Monte Boulevard handles traffic, small claims and child support hearings; the court's Family Law page says child support matters are heard there in Department 21, which does not arise in an uncontested divorce without children. King City houses one of the three Self-Help Center locations, described below. The five buildings as the court's pages listed them on October 18, 2026:

• Monterey Courthouse: 1200 Aguajito Road, Monterey, CA 93940, (831) 647-5800. Family law filings and hearings, Departments 16 and 17, and the Monterey Self-Help Center on the first floor.
• Salinas Courthouse: 240 Church Street, Salinas, CA 93901, (831) 775-5400. Criminal, juvenile and mental health.
• Juvenile Justice Court: 1422 Natividad Road, Salinas, CA 93906.
• King City Courthouse: 250 Franciscan Way, King City, CA 93930. A Self-Help Center location on Tuesdays.
• Marina Courthouse: 3180 Del Monte Boulevard, Marina, CA 93933, (831) 883-5300. Traffic, small claims and child support hearings in Department 21.

Departments 16 and 17, and how the court assigns yours

The court's Family Law page says family law matters are heard at the Monterey Courthouse in Departments 16 and 17, and that the department depends on the case number: odd-numbered cases go to Department 16 and even-numbered cases to Department 17. Local Rule 1.4(F), on the Family Law Department, writes the even half of that rule into the court's rules, assigning even-numbered cases to Department 17 and the judge sitting there. The number is given by the clerk when the petition is filed, so neither you nor the office picks a department; it is known the moment your stamped copies come back, and your portal records it with the case number.

For an uncontested divorce the department matters less than it sounds. The judgment is entered on your written declaration, without a hearing, under Family Code section 2336 and California Rules of Court, rule 5.409, so the department is the place your judgment packet is reviewed rather than a courtroom you visit. The office's filing instructions carry it forward once the clerk has assigned it. Because Monterey County has one family law courthouse, the petition is captioned for the Monterey Courthouse from the start.

The court's fees, item by item

The court publishes its own schedule, the Statewide Civil Fee and Local Fee Schedule, effective January 1, 2026 and revised December 3, 2025, linked from its Bail and Fee Schedules page as the 2026 state civil and local fee schedule. It was read on October 18, 2026. The petition and the response carry the same item numbers and amounts as on the Judicial Council's Statewide Civil Fee Schedule effective January 1, 2026: the petition and the response are $435 each, at items 97 and 98. The schedule marks the amounts that vary by county with an asterisk and explains in its footnote that those fees vary in Riverside, San Bernardino and San Francisco because of a local surcharge; Monterey is not among them, and the schedule's local section lists only a charge for printed packets and forms. The court's own divorce packet, revised December 31, 2019, tells a filer to bring the same amount as a mandatory first-time filing fee, adding that the figure is subject to change, which is why this page gives the date it was read.

The lines on the schedule 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, under Government Code sections 70670(b), 70602.5 and 70602.6, paid at the window or through the provider when the petition is filed.
• Item 98: a response or other first paper filed in response to the petition, $435, under Government Code section 70670(d), owed by a spouse who files a Response (form FL-120) or another first paper in response.
• Item 103: a settlement agreement signed by a defaulted respondent and included in a judgment, no fee, under Government Code section 70677(c). A spouse who signs the agreement and files nothing is not charged for it.
• Item 104: an appearance, stipulation and waiver of rights in a dissolution of marriage or domestic partnership (form FL-130), no fee, under Government Code section 70673.
• Item 214, a local fee: the court's printed packets for dissolutions, small claims, unlawful detainer and name changes, $4 each, under Government Code section 70631. The office prepares your forms, so you do not need to buy a packet.

How many first-paper fees each path pays here

An ordinary petition where your spouse signs the settlement agreement and files nothing pays item 97 once, $435, and item 103 confirms that the signed agreement included in the judgment costs nothing more. An ordinary petition where your spouse files 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, because subdivision (h) of that section 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 summary dissolution under Family Code sections 2400 to 2403 pays one first-paper fee, $435. The joint petition does not save a court fee in Monterey County; it pays both first-paper fees.

The office's flat fee is a separate amount, paid to the office and not to the court: $599 for a summary dissolution, $999 for a joint petition and $1,499 for an ordinary petition. It covers the preparation and attorney review of every document in a limited scope engagement under California Rules of Court, rule 5.425, the written filing instructions for the Monterey Courthouse, one revision round of the settlement agreement, and the first correction of a judgment packet the court returns. If a further revision round is needed, it is quoted before any work is done. The fee is earned in stages, and whatever has not been earned is refunded if the representation ends early.

The office does not file your documents, does not serve your spouse, does not appear in court, does not provide a notary and does not prepare or record deeds. The documents reach the court in your hands or through the e-filing provider you choose, with the attorney's written filing instructions, which the attorney reviews before they are released to you. The office represents one spouse only; the other 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.

If you cannot afford the fee

The court has no page of its own on fee waivers. Its Family Law page says you may ask the court to waive the filing fee if your household income falls below certain guidelines, and links the Judicial Council's Request to Waive Court Fees, form FW-001, and its information sheet, FW-001-INFO. The statute is Government Code sections 68630 to 68634: a waiver is granted to a person who receives one of the listed public benefits, whose household income is at or below the published limit, or who cannot pay the fee and still meet the basic needs of the household, and the clerk accepts the petition for filing while the request is pending.

The court's divorce packet adds a rule of timing: your completed fee waiver forms must be submitted at the same time as your Petition and Summons, and the packet names both the request, FW-001, and the Order on Court Fee Waiver, FW-003, which the court fills in with its decision. The Judicial Council's fee waiver guide explains that one of the three grounds is enough and that the waiver lets you file without paying. The office prepares the request and the order form within the flat fee when you ask for them; on a joint petition, section 2342.5(h) requires both first-paper fees unless each spouse holds a waiver of their own. A waiver reaches the court's fees only. It does not change the office's fee.

E-filing is encouraged, not required

The court's Electronic Filing page draws the line the way the court's own pages state it: attorneys are mandated to e-file, and self-represented litigants are encouraged to e-file but not mandated. Local Rule 1.7, E-Filing of Documents, says the same, requiring e-filing in every case type other than the appellate department and adding that although e-filing is not mandatory for self-represented parties, they are encouraged to e-file. You file as a self-represented party, because the attorney prepares your documents under a limited scope engagement and does not appear in your case, so the choice between paper and electronic filing is yours. The court's Family Law page states the two routes for family law documents in one sentence: through an e-filing service provider or by US mail.

E-filing goes through a provider. The Electronic Filing page links the court's list of eCourt Electronic Filing Service Providers, a spreadsheet with a vendor name and a vendor web address on each line; providers listed include 1 eFile, 123 E-File, ABC Legal, File and ServeXpress, First Legal, Green Filing, LegalConnect and US Legal PRO. The same page states that Tyler Technologies is no longer able to submit electronic filings to the Monterey Superior Court, so a provider you may have used in another county is not necessarily one you can use here; the court's current list is the one to read. The court also offers a How to File at Home page with a guided online process whose first option is Divorce, Legal Separation or Nullity, in three steps: answer questions online, let the system create the documents, and file the case online. The office's documents are prepared for you already, so that guided interview is not part of your filing instructions.

Paper remains an option. The court's Family FAQ, answering a question about restraining orders, says the court suggests that all legal documents be filed electronically, and that paper may be filed by mail to the Clerk's Office at the Monterey Courthouse, in person, or in the drop boxes in front of the Salinas and Monterey courthouses. That answer is written for restraining orders, and no court page read for this page says a dissolution petition may go in the drop box, so your filing instructions send the petition to the filing window, by mail, or through a provider, and not to the drop box. The instructions name the method you choose and what comes back from the window: the stamped copies with the filing date and the case number, and the issued summons.

What you bring at each step

At the petition. The court's own divorce packet for a case without children under 18, revised December 31, 2019, lists the forms a petition takes to the window: the Petition (form FL-100), the Summons (form FL-110), the Proof of Service of Summons (form FL-115) for later, a blank Response (form FL-120) to be served with the petition, and the information sheet FL-107-INFO. The office prepares the completed forms your case needs and releases them with the instructions; you bring the originals and the copies the instructions name, signed in ink where shown, with $435 or the fee waiver request and order. Local Rule 10.11 adds something the clerk hands you rather than something you bring: on the initial filing, the clerk gives the petitioner a packet with FL-107-INFO and local form CI-138, a List of Local Resources. The court's packet puts the next point plainly: filing the petition and summons starts your case, and you do not become divorced by filing them.

At service, on an ordinary petition. The court's packet repeats the rule every California court applies, that you may not serve the papers on your spouse yourself, and tells the filer to have the filed Petition, the filed Summons and a blank Response served in person, then to file the completed Proof of Service of Summons (form FL-115) at the Family Law filing window. Nothing reaches the court between the petition and the proof of service. Your preliminary declaration of disclosure, which Family Code section 2104 requires, is served on your spouse and never filed; only the Declaration Regarding Service of Declaration of Disclosure (form FL-141) is filed, and the court's default judgment packet lists a completed preliminary disclosure among the things that must be done before a judgment is requested.

At the judgment. The court's two judgment packets fix the copy and envelope counts, which are set out in their own section below. You submit the packet at the first floor Family Law filing window or by mail with a return envelope, as the packets say; the forms are the ones California Rules of Court, rule 5.405 puts on the Judgment Checklist (form FL-182), and your filing instructions list them with the copy counts the Monterey packets ask for.

Local rules and the court's packets

The Local Rules of Court of the Superior Court of California, County of Monterey, are effective July 1, 2026, and the court's Local Rules page links them. Chapter 10 is the Family Law Department: 10.1 Law and Motion, 10.2 Settlement Conferences, 10.3 Child and Spousal Support, 10.4 Office of Family Law Facilitator / Self Help Center, 10.5 Parent Orientation, 10.6 Mediation of Child Custody and Visitation Disputes, 10.7 Court-Ordered Fact-Based Inquiry, 10.8 Court Ordered Psychological Evaluation and Custody Evaluation, 10.9 Professional and Non-Professional Visit Supervision, 10.10 Department of Child Support Services, 10.11 Family Centered Case Resolution, 10.12 Emancipation of Minors and 10.13 Miscellaneous Rules. Chapter 12, Setting of Contested Family Law and Adoption, governs the at-issue memorandum and short and long cause settings, none of which an uncontested divorce on a written agreement ever reaches. Outside those chapters, Rule 1.4(F) assigns the departments, Rule 1.7 governs e-filing, Rule 1.8 governs remote civil proceedings and Rule 2.2 fixes the venue.

Rule 10.11, Family Centered Case Resolution, is the local rule an uncontested case meets whether or not anything goes wrong. It directs the clerk to hand the petitioner the FL-107-INFO and CI-138 packet at filing, and it has court staff review the status of the case twice, about six months apart. If no judgment has been entered when the second review comes, the court sets a Case Resolution Conference. Local forms CI-142, Application and Order to Continue Case Resolution Conference, and CI-148, Request for Conference or Advancement of Case Resolution Conference, exist for cases that reach that point. A couple who serve the petition, exchange disclosures and submit a complete judgment packet when the six months of Family Code section 2339 have run give the court nothing to review at the second check; the office's instructions are built around that sequence.

Rule 10.13(B) requires a confidential attachment to be filed separately from the document it belongs to, with a cover sheet stating the case title, the case number and the word CONFIDENTIAL, and it names local form CI-153, Confidential Document Cover Sheet, Family Law, for the purpose. If your case has a confidential attachment, the office's documents follow the rule. Beyond that, no court source read for this page identifies a local form that a petitioner must file with a dissolution petition, a request to enter default or a judgment packet: the local family law forms on the court's Court Forms and Packets page are CI-137 and CI-137S for parentage, CI-138 (given by the clerk, not filed), CI-142, CI-148, CI-151 and CI-153. The Judicial Council forms are the forms.

The same page lists the court's own packets for a divorce: Declaration of Disclosure; Divorce With Children Under 18 Years Old; Divorce Without Children Under 18 Years Old; Judgment: Default Divorce; Judgment: Uncontested Divorce, which the page describes as the packet to finalize a divorce when a response is filed but the parties agree on the final terms; and Family Centered Case Resolution, Family. The packets are the court's instructions to a person filing alone, and they are cited on this page because they state what the Monterey clerk expects at the window. The office does not hand you the packets; it prepares the forms themselves.

The judgment packet in Monterey County

The court publishes two judgment packets, both revised January 18, 2013 and both still linked from its current Court Forms and Packets page on October 18, 2026. Packet 8, Judgment: Default Divorce, is for a spouse who was served and filed nothing; its required forms are the Request to Enter Default (form FL-165), the Declaration for Default or Uncontested Dissolution (form FL-170), the Judgment (form FL-180) and the Notice of Entry of Judgment (form FL-190), and it says a filer must have opened a case, served the other party, waited 30 days from the date of service and completed a preliminary declaration of disclosure before using it. Packet 9, Judgment: Uncontested Divorce, is for a spouse who takes part by signing: its forms are FL-170, the Appearance, Stipulations and Waivers (form FL-130), FL-180 and FL-190. Rule 5.405 makes the Judgment Checklist (form FL-182) the limit of what a court may require, rule 5.411 governs the stipulated judgment that carries your settlement agreement, and rule 5.415 requires the stamped envelopes in which the clerk mails the entered judgment.

Both packets set copy and envelope counts that are Monterey's own, and your filing instructions follow them. The counts the packets print:

• The Judgment (form FL-180) and all attachments, including the settlement agreement: the original and four copies.
• The Notice of Entry of Judgment (form FL-190): the original and three copies.
• The Declaration for Default or Uncontested Dissolution (form FL-170): the original and one copy.
• In a default case, the Request to Enter Default (form FL-165): the original and two copies. In an uncontested case, the Appearance, Stipulations and Waivers (form FL-130): the original and two copies.
• Two stamped legal-size envelopes addressed to the respondent, and one stamped legal-size envelope plus one large postage-paid envelope addressed to the petitioner.

Submitting the packet, and a note on the FL-130 fee

Both packets give two ways to submit: bring the original and your copies of every form to the first floor Family Law filing window at the Monterey Courthouse, or mail them with a return envelope. The packets, written in 2013, do not mention e-filing, and no court page read says whether a judgment packet may be e-filed; Local Rule 1.7 permits a self-represented party to e-file in every case type, and your filing instructions name the route that fits your case. The packets also recommend a document check at the Self-Help Center before judgment forms are filed, by appointment. After the judge signs, the court mails a copy of the Notice of Entry of Judgment (form FL-190) to both parties in the envelopes supplied; neither spouse serves the judgment papers. If the court returns the packet for a correction, the first correction is included in the office's flat fee.

One statement in the 2013 uncontested packet needs a date next to it. The packet says a respondent who has not filed a response owes a first appearance fee when the Appearance, Stipulation and Waiver is submitted, unless a fee waiver is granted. The court's fee schedule effective January 1, 2026 lists that very form at item 104, an appearance, stipulation and waiver of rights in a dissolution, as no fee under Government Code section 70673. This page follows the 2026 schedule, which is thirteen years newer than the packet, and reports the packet's sentence only so that you recognize it if you read the packet yourself. Your spouse may consult an attorney of their own choosing about anything the packet asks of them.

Appearing remotely, if a hearing is ever set

An uncontested divorce on a written agreement is decided on the papers, and Family Code section 2336 with rule 5.409 lets the court enter the judgment on your declaration without a hearing. If a hearing is set in your case for any reason, the court's Remote Appearance page says it uses Zoom, through zoomgov.com, for attorneys and parties who want to appear remotely in all civil case types, which the page extends to the family and probate departments, with notice of a remote appearance given on Judicial Council form RA-010 and the procedure governed by Local Rules 1.8 and 1.9. Rule 1.8(C)(1)(b) lists any family law proceeding among those in which a remote appearance is allowed, and Rule 10.1(G) applies Rule 1.8 to every family law case except Title IV-D child support proceedings.

The court's Remote Appearance Information sheet lists Departments 16 and 17 as family departments and gives each a meeting link, a passcode and a telephone dial-in number; the sheet carries no date and names the sitting judges, so this page links it rather than repeating its details. The Family Law page adds a caution worth taking seriously: to appear by Zoom, you may need to file paperwork ahead of the hearing to be approved. The office does not appear at hearings. If one is set, your portal says so, and the instructions tell you what the court has asked for and where its own pages explain the rest.

The Self-Help Center and the Family Law Facilitator

The court's Self-Help page describes help for people who need legal information but do not have a lawyer, and it does not use the title Family Law Facilitator anywhere on the page. The facilitator exists in the local rules instead: Rule 10.4, Office of Family Law Facilitator / Self Help Center, gives the family law facilitator and Self Help Center manager the duties Family Code section 10004 assigns. The Self-Help Center Case Types page lists dissolutions, legal separation and annulment, spousal support, child custody and visitation, and child support among the matters it helps with, and the Self-Help page says its staff cannot give legal advice.

The center has three locations. The Monterey Self-Help Center is on the first floor of the Monterey Courthouse at 1200 Aguajito Road, open Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The Salinas Self-Help Center is at 118 West Gabilan Street, Salinas, CA 93901, open on Wednesdays from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and closed from 12:00 p.m. to 12:30 p.m. The King City Self-Help Center is at 250 Franciscan Way, King City, CA 93930, open on Tuesdays from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. with the same half-hour closure. One telephone number serves all three, (831) 647-5800, extension 3005, and the email address is selfhelpcenter@monterey.courts.ca.gov.

The documents the office prepares are complete when you receive them, so the center is not needed to finish them; your questions go first to your portal and the office. The center is the right place for the question no outside office can answer, which is what the clerk at the Monterey window requires on the day, and the court's own judgment packets point you there for a document check before the judgment is filed.

The flat fee does not reach 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, or a spouse who cannot be found; each is 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.

After the judgment, in this county

The court's divorce packet says it on the first page: filing the petition does not make you divorced. The marriage ends on the date the judgment states (Family Code section 2340), and that date can be no earlier than six months after your spouse is served or appears (section 2339), which form FL-107-INFO counts as six months and one day. Nothing filed in Monterey County shortens that period, and the court's Family Centered Case Resolution rule, which has court staff review a case twice, about six months apart, exists to see that a case does not drift on without a judgment.

The clerk mails the entered judgment and the Notice of Entry of Judgment to each spouse in the envelopes your packet supplied, so the four envelopes on the Monterey list are how the final papers reach you both. The office does not prepare or record deeds, so a transfer of California real property called for in your agreement is a separate matter once the judgment is entered. The residence rule that let you file here in the first place is Family Code section 2320: six months in California and three months in Monterey County before the petition is filed.

Each source below was read on October 18, 2026. Every address, hour, fee, rule number, form number and packet count on this page comes from one of them, and whatever the court's own materials did not confirm has been left off.

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