A guide for the other spouse

A copy of the Petition (form FL-100) and the Summons (form FL-110), delivered to you by an adult who is not a party to the case, or by mail with a Notice and Acknowledgment of Receipt (form FL-117) that you sign and return. The Summons contains standard restraining orders about property and insurance that apply to both spouses from the moment it is served; read them.

Later, your spouse's preliminary declaration of disclosure: a list of assets, debts, income and expenses, on forms FL-140, FL-142 and FL-150. California law requires each spouse to serve one on the other, and you are required to serve yours on your spouse too.

A marital settlement agreement setting out what the two of you have agreed about property, debts and spousal support. It is not final until both of you sign it, and it becomes part of the judgment.

Do nothing. If you do not file a response within 30 days after you are served, your spouse may ask the court to enter your default. If you have signed the settlement agreement, the judgment includes its terms. Under item 103 of the Judicial Council's Statewide Civil Fee Schedule effective January 1, 2026 (Government Code section 70677(c)), a settlement agreement signed by a defaulted respondent and included in the judgment carries no filing fee.

File an appearance or a response. You may file an Appearance, Stipulations, and Waivers (form FL-130) or a Response (form FL-120) with the court, which makes you a participant in the case. A response or appearance carries the court's first-paper fee, $435 in Los Angeles County as of October 17, 2026, unless the court waives it. A response that disputes the terms makes the divorce contested, and this office's engagement with your spouse ends.

Retain an attorney of your own. You are entitled to independent advice before you sign anything. An attorney of your own choosing would represent you alone and would bill you directly; this office receives no part of any fee you pay.

Your spouse may instead ask you to sign a Joint Petition (form FL-700) with a Joint Summons (form FL-710), and file it together. That is a different way of opening the same kind of case, allowed by Family Code section 2342.5. You would be Petitioner 2. Signing it is your decision alone, and you may take it to an attorney of your own before you sign.

Signing and filing it does four things at once. The petition counts as served on both of you the day it is filed, so nobody serves you and no 30-day response period runs. You are treated as having appeared in the case from that day, which is a general appearance, so you cannot later object that the court has no power over you (Family Code section 2331(b)). The standard restraining orders printed on page 2 of the joint summons apply to both of you from that same day; read them. And the six-month period before a judgment can end the marriage starts then, rather than on a date of service.

The court charges its filing fee for each of you, because the law treats the joint petition as the first paper of both spouses (Family Code section 2342.5(h)). In Los Angeles County that is $435 each as of October 17, 2026, $870 for the two of you, which the Judicial Council's Statewide Civil Fee Schedule effective January 1, 2026 lists at item 99. If you cannot afford yours, you may ask the court to waive it on a Request to Waive Court Fees (form FW-001) of your own. A waiver is granted to one person and covers only that person, so your spouse's does not cover you, and this office does not prepare yours.

You would still have to prepare and serve your own preliminary declaration of disclosure, on forms FL-140, FL-142 and FL-150, within 60 days of the filing, and file your own Declaration Regarding Service (form FL-141). That obligation is yours and this office does not prepare any of it for you.

Either of you may undo it. At any time before the court enters a judgment you may revoke the joint petition by filing an amended petition or an amended response (Family Code section 2342.5(b)), for which the Judicial Council publishes form FL-720. The case then continues as an ordinary dissolution, each of you filing separately, and your spouse's engagement with this office ends.

This office prepares the joint petition for your spouse, as your spouse's document. It does not represent you, does not advise you about signing, and will not answer questions about your own position. 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.

Your marriage cannot legally end until six months after the day you are served or appear, whichever comes first (Family Code section 2339). Both spouses must exchange preliminary declarations of disclosure before the judgment (Family Code sections 2104 and 2105). Court forms are signed by hand.

This office will not advise you, will not prepare a document for you, and cannot answer questions about your own position. Please do not send this office confidential information. Questions about the process itself can be answered by the court's self-help center, at selfhelp.courts.ca.gov.