Filing an uncontested divorce in Riverside County

Four courthouses hear family law in Riverside County

The court's Family Law Division describes itself as the division that handles cases in which people are ending a marriage or registered domestic partnership, and its page names four family law court locations. Each courthouse page gives the street address, the main telephone number and the hours the building is open to the public. The list below repeats them as the court prints them.

Riverside, Menifee and Indio keep the same public schedule, Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Blythe is open Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and the court's notice on daily filing deadlines states that the Blythe Court is closed to the public on Mondays and Wednesdays, with a drop box outside. The Riverside Family Law Courthouse page adds that the clerk's office answers its telephone from 7:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Every one of these location pages carries the same drop box sentence: documents deposited in a drop box after 4:00 p.m. are processed the next court day. The daily filing deadlines notice sets 4:00 p.m. as the cut-off for the counter and the drop box alike. A packet left in the box at 4:30 p.m. on a Friday is therefore processed on the following court day.

• Riverside Family Law Courthouse, 4175 Main Street, Riverside, CA 92501, (951) 777-3147. The page lists family law as the matter served there.
• Menifee Justice Center, 27401 Menifee Center Drive, Menifee, CA 92584, (951) 777-3147. Its page lists civil, evictions, family law and small claims, and places a Self-Help Center next to the clerk's office.
• Larson Justice Center, 46-200 Oasis Street, Indio, CA 92201, (760) 393-2617. Its page lists family law, criminal, traffic and juvenile matters.
• Blythe Courthouse, 265 N. Broadway, Blythe, CA 92225, (760) 393-2617. Family law is among the matters the page lists.

The order that assigns your courthouse

Riverside does not leave the choice of courthouse open. Local Rule 5101, Where to File Documents, provides that family law first papers shall be filed at the court facility as designated in the Administrative Order, Where to File Family Law Documents. The current order took effect July 8, 2024, and it sorts the county into four filing regions by city and by zip code. The court links it from its Local Rules page.

Under the 2024 order, Murrieta, Temecula, Lake Elsinore and Wildomar file family law papers at the Menifee Justice Center, and Banning, Beaumont and Moreno Valley file at the Family Law Courthouse in Riverside. Corona goes to Riverside as well, and Palm Springs goes to Indio.

The order lists cities and zip codes but does not say whose residence the zip code refers to. For that reason Law Offices of Rozsa Gyene confirms the courthouse with you before the petition is prepared, following the court's order. The court's petition packet also includes a local form, the Declaration of Residence (RI-FL036), which Local Rule 5101 adopts for mandatory use; it is described in the local forms section below.

Residence comes first. Under Family Code section 2320, at least one of you needs six months of residence in California and three in Riverside County on the day the petition is filed. The court's divorce page says that you or your spouse or partner must have lived in California for the last six months and have lived for the last three months in the county.

• Western Region, Riverside Family Law Courthouse, 4175 Main Street: Banning (92220), Beaumont (92223), Cabazon (92230), Calimesa (92320), Corona (92860, 92877 to 92883), Mira Loma (91752), Moreno Valley (92551 to 92557), Perris (92570, 92571, 92572), Riverside (92501 to 92509, 92513 to 92519, 92521, 92522) and Whitewater (92282).
• Mid-County Region, Menifee Justice Center, 27401 Menifee Center Drive: Aguanga (92536), Anza (92539), Canyon Lake (92587), Hemet (92543 to 92546), Homeland (92548), Idyllwild (92549), Lake Elsinore (92530, 92531, 92532), Menifee (92584), Mountain Center (92561), Murrieta (92562, 92563, 92564), Lakeview and Nuevo (92567), San Jacinto (92581, 92582, 92583), Sun City (92584, 92585, 92586), Temecula (92589 to 92593), Wildomar (92595) and Winchester (92596).
• Desert Region, Larson Justice Center, 46-200 Oasis Street, Indio, CA 92201-5961: Cathedral City (92234, 92235), Coachella (92236), Desert Center (92239), Desert Hot Springs (92240, 92241), Indian Wells (92210), Indio (92201, 92202, 92203), La Quinta (92247, 92248, 92253), Mecca (92254), Palm Desert (92211, 92255, 92260, 92261), Palm Springs (92258, 92262, 92263, 92264, 92292), Rancho Mirage (92270), Thermal (92274, 92275) and Thousand Palms (92276).
• Blythe Court, 265 N. Broadway: Blythe (92225, 92226, 92280) and Ripley (92225).

The first-paper fee and the Riverside surcharge

Riverside's first-paper fee carries a local surcharge, and both schedules say so. The Judicial Council's Statewide Civil Fee Schedule effective January 1, 2026 lists the petition (item 97) and the response (item 98), marks both with an asterisk, and explains that fees so marked will vary in the counties of Riverside, San Bernardino and San Francisco because of a local surcharge. Its appendix states that the Riverside surcharge under Government Code section 70622 applies to all cases and that the total for a family law first paper in Riverside is $450. Government Code section 70622(a) is the statute that lets the Riverside County Board of Supervisors impose that surcharge on a dissolution petition and on a response.

The court posts its own Fee Schedule, effective January 1, 2026, and it reaches the same amount for each spouse's first paper. That schedule states that fees vary from the statewide schedule in Riverside, San Bernardino and San Francisco due to local surcharges for courthouse construction, and the court's January 1, 2026 schedule numbers the petition item 98 and the response item 99, each at $450. The items below use the statewide numbers, read on October 19, 2026.

• Item 97, the first paper that opens a dissolution, legal separation or nullity case: $450 in Riverside County, read on October 19, 2026, under Government Code sections 70670(b), 70602.5 and 70602.6 with the Riverside surcharge. The petitioner pays it when the ordinary petition goes in.
• Item 98, the served spouse's response or any other first paper: $450 in Riverside County, under section 70670(d) with the surcharge. A response, or an FL-130 appearance, triggers it.
• Item 99, the two-signature joint petition for a dissolution or legal separation (not a summary dissolution): $900 in Riverside County, both first-paper fees, as Family Code section 2342.5(h) requires.
• Item 100, the summary dissolution's joint petition: one first-paper fee; the schedule marks it with the same asterisk, and its appendix total for a family first paper in Riverside is $450.
• Item 103, a settlement agreement or stipulation signed by a defaulted respondent and included in the judgment: no fee.
• Item 104, the appearance, stipulation and waiver (form FL-130) of a respondent who is a member of the armed forces: no fee.

How many first-paper fees each path pays here

The number of first papers decides the court's total. A summary dissolution under Family Code sections 2400 to 2403 pays one first-paper fee, $450, for both spouses together. The ordinary petition costs $450 at filing. If the respondent never files a paper, is defaulted, and then signs the settlement agreement, the agreement costs nothing under item 103, so the court's total stays at one first-paper fee. A response from the respondent, or an FL-130 appearance, is a first paper of its own under item 98: a second $450 is paid, and the two of you have paid $900. Only a respondent serving in the armed forces files form FL-130 without a fee, under item 104.

The joint petition does not save a court fee in Riverside County; it pays both first-paper fees. Family Code section 2342.5, operative January 1, 2026, lets both spouses sign one petition, and subdivision (h) has it filed with both fees that Government Code section 70670(b) and (d) set, unless each spouse holds a fee waiver. Item 99 of the statewide schedule states that its fee covers the appearance of both petitioners. In this county that comes to $900 at filing.

The court's fees are separate from the office's flat fee. The office's flat fee turns on the path you take: $1,499 for the ordinary petition path, $999 for the joint petition path, $599 for the summary dissolution path, in a limited scope engagement under California Rules of Court, rule 5.425. That fee is earned in stages, and if the representation ends early the unearned part is refunded.

Asking the court to waive its fees

The court's Family Law FAQs address the question directly: if you are unable to pay fees and costs, you may ask the court to permit you to proceed without paying them. The FAQ points to the Judicial Council's information sheet, form FW-001-INFO. The court's Miscellaneous Self-Help Packets page offers a fee waiver packet for a person who can't afford to pay the court costs and fees; the packet is made of the Judicial Council's fee waiver forms and opens with FW-001-INFO.

The grounds come from Government Code sections 68630 to 68634: receipt of one of the public benefits the statute names, a household income no higher than the published limit, or income too low to pay the fee and still cover the household's basic needs. Form FW-001 carries the request. The court's petition packet states that the filing fee or fee waiver will be required at the time of submission, so the request travels with the petition, not after it. For a joint petition, section 2342.5(h) excuses both first-paper fees only when both spouses have fee waivers.

Administrative Order No. 2019-13 adds a point for eSubmit: a party with a fee waiver is exempt from the fees and costs associated with electronic filing. A waiver covers the court's fees and nothing else, so it leaves the office's fee where it was.

eSubmit: how Riverside takes family law papers online

The court's Civil eFiling page states that eFiling is mandatory for parties represented by counsel and optional for self-represented litigants in civil cases. For family law, the court's eSubmit page names its own eSubmit portal, which, in the court's words, allows court customers to electronically deliver documents in criminal, family law, probate, juvenile, traffic and appeals matters. The eSubmit FAQs are precise about it: the eSubmit process is not full eFiling; eSubmit is electronic delivery.

It is optional. Administrative Order No. 2019-13 permits electronic filing, and states that the court will continue to accept documents in person, via U.S. Mail, in court drop boxes and private courier service. The eSubmit page sets the limits: up to 15 documents and one case per submission, each document a non-editable PDF of no more than 50MB. A document received through eSubmit between 12:00 a.m. and 11:59:59 p.m. on a court day is deemed filed on that court day.

A transaction fee applies to non-exempt submissions, and the court's own pages state it two ways: the eSubmit page gives one figure, while Administrative Order No. 2019-13 and the eSubmit public notice, amended June 17, 2019, give another. Because the pages differ, this page prints neither figure. The petition packet states that the forms may be submitted online through the eSubmit portal, signed electronically.

The judgment is the exception. The court's list of Documents Not Accepted via eSubmit, revised November 6, 2023, names family law judgments, and Administrative Order No. 2019-13 and the eSubmit FAQs say the same. Each of the court's judgment packets repeats it: judgments cannot be submitted online, and go in person, by drop off or by mail only.

Filing the petition: what goes in and how

The court's Family Law FAQs state the minimum document requirements for a new case: the Summons (form FL-110), the Petition (form FL-100) and the Declaration of Residence (RI-FL036). The petition packet, dated July 2026, lists the same forms and marks RI-FL036 with an asterisk as mandatory. Spouses who sign one petition together use the Judicial Council's Joint Petition (form FL-700). The summary track opens with form FL-800, the Joint Petition for Summary Dissolution, and the court's Family Law Self-Help Packets page offers a Summary Dissolution packet for it.

The petition packet lists the ways in: at the clerk's window, in the drop box or by mail, each with the original and at least a copy (max 2 copies), and by mail or drop box with an envelope addressed to yourself with postage; or online through the eSubmit portal. With every route, the fee or the fee waiver request goes in at the same time.

Service follows on an ordinary petition. The office does not serve: another adult who is not a party hands the spouse the papers, or the spouse signs a Notice and Acknowledgment of Receipt (form FL-117), and the proof is filed. The preliminary declaration of disclosure that Family Code section 2104 requires is served on the other spouse, not filed with the court; the court receives only the Declaration Regarding Service of Declaration of Disclosure (form FL-141), which every judgment packet lists. The court's Divorce Road Map, a flow chart revised November 10, 2020, lays out these stages in order.

Riverside local rules and local forms

The court's Local Rules, effective July 1, 2026, keep the family law rules in Title 5. The rules that bear on a dissolution are 5100 (application of the rules), 5101 (where to file documents), 5110 (requests for orders), 5145 (case management), 5150 (mandatory settlement conferences), 5153 (trial rules and procedures), 5160 (appearance by telephone, which the rules mark suspended) and 5166 (setting aside a default to allow an amended petition, with local form RI-FL002). Of these, the one every uncontested petition meets at filing is 5101, because it sends the petition to the courthouse the order names.

Two local forms reach an uncontested dissolution: the Declaration of Residence (RI-FL036) and the Addendum to Judgment (RI-FL017). RI-FL036 is adopted for mandatory use under Local Rule 5101; it carries the revision date January 1, 2013 and was reformatted on July 8, 2024, the day the current Where to File order took effect. It goes in with the petition. A third mandatory form, RI-FL035, Trial Rules and Procedures, under Local Rule 5153, concerns trials only.

RI-FL017 carries the revision date October 11, 2016. The court's materials disagree about its status: the footer of the form reads Approved for Optional Use, while each of the court's three judgment packets lists it with an asterisk under the heading of mandatory forms. Because the two differ, this page states both and follows the packets, which list RI-FL017 with every judgment.

The judgment packet in Riverside County

California Rules of Court, rule 5.405 fixes the statewide contents of a judgment packet through the Judgment Checklist (form FL-182), and rule 5.415 calls for the Notice of Entry of Judgment (form FL-190) to come in with addressed envelopes carrying postage. Under rule 5.411 a written settlement agreement may be entered as a stipulated judgment, and Family Code section 2336 lets the court enter it on the declarations, without a hearing. Riverside publishes three judgment packets, each dated July 2026: a true default, a default with a signed agreement, and a judgment by agreement.

The packets list their mandatory forms. The default packet lists the Declaration for Default or Uncontested Dissolution (form FL-170), the Request to Enter Default (form FL-165), FL-141, the Judgment (form FL-180), RI-FL017 and FL-190. The judgment by agreement packet lists the Appearance, Stipulations and Waivers (form FL-130), the Stipulation and Waiver of Final Declaration of Disclosure (form FL-144), FL-141, FL-170, FL-180, RI-FL017 and FL-190.

Envelopes differ by packet. A true default and a default with a signed agreement each need 2 large envelopes and 1 small envelope with postage: one small and one large addressed to the respondent and one large to the petitioner. A judgment by agreement needs 2 large envelopes with postage. On copies, each packet gives two different counts in its own instructions, one in its copying step and another for counter, drop box and mail submission. Because the two counts differ, this page prints neither, and the packet itself governs.

Notarization is in the court's words. The default with signed agreement packet states that the respondent's signature must be notarized, and RI-FL017 provides that where the addendum is pursuant to a default, the defaulting party's signature must be notarized. The client arranges the notary; the office does not provide a notary. The packets also explain the return: the signed judgment will be returned to you by mail, and if the judgment is rejected you will receive a Document Rejection Notice from the court. Correcting a rejected packet the first time is included in the flat fee.

Remote appearance by Zoom, if a hearing is set

Rule 5.409 allows the court to enter a judgment on the declarations, without a hearing. If the court does set a hearing, its Remote Appearance page states that the Riverside Superior Court currently uses Zoom as its remote appearance platform.

For an evidentiary hearing or a trial, the court's Remote Appearance page directs the use of the Notice of Remote Appearance (form RA-010), served and filed.

The office does not appear in court at any hearing in the case; a party who appears does so on their own.

Self-Help Legal Services and the facilitators

The court runs its self-help program under the name Self-Help Legal Services, which provides legal assistance in family law, evictions, small claims and name changes, among other areas. Its family law flyer, revised September 17, 2025, states that the program provides self-represented litigants with remote assistance, provides links to forms and explains court process and procedures, and covers divorce, legal separation and nullity. The flyer lists online sessions, among them a Dissolution Workshop, a Default Judgment Workshop, a Family Law Clinic, a Judgment Review Clinic and an MSC Clinic, and it sets out the days, hours and telephone lines for remote help; read the current flyer for them.

In the buildings, the court's Self-Help Information page lists self-help rooms and public computers, including the lobby of the Riverside Family Law Courthouse, the Self-Help Center in Room M103 of the Menifee Justice Center, the Larson Justice Center lobby and the Blythe Self-Help Room, available from 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The page states that there is no fee to use the computers or any assistance provided by court staff.

The court's divorce page describes its Family Law Facilitators: free help for people without a lawyer, first come, first served, at various courthouses. A person beginning a family law case is required to attend a workshop before meeting individually with a facilitator, and facilitators can help you in preparing your forms and can give you general information, but they cannot go with you to court.

Some cases are outside the flat fee: minor children or a pregnancy, a divorce not yet agreed, a restraining order or a safety concern, a business or professional practice, a pension that needs a qualified domestic relations order, real property outside California, a legal separation or an annulment, a spouse who cannot be located, or spouses who are not both proficient in English. The Lawyer Referral Service of the Riverside County Bar Association, at 951-682-7520, can refer you to a family law attorney.

What the office prepares, and what you do

Law Offices of Rozsa Gyene works in a limited scope engagement under rule 5.425 and prepares and reviews every document in your case for one flat fee. The documents come with written filing instructions for Riverside County, naming your courthouse and how to file there; the attorney reviews them before you receive them. One revision round of the settlement agreement is included; any further round is quoted before the work begins.

You carry out the filing. Filing, service, court appearances, notarization and deeds all stay with you or others: the office does none of them, and a title company or another attorney handles a deed. The office represents one spouse only. In the divorce, the other spouse is not the office's client and receives no advice from it, and may consult an attorney of their own choosing.

After the judgment in Riverside County

The waiting period is fixed by statute. Family Code section 2339 sets it at six months from service of the summons or the respondent's appearance, and form FL-107-INFO counts the first possible date as six months and one day later. The court's FAQ, under How Soon Will I Be Divorced, states that the soonest you can become single is 6 months and one day after service on the respondent, and its divorce page says it takes a minimum of six months from the date the papers are served. Nothing in this county or in the office's work shortens it; a judgment entered before that date states the later date as the end of the marriage, as section 2340 requires.

An agency, a bank or a name change may call for a certified copy of the judgment. The judgment is what Government Code section 70674(b) treats as the marriage dissolution record, and a certified copy costs $15 for any applicant other than a public agency (item 195 of the statewide schedule) and $10 for a public agency (item 194). The eSubmit FAQs state that local form RI-MC011, Request for Certified Copies (Civil, Family Law and Probate), may be submitted via eSubmit; the same FAQs name the court's online document order system and local form RI-MC002 as the other routes.

This page was written from Riverside's own pages, packets and orders, each read on October 19, 2026, and every one is listed below.

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