Filing an uncontested divorce in Santa Barbara County

One court, two divisions that take family law filings

Santa Barbara County has a single superior court, organized in divisions by building. Its own organization page lists what each one files, and two of them take family law: the Anacapa Division in Santa Barbara, which the page lists for filings of civil, family law and probate, and the Cook Division in Santa Maria, listed the same way. The Figueroa Division at 118 East Figueroa Street in Santa Barbara and the Miller Division at 312-M East Cook Street in Santa Maria are listed for criminal, traffic and appeals, so a divorce petition does not go to either of them. The court's locations page shows a Lompoc Division at 115 Civic Center Plaza, Lompoc, CA 93436-6967, but it does not list family law filings there, and this page names only the two divisions the court lists for them.

The two family law divisions, as the court's location pages gave them on October 18, 2026:

• Anacapa Division, South County: 1100 Anacapa Street, Santa Barbara, with a mailing address of P.O. Box 21107, Santa Barbara, CA 93121-1107. Telephone (805) 882-4520, fax (805) 882-4519. The clerk's office is open 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., and the telephone is answered 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The page lists civil, criminal, family law, juvenile, probate, appeals and small claims among its case types.
• Cook Division, North County: 312 East Cook Street, Building E, Santa Maria, CA 93454, with a mailing address of 312-C East Cook Street, Santa Maria, CA 93454. Telephone (805) 614-6414, fax (805) 614-6616. The building is open 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., and the telephone is answered 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Family law is among the case types the page lists.

Which division is yours: North County or South County

The court's local rules decide. Local rule 201 states that the county has been divided geographically into two regions, called South County and North County, and describes the line between them by landmarks: Gaviota Creek, Highway 101, the Santa Ynez River, Happy Canyon Road and Figueroa Mountain Road, and a township line. A map of the two regions is Appendix 1 to the local rules. Local rule 203, on venue, then provides that where North County would be a proper county for venue if it were a county of its own, all filings in the matter are made at the appropriate division of the clerk's office in North County, and all other filings are made in South County. For a divorce that means the Cook Division in Santa Maria for North County and the Anacapa Division in Santa Barbara for South County.

No court page translates the rule into a list of cities or zip codes, and this page does not invent one. What the rules do say about getting it wrong: under local rule 203 the division's name is part of the court's title on the first page of every document, a person e-filing must designate the appropriate division, and a filing made in the wrong division may be transferred. Local rule 204 adds a measure of grace for paper filings not subject to mandatory e-filing: the clerk does not refuse a document delivered to a division other than the proper venue. Local rule 202 names the court's divisions as Santa Maria, Lompoc, Solvang, Santa Barbara, Juvenile and Appellate, but the court's own locations page lists family law filings at only the Anacapa and Cook divisions.

Because the county has two family law divisions, the office confirms yours with you before the petition is prepared, and the petition, the summons and every document that follows carry that division in the caption, as rule 203 requires.

The court's fees, line by line

The court does not print a fee schedule of its own. Its Filing Fees page adopts the Judicial Council's Statewide Civil Fee Schedule effective January 1, 2026 and links it, and the page lists no local family law fee or surcharge. The schedule was read on October 18, 2026. Its asterisk footnote says the marked fees vary only in Riverside, San Bernardino and San Francisco because of a local courthouse construction surcharge, and Santa Barbara County is not named anywhere in the schedule or its appendix, so the amounts below are the amounts you pay at either division. The lines under the heading Family Law Fees that arise in an uncontested divorce:

• Line 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. It is paid once, when the ordinary petition is filed.
• Line 98: a response or other first paper filed in response to a petition for dissolution, $435, under Government Code section 70670(d). It falls due only if your spouse files a response.
• Line 99: a joint petition for dissolution or legal separation, other than a summary dissolution, $870.
• Line 100: a joint petition for summary dissolution of marriage or domestic partnership, $435.
• Line 104: an appearance, stipulation and waiver of rights in a dissolution, no fee.

How many first-paper fees each path pays here

An ordinary petition where your spouse signs the settlement agreement and files nothing pays line 97 once, $435. An ordinary petition where your spouse files a response pays lines 97 and 98, $870 between the two of you. A joint petition under Family Code section 2342.5 pays line 99, $870, and the statute is the reason: section 2342.5(h) provides that a joint petition is filed with both first-paper 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 line 100 once, $435. The joint petition does not save a court fee in Santa Barbara County; it pays both first-paper fees.

E-filing carries a court charge of its own in this county. The court's E-Filing page states that a $5.00 e-filing fee is charged for each electronically filed envelope, in addition to whatever the filing service provider charges, that a credit card payment carries a percentage processing fee, and that an eCheck payment carries a flat $0.25 fee. Those court charges are waived for a person filing under an approved fee waiver; a provider's own usage fee is not.

The office's flat fee is separate from everything the court charges and is paid to the office: $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 your division, 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 before any work is done. The fee is earned in stages, and the part not yet 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; you file as a self-represented party with the attorney's written instructions in hand. The office represents one spouse only. Your 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's Fee Waiver page is headed in plain words, ask for a fee waiver if you cannot afford filing fees, and it lists the minimum forms the court requires for a standard application: the Information Sheet on Waiver of Court Fees and Costs (form FW-001-INFO), the Request to Waive Court Fees and Costs (form FW-001) and the Order on Court Fee Waiver (form FW-003). The page says the forms are free from the court's records clerk or may be printed online, refers a person who wants help filling them out to the Legal Resource Center, and links the Judicial Council's fee waiver guide. The statute is Government Code sections 68630 to 68634: the court waives its fees for a person who receives a listed public benefit, whose household income is at or below the published limit, or who cannot pay the fee and still meet the household's basic needs (section 68632), and the clerk files the petition while the request is decided (section 68634(c)).

Two local details matter. The court's Family Law Facilitator page lists help processing a Request to Waive Court Fees among the Facilitator's services, so a person who wants the court's own help with the form has a place to ask. And the court's E-Filing page says its $5.00 per-envelope fee and its payment processing fees are waived for a party filing under an approved fee waiver, though the service provider's usage fee is not. On a joint petition, section 2342.5(h) requires both first-paper fees unless both spouses hold waivers, so each spouse who needs one submits a request of their own.

The office prepares the request and the order form as part of the flat fee when you ask for them. A fee waiver reaches the court's fees only; the office's fee is not changed by it.

E-filing: mandatory for the court, optional for you

Santa Barbara is a mandatory e-filing court with an exception that covers you. Local rule 1012, amended January 1, 2024, provides that all documents presented for filing or lodging in all civil cases, including family law, must be electronically filed, and the court's E-Filing page records that mandatory electronic filing began on January 1, 2016. The same rule then excepts documents presented for filing by a self-represented party, adding that self-represented parties, although not required to e-file, are encouraged to. Because the attorney prepares your documents in a limited scope engagement and does not appear in your case, you file as a self-represented party, and the choice is yours.

If you choose to e-file, rule 1012 says an excepted document may be permissively e-filed at the election of the filing party, and under rule 203 you designate your division when you submit it. E-filing goes through a provider: the court's E-Filing page links the list of electronic filing service providers, each of which charges its own fee, and it links Guide and File, which the court describes as a free online service for filling out forms to send to the court. The page states the filing-date rule from Code of Civil Procedure section 1010.6: a document received electronically between 12:00 a.m. and 11:59:59 p.m. on a court day is deemed filed on that court day. It also lists items that may not be e-filed in any case type, among them wills, bonds, subpoenaed documents, state vital records forms, oversize attachments and trial exhibits; none of them is part of an uncontested divorce.

If you choose paper, rule 1012 says a document that is not e-filed is filed as the Code of Civil Procedure and the California Rules of Court provide for documents not e-filed, which for a paper filing means the clerk's office of your division; both location pages give 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Local rule 1011 sets the clerk's copy practice: the clerk conforms no more than two copies of a document that is not e-filed, and a stamped, self-addressed envelope must be included if the conformed copies are to be returned by mail. Local rule 1008 opens a third route for a document not subject to mandatory e-filing, filing by fax directly to the court, at (805) 882-4519 for civil in Santa Barbara and (805) 614-6616 for civil in Santa Maria, with payment by credit card required.

Your filing instructions name your division and the method you chose. On a paper filing the clerk conforms up to two copies under local rule 1011 and, on an ordinary petition, issues the summons; your portal takes the filing date and the case number from the conformed copy, and the next documents are prepared from them. Whichever route you take, your financial disclosure itself is not filed: Family Code section 2104 requires the preliminary disclosure to be served on your spouse, and only the Declaration Regarding Service of Declaration of Disclosure (FL-141) is filed.

Local rules and local forms

The Local Rules of the Superior Court of Santa Barbara County, effective January 1, 2025, put family law in Chapter Fourteen, Family Law Rules, rules 1400 to 1426, and Family Court Services in Chapter Fifteen, rules 1500 to 1508. Rule 1400 applies the chapter to every action governed by the Family Rules of the California Rules of Court, and rule 1404 designates all judges and commissioners to hear family law actions as the presiding judge assigns them. The chapter's rules on emergency orders, requests for order, hearings, support calculations and trial are not met by an uncontested divorce on a written agreement. The rules that do touch your case are 1419 on the exchange of financial documents, 1421 on case management, 1425 on judgments, and, outside the chapter, rules 201 to 204 on venue and rule 1012 on e-filing.

The court's Packet 1 and local forms page list no local form with the petition. Its Forms Packets page lists Packet 1, the get started packet, and every form in it is a Judicial Council form: the Petition (FL-100), form FL-105 for a case with children, the Summons (FL-110), the Proof of Service of Summons (FL-115), the Notice and Acknowledgment of Receipt (FL-117), the Response (FL-120) and the information sheet Legal Steps for a Divorce (FL-107-INFO). The court's list of its own local forms for family law includes the Family Law Information Statement (SC-4026), the two Financial Document Exchange Compliance Declarations (SC-4028 for a wage earner or unemployed party and SC-4029 for a self-employed party or business owner, both marked mandatory), the Request for Case Management Conference or Trial Setting (SC-4014), and forms for continuances, ex parte notice and custody mediation. No local form on the list is titled for a default or a judgment.

Two local rules reach into the months after the petition. Local rule 1421 sets a first case management conference within 180 days in every new dissolution case and requires each party to file and serve the Family Law Information Statement (SC-4026) no later than 15 calendar days before it, and to comply with rule 1419. Local rule 1419 requires each party to file and serve a Financial Document Exchange Compliance Declaration (SC-4028 or SC-4029) on or before each exchange date. Your filing instructions explain the conference, the exchange dates and the local form each rule requires before them, and the Judicial Council disclosures the office prepares under Family Code section 2104 are the documents the exchange is built on.

Rule 1425 governs judgments and is short: a judgment must be on the applicable Judicial Council form with all required attachments and applicable items completed, and in a contested matter the parties follow California Rules of Court, rule 3.1590 on statements of decision. The second sentence does not reach an uncontested divorce; the first is the standard the office prepares your judgment to.

The judgment packet in Santa Barbara County

The court publishes the contents of the judgment packet as Packet 3 on its Forms Packets page. For a dissolution without children it lists the Declaration for Default or Uncontested Dissolution or Legal Separation (FL-170), the Judgment Checklist (FL-182), the Judgment (FL-180) and the Notice of Entry of Judgment (FL-190), with attachments FL-343, FL-345 and FL-348 where a case needs them. Packet 2 holds the forms that precede it: the Income and Expense Declaration (FL-150) or the Financial Statement (Simplified) (FL-155), the Property Declaration (FL-160), the Request to Enter Default (FL-165), the Declaration of Disclosure (FL-140), the Schedule of Assets and Debts (FL-142) and the Declaration Regarding Service of Declaration of Disclosure (FL-141). Every one of them is a Judicial Council form, which is exactly what local rule 1425 requires, and the court lists no local judgment form.

The statewide rules fix the rest. California Rules of Court, rule 5.405 makes the Judgment Checklist (FL-182) the limit of what a court may require with a judgment, rule 5.411 governs a stipulated judgment where both spouses sign, and rule 5.415 requires the stamped envelopes, addressed to each spouse with the clerk's return address, in which the clerk mails the entered Judgment and the Notice of Entry of Judgment. The office prepares the packet to those rules and to rule 1425, with every applicable item on the Judicial Council forms completed and every required attachment included.

How the packet reaches the court is governed by the same rules as every other filing in this county. A self-represented party may e-file it through a filing service provider, designating the division, or file it in paper at the clerk's office of the proper division, where the clerk conforms no more than two copies and, under rule 1011, needs a stamped, self-addressed envelope if conformed copies are to be returned by mail. No court page or local rule read for this page describes a drop box, a dedicated mailing address or a window for judgment packets, so your filing instructions do not describe one either; they follow what the rules state. The court's Family Law Facilitator lists help obtaining a judgment for divorce among its services and offers divorce judgment mediation by Zoom appointment, which is described below. The first correction of a packet the court returns is included in the flat fee.

Appearing remotely, if a hearing is ever set

In Santa Barbara County, as elsewhere, an uncontested divorce on a written agreement is decided on the written record: Family Code section 2336 and rule 5.409 allow the court to enter the judgment on your declaration, without a hearing. If the court does set a hearing or a conference in your case, its remote appearance service is Zoom, and its Zoom Information for Remote Appearances page carries two PDFs: the department Zoom links and instructions for civil, family and probate, and the information and process for remote appearance in the same three case types. The process document says that appearance by Zoom videoconference is optional and requires no Judicial Council form RA-010 for family case management conferences and for family law and motion matters other than those in North County Department SM 2, while personal appearance is required for all trials, evidentiary hearings and North County Department SM 2 law and motion. A person who must ask leave to appear remotely at a proceeding that requires personal appearance uses local form SC-2073, Request to Appear by Zoom Videoconference and Order Thereon.

The department document lists a Zoom meeting ID for each courtroom at 1100 Anacapa Street and at 312 East Cook Street and a telephone number, 1-833-568-8864, for a person joining by telephone. Local rule 1421(d) says self-represented parties are required to appear for case management conferences in person or by telephone, while the court's remote appearance process lists family case management conferences among the proceedings where appearance by Zoom is optional. If the court sets anything in your case, the instructions in your portal say what the court has asked for, and the office does not appear at it.

The Family Law Facilitator and the Legal Resource Center

The court's family law self-help service is the Office of the Family Law Facilitator, which local rule 1500 establishes in each geographic region under the Family Law Facilitator Act. The court's page describes the Facilitator as a court attorney who helps persons without an attorney to better represent themselves in family law cases, at no charge. The case types include dissolution, legal separation and nullity, and the help listed includes explaining your options, selecting and completing forms, understanding how to get paperwork served and filed with the clerk's office, processing a fee waiver request, explaining support calculations and obtaining a judgment. The Facilitator does not help with appeals, guardianship or adoption, or restraining order applications. The page is plain that the Facilitator is not your attorney and that conversations with the office are not confidential.

There is an office in each region. The Santa Barbara office is at 1100 Anacapa Street, second floor, in the Self-Help Center, Santa Barbara, CA 93101, telephone (805) 882-4660; walk-in hours with support staff are Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., telephone hours are 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., and attorney appointments are by telephone, by Zoom videoconference or in person. The Santa Maria office, which serves the Cook and Lompoc divisions, is at 312 East Cook Street, Building E, second floor, Santa Maria, CA 93454, telephone (805) 614-6442; walk-in hours are the same, telephone hours are 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., and appointments are in person or by telephone. The court's Family Law Classes page describes free monthly classes, held by Zoom, on the process and the law for getting a divorce, legal separation or annulment and completing the financial disclosures, and the Family Law division page describes free divorce judgment mediation by Zoom appointment through the South County Facilitator.

The court's general self-help resource is the Legal Resource Center, run by the Legal Aid Foundation of Santa Barbara County under a court grant. Its page lists telephone numbers for Santa Barbara, (805) 568-3303, Santa Maria, (805) 691-2457, and Lompoc, (805) 568-3303 on Wednesdays, with hours of Monday through Thursday 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. and Friday 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. by appointment; it gives no street address. Summary dissolution is among the services it lists, and the page says a minimum $25 donation is requested. The court's Self-Help index and its Divorce and Separation pages gather these resources with the Judicial Council's statewide divorce guide, and the Divorce and Legal Separation page gives no local filing location, fee or judgment instruction of its own.

The office's documents are prepared so that you do not need the Facilitator to complete them, and your portal and the office are where your questions go first; the court's offices answer the question no outside office can, which is what a clerk requires on the day. A case with minor children, a business, a pension that needs its own order, real property outside California, a legal separation, an annulment, a spouse who cannot be found, or a dispute the two of you will not settle 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 judgment is entered when the court has reviewed the complete packet, and not before. Family Code section 2339 provides that the marriage cannot end earlier than six months after your spouse is served or appears, and form FL-107-INFO counts the earliest date as six months and one day from that day. The judgment states the date your marriage ends (section 2340). Nothing filed at the Anacapa or Cook division shortens that period, and no filing method, paper, fax or electronic, changes it.

The clerk mails the entered Judgment and the Notice of Entry of Judgment to each spouse in the envelopes your packet supplied under rule 5.415. The office does not prepare or record deeds, so a transfer of California real property called for in your agreement is a separate matter after the judgment. The residence rule for filing here in the first place is Family Code section 2320: six months in California and three months in Santa Barbara County before the petition is filed.

Every source below was read on October 18, 2026 at www.santabarbara.courts.ca.gov. Every address, fee, rule number and form number on this page comes from one of those sources, and what the court's materials did not confirm is not on the page.

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