Filing an uncontested divorce in Santa Clara County

One courthouse for every family case

The Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara hears its family cases at the Family Justice Center Courthouse, which the court shortens to FJCC, at 201 N. First Street, San Jose, CA 95113. Its mailing address is different from its street address: mail goes to 191 N. First Street, San Jose, CA 95113. The court's locations page lists family cases, juvenile dependency, drug court, traffic and the self-help center at this building. The building is open Monday to Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.; the court's own instruction sheet for starting a divorce, form SHC-100, says the clerk's office opens at 8:30 a.m. The Family division's phone number is (408) 534-5711, and the Family Court Clerk's office is reached at (408) 534-5600.

The location is not a choice. Local Family Rule 1E, the court's venue rule, states that all family proceedings in Santa Clara County must be filed at the Family Court Clerk's Office at 201 North First Street, and Rule 1C says the Family Law Division operates in that courthouse. Because the county has a single family courthouse, the question that arises in a county with several, which one is yours, does not arise here, and the office names the Family Justice Center Courthouse in the caption of the petition and every document after it. What does need to be true is the residence requirement in Family Code section 2320: one of you has lived in California for six months and in Santa Clara County for three months when the petition is filed.

Something else happens at the counter in this county that does not happen everywhere. Local Family Rule 1D(1) assigns each new family case to one judge, called the all-purpose judge, and a department, and the clerk gives the filing spouse notice of that assignment on local form FM-1050, the Family Law Notice. From then on, the rule says, all filed documents must contain the name of the assigned judge and the department. Every later document, the judgment included, carries the case number, the judge and the department.

The court's fees under the statewide schedule

The court does not publish a fee schedule of its own for family cases. Its Local Court Fees page links the Judicial Council's Superior Court of California Statewide Civil Fee Schedule effective January 1, 2026 as the schedule in force, and the only amount the local page itself states is a returned check fee of $50. The statewide schedule marks some fees with an asterisk and explains in a footnote that those fees vary in Riverside, San Bernardino and San Francisco counties because of a local surcharge for courthouse construction; Santa Clara County is not among them, so the amounts below are what the schedule prints. Read on October 18, 2026, the family law items that matter in an uncontested divorce are these.

• Item 97: a petition or other first paper for dissolution of marriage, $435 as of October 18, 2026 (Government Code sections 70670(b), 70602.5 and 70602.6). This is the fee for an ordinary petition.
• Item 98 covers the response, or any other first paper your spouse files in answer to the petition, at $435 (Government Code section 70670(d)); it falls due only if your spouse files a response or an appearance.
• Item 99: a joint petition for dissolution, other than a summary dissolution, $870. The schedule's own words are that this fee covers the appearance of both petitioners.
• Item 100: a joint petition for summary dissolution of marriage, $435 (Government Code section 70670(b)).
• Payments mailed to the court are accepted by check only; the court's payment page says not to send cash.

How many first-paper fees each path pays in Santa Clara County

Three paths lead to an uncontested judgment, and the statewide schedule prices each one. A summary dissolution under Family Code sections 2400 to 2403 pays item 100 once, $435. An ordinary petition where your spouse signs the settlement agreement and files nothing with the court pays item 97 once, $435; if your spouse instead files a response or an appearance, item 98 is added and the two of you pay $870 between you. A joint petition under Family Code section 2342.5, the form of petition that became available on January 1, 2026, pays item 99, $870: subdivision (h) of that section 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, and the schedule prices it at exactly that sum. The joint petition is a way of filing together; it does not reduce what the court collects.

Government Code section 70670 sets the base fee for each first paper in a dissolution at $355, and the amounts the schedule adds under sections 70602.5 and 70602.6 bring the total to the figure printed in each item. None of this is the office's fee. The office charges $599 for a summary dissolution, $999 for a joint petition and $1,499 for an ordinary petition, each a flat fee for preparing and reviewing every document in the case in a limited scope engagement under California Rules of Court, rule 5.425. The court's fee is paid by you to the court when you file.

The flat fee is earned in stages, and if the representation ends early the unearned part is refunded. One revision round of the settlement agreement is included, as is the first correction of a judgment packet the court returns; a further revision round is quoted before any work is done.

If you cannot afford the fee

The court's fee waiver information lives in its Forms & Filing FAQs rather than on a page of its own. It names the Request to Waive Court Fees (form FW-001) as the basic fee waiver form, points to the information sheet FW-001-INFO, and says a second form is needed, the Order on Court Fee Waiver (form FW-003), which the court fills in with its decision. The statewide rules are the same here as everywhere: Government Code section 68632 grants a waiver to a person who receives a listed public benefit, whose household income is at or below the Judicial Council's published limit, or who cannot pay the fee and also meet the common necessaries of life, and section 68634 has the clerk accept the petition without payment while the request is pending.

The court's SHC-100 instruction sheet tells you what to expect at the counter when a fee waiver request goes in with the petition: your file-stamped copies may be returned to you immediately, or you may be asked to come back in up to 24 hours. Two further points are particular to this court. The virtual divorce workshop page states that fee waiver requests can now be e-filed, and Local General Rule 6(B)(2) provides that a party who has received a fee waiver is not required to pay any fee for electronic filing and service, the rule's own words for the charge that otherwise attaches to e-filing. The office prepares the FW-001 and the FW-003 within the flat fee when you ask for them, and the page on the court fee waiver explains the income limits. A waiver reaches the court's fees only, never the office's.

Filing on paper or electronically

Local General Rule 6(B)(1) draws the line. All parties represented by attorneys in all civil cases, including family cases, must file and serve documents electronically, and Local Family Rule 1H(1) simply refers family filers to that general rule. Self-represented parties, the same rule says, are not required to file and serve documents electronically; they may continue on paper, and a self-represented party who prefers to e-file agrees to it by filing local form CW-9024, Consent to Electronic Filing and Service and Notice of Electronic Service Address. The court's E-Filing FAQs put it in one sentence: self-represented parties are eligible to use the site for e-filing, but it is not mandatory that they do so. You file as a self-represented party, because the office prepares and reviews your documents in a limited scope engagement and does not appear in the case, so paper and electronic filing are both open to you.

If you choose to e-file, General Rule 6(D) requires you to use one of the court's approved electronic filing service providers; the court's e-filing page links the list of providers rather than naming them. The e-filing page also lists documents the court continues to accept in hard copy whether or not a party e-files, and two of them are the ones that end an uncontested divorce: judgments in family case types and defaults in family case types.

On paper, there are three ways in. You may hand the documents to the clerk at the Family Justice Center Courthouse during the clerk's hours. You may mail them to 191 N. First Street, San Jose, CA 95113, with a check for the fee. Or you may use the drop box, which the court describes as inside the courthouse just beyond the metal detector and right before the elevators, available from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday to Friday; there are no outside drop boxes. The court's Family Division FAQs send anyone asking how to submit a filing to the FJCC page for the counter, mail and the drop box, and to the e-filing page for everything electronic. Your filing instructions name the method, and the clerk returns your copies stamped with the filing date and the case number, which you enter in your portal so the next set of documents can be prepared.

The two local forms that travel with the petition

The court's Local Forms page says that the forms used in court are, for the greater part, state forms, and the Judicial Council forms the office prepares, the Petition (form FL-100) and Summons (form FL-110) or the Joint Petition (form FL-700) and its summons (form FL-710), are the same in San Jose as in any other county. Two local forms are added here, and both exist because of the local rules described above.

The first is FM-1050, the Family Law Notice. Rule 1D(1) has the clerk hand it to the filing spouse at the counter as notice of the all-purpose judge assignment, the form itself says a copy must be served on the other party, and the court's SHC-100 sheet lists it among the forms to complete with the petition. The form carries a warning in its own words that is worth repeating: a final judgment will not be entered in your case automatically, and you must take further action to finish your case. The second is FM-1021, the ADR Information Notice for the Family Division. Local Family Rule 1G requires a notice about alternative dispute resolution to be served with any new petition for dissolution, legal separation or nullity, and FM-1021 is that notice.

Two formatting rules apply to whatever is filed. Local Family Rule 1H(2) bars tabs on documents filed with the family court, and Rule 1H(3) limits evidentiary attachments to pleadings to ten pages, with exceptions the rule lists. The office's documents for this county are prepared to both rules, and your filing instructions tell you which local form is served with the summons and which is handed to you by the clerk.

What you bring at each step

At the petition. The court's SHC-100 sheet says to file the original and copies at the clerk's office at 201 North First Street, and to bring two copies. You bring the set the office released to you, signed in ink where the instruction sheet marks: the petition and summons for the path you are on, or the Joint Petition for Summary Dissolution (form FL-800) with the property settlement agreement and the Judgment (form FL-825), with FM-1021 for service and the fee or the fee waiver request. The clerk keeps the original, stamps the copies, issues the summons on an ordinary petition, and gives you FM-1050 with the assigned judge and department.

At service, on an ordinary petition. The SHC-100 sheet reminds filers that the other spouse must be served within 60 days of filing and that the preliminary declaration of disclosure is due in the same period. Your server signs the Proof of Service of Summons (form FL-115), or your spouse signs the Notice and Acknowledgment of Receipt (form FL-117), and that proof is filed with FM-1050 and FM-1021 shown as served. When your preliminary declaration of disclosure under Family Code section 2104 has been served, the Declaration Regarding Service of Declaration of Disclosure (form FL-141) is filed; the Income and Expense Declaration and the Schedule of Assets and Debts themselves go to your spouse, not to the court.

At the judgment. The packet your filing instructions list, with the original and the copies each form needs and the two stamped envelopes rule 5.415 requires, one addressed to you and one to your spouse, each with the clerk's return address. In this county the packet goes to the Default Clerk, as the next section explains.

The judgment packet and the Default Clerk

Local Family Rule 8 is titled Default or Uncontested Judgment, and Rule 8A(1) states how every such judgment is obtained: by declaration through the Default Clerk, with a hearing required only for a nullity. That matches the statewide rule in Family Code section 2336 and California Rules of Court, rule 5.409, under which a judgment in an uncontested dissolution is entered on the written declaration of the filing spouse without a hearing. Rule 8A(2) encourages litigants to use and file the Judicial Council's Judgment Checklist (form FL-182) with a proposed default or uncontested dissolution judgment, and the office includes it, since rule 5.405 makes the checklist the complete list of what a court may require and the court may not add to it.

One local condition applies on the default path, where your spouse signs the agreement and files nothing. Rule 8A(3) provides that a default will not be entered if the other spouse's address stated on the Request to Enter Default (form FL-165) is the same as the filing spouse's address, unless the filing spouse files a declaration under oath that the two of them live at the same address. Where the two addresses are the same, the declaration is prepared with the packet. Where your spouse appears and signs a stipulated judgment under rule 5.411, no default is requested and Rule 8A(3) does not come into play.

Judgments and defaults in family cases are among the documents the court's e-filing page says it continues to accept in hard copy, so the packet may go to the counter, to the mailing address or into the inside drop box. The court's self-help pages describe a second route for people without attorneys: a Divorce Case Review Online Request Form, after which staff review the court file and email the next steps, with the court's stated goal of a review in one week and its note that it may sometimes take longer. The court's page lists what must be in place before the request: the petition filed and served, and the preliminary declaration of disclosure completed with form FL-141 filed. The office's packet is prepared to be submitted directly, and the first correction of a packet the court returns is within the flat fee.

The court also publishes a deadlines page for finishing a case, citing Code of Civil Procedure section 583.210 for service within three years of filing and section 583.310 for bringing the case to judgment within five years. Those deadlines are far longer than the six-month period an uncontested case runs on, but the page explains why the court does not leave a filed case open indefinitely.

Remote appearances, if a hearing is ever set

No hearing is part of an uncontested divorce on an agreement in this county: Rule 8A(1) sends the judgment to the Default Clerk by declaration. If the court sets a hearing or a status conference, the Family Division's remote appearance page and Local Family Rule 1N govern how you attend. Rule 1N(1) is explicit that telephonic appearances are prohibited and that all remote appearances in the Family Division must be conducted using video. The court's page says the same, that telephone appearances are not permitted, and directs parties to the court's own portal at portal.scscourt.org/remotehearing to register and appear by video conferencing; it names no commercial platform.

Rule 1N(6) lets a party attend a status conference and certain other conferences remotely by video without pre-approval from the court. Rule 1N(2) keeps evidentiary hearings and trials, post-mediation hearings and law and motion hearings in person, subject to the judicial officer's discretion. Where approval is needed, the page and Rule 1N(8) describe the request: file Judicial Council form RA-010 with form MC-025 and a blank local form FM-1201, Order Re: Remote Appearance (Family), at least 15 days before the hearing; an objection is made on form RA-015. Local General Rule 9 adds the minimum requirements for any remote proceeding, including an internet connection sufficient to participate fully. An uncontested case decided by declaration sets no hearing; if the court sets one, the filing instructions in your portal say what it has asked for, and the office does not appear at it.

The court's Self-Help Center and Family Law Facilitator

Santa Clara County combines the two services the state's self-help guide tells readers to look for into one office: the Self-Help Center/Family Law Facilitator's Office, which the court abbreviates SHC/FLFO, located at the Family Justice Center Courthouse, 201 N. First Street, San Jose, CA 95113. Its phone line is (408) 882-2926, answered Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., and the court says there is no voicemail; a LiveChat runs on the same days and hours. In-person hours are Monday to Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., and both the center's page and the SHC-100 sheet say walk-in help is limited to emergencies.

The center's page describes how it helps with a divorce: starting a case is handled through its virtual divorce workshop, a series of videos on topics that include starting a case, summary dissolution, financial disclosures, next steps after filing and the joint petition; finishing a case, meaning defaults and judgments, requires an emailed request. Forms may be emailed as PDFs to the center for review after the required videos have been watched, and the workshop page warns that forms sent without completing the videos and the online verifications are rejected. The page is equally clear about what the center does not do: it does not give legal advice, and it does not help with property issues, the division of retirement plans by qualified domestic relations order, discovery or trial preparation. Local Family Rule 7 lists the facilitator's own duties, among them meeting with parties when both are self-represented to mediate child, spousal or partner support, drafting stipulations, preparing orders and operating the Family Court Clinic.

The office's documents are prepared to be filed without the center's review, and your portal and the office are where questions about them go; the center is the place for what a clerk requires on the day. Outside the flat fee, in this county as everywhere: 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, and a spouse who cannot be found. 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 Santa Clara County

When the judgment has been entered, the clerk mails the entered Judgment and the Notice of Entry of Judgment (form FL-190) in the two envelopes you provided, as rule 5.415 requires. The judgment states the date your marriage ends under Family Code section 2340, and under section 2339 that date is never earlier than six months after your spouse was served or appeared. The court's own SHC-100 sheet puts the same rule in plain words: you can be divorced six months and a day from the date your spouse was served with the divorce forms, if a proof of service was filed. Nothing in this county, and nothing the office does, makes that period shorter; what the packet can do is be complete when the six months end.

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. Where the judgment restores a former name, the Judicial Council's guide on what follows a divorce explains how a certified copy of the judgment is used to change identification.

Every Santa Clara County fact on this page was read on the court's own site or the Judicial Council's on October 18, 2026, and the sources are listed below with that date. The office's filing instructions for this county are reviewed by the attorney before they are released to you.

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