Filing an uncontested divorce in Santa Clarita

The Santa Clarita Courthouse does not take a divorce petition

Local Rule 2.2(b) places three courthouses in the North Valley District: the Chatsworth Courthouse at 9425 Penfield Avenue, Chatsworth 91311, the Santa Clarita Courthouse at 23747 West Valencia Boulevard, Santa Clarita 91355, and the San Fernando Courthouse. Four of the court's own records, each read on October 18, 2026, show that a family law case does not go there.

First, the Family Law Departments Directory, in its edition effective October 1, 2026, names fourteen locations and, for the North Valley District, gives family law departments at Chatsworth only; Santa Clarita does not appear among the fourteen. Second, the clerk's office appointment scheduler offers appointments at the Santa Clarita Courthouse under two codes only, CRM and TR, while its Chatsworth entry reads CIV FL SMCL TR. Third, the Filing Court Locator, asked about Santa Clarita zip codes, returns the Chatsworth Courthouse and never prints the Santa Clarita Courthouse in any column of any row, not for family law, not for unlimited civil, not for restraining orders. Fourth, Chatsworth has a self-help center on the court's Self-Help Center Locations list, and Santa Clarita has none.

The court's online directory of courthouses lists the Santa Clarita Courthouse with its Valencia Boulevard address. Its detail page, with the building's hours and telephone, was not read for this page, so nothing about that building's hours appears here; the hours below are Chatsworth's, which is where your petition goes. For a Santa Clarita filer who files at the locator's courthouse, the counter is at 9425 Penfield Avenue, and the caption names the Chatsworth Courthouse.

The locator's answer, zip code by zip code

The locator's search page has two boxes, City / Community and Zip Code, and the instruction "Enter a city/community, a zip code, or both and click search." The Santa Clarita questions went in on October 18, 2026, two ways: the zip codes 91350, 91354 and 91355 one at a time, and the city name alone. The answer arrives as a table with four columns (Unlimited Civil, Family Law, Restraining Orders, Probate), and a divorce petition takes its courthouse from the Family Law column.

Four notes from the locator go with its answer. On the results page, the courthouse shown "will normally be the location where a case from the selected zip code and community would be assigned, unless Local Rule 2.0 specifies a different location." On the search page, the court cautions that "a mailing address may not be a proper indicator of true geographic location." The search page also says family cases are handled as unlimited civil cases here, and that "adjustments in caseload distributions in the San Fernando Valley and East Los Angeles areas, and in the North Central District may require..." And for a street that marks a district line, the results page's note is that "the boundary of the district is the centerline of that street." For the criteria themselves the locator points to Chapter 2 of the Local Rules, the subject of the next section.

For some cities in the county the locator's Unlimited Civil column names a different courthouse from its Family Law column. For Santa Clarita it does not: the three zip codes queried one at a time show Chatsworth Courthouse in all three columns, so there is no second courthouse to reconcile. With those caveats, the answers in the locator's own words:

• SANTA CLARITA (91350): Chatsworth Courthouse, in the Family Law column, the Unlimited Civil column and the Restraining Orders column alike.
• SANTA CLARITA (91354): Chatsworth Courthouse, the same answer in all three columns.
• SANTA CLARITA (91355): Chatsworth Courthouse, the same answer in all three columns.
• The city-name search lists seven Santa Clarita zip codes, 91310, 91321, 91322, 91350, 91351, 91354 and 91355, and prints Chatsworth Courthouse in the Family Law column for every one of them; the row for 91321 reads SANTA CLARITA (91321) Chatsworth Courthouse.

Local Rule 2.3: Chatsworth or Stanley Mosk, your choice

The locator reports the court's assignment; the rule behind it gives you a choice. Local Rule 2.3(a)(1)(B), in the Local Rules the court serves as current, footed effective January 1, 2022 with rule 2.3 itself last amended effective July 1, 2018, provides, in its words, that "an unlimited civil or Family Code action may be filed in the Central District or may be filed in a district other than the Central District"; its list of optional filings carries the line "Family law (all matters under the Family Code), where one or more of the parties litigant reside." Applied to Santa Clarita, that gives two courthouses: the Chatsworth Courthouse in the North Valley District, where you live, or the Stanley Mosk Courthouse at 111 North Hill Street, Los Angeles 90012, in the Central District. If your spouse lives in another district, the rule reads on where either of you resides, and that district is open as well.

Local Rule 2.2(a) splits the court into twelve geographic districts, Central, East, North, North Central, North Valley, Northeast, Northwest, South, South Central, Southeast, Southwest and West, and Appendix 2.A maps their boundaries. The Santa Clarita Courthouse is one of rule 2.2(b)'s North Valley District locations, the locator answers Chatsworth for the city's zip codes, and the directory places the North Valley District's family law departments at Chatsworth. Chatsworth is therefore the district option and Stanley Mosk the central one. The choice is yours under the rule; the intake asks for it, with what the locator printed for your zip code, and the attorney settles the courthouse with you before drafting the petition.

Rule 2.3(a)(1)(D) has a narrow reach. It names nine Northwest District zip codes, 91301, 91302, 91303, 91304, 91306, 91307, 91326, 91361 and 91367, whose family law matters "must be filed in Central or the North Valley District." No Santa Clarita zip code is on that list. Santa Clarita cases reach Chatsworth because the locator names it for every Santa Clarita zip code, not because of that carve-out.

After filing, two more Chapter 2 rules apply. Under rule 2.11, "Family Law Division courts are direct calendar courts," so a Chatsworth case goes to one of the five Chatsworth family law departments for all purposes instead of a master calendar. Under rule 2.3(b)(4) a family law case can be moved between districts by the Family Law Supervising Judge, and a motion seeking that is heard in Department 2 in the Central District.

This court adds two local cover sheets to the first paper. Rule 2.3(a)(1)(E) says that any action presented for filing in any district "must be accompanied by the Civil Case Cover Sheet Addendum and Statement of Location (form LACIV 109)," which the self-represented party signs where there is no counsel. Rule 5.2 adds a Family Law Case Cover Sheet, form FAM020, to the first paper in a family law action. The office prepares every document.

The Chatsworth Courthouse, as the court describes it

The court's courthouse page for Chatsworth gives the address as 9425 Penfield Ave., Chatsworth, CA 91311. Its hours statement reads: "The courthouse is open from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and the Clerk's Office is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, Except Court Holidays." The telephone it gives is (818) 407-2200. Its only parking statement concerns jurors: "Free parking for jurors is provided in the public parking area located at the end of the cul-de-sac on Penfield Avenue." The page as read describes no other parking.

Chatsworth's General Directory names each office in the building. For a divorce the relevant entries are the Family Law Clerk's Office, the Family Law Facilitator Office, the Children's Waiting Room, and two entries named Domestic Violence and Civil Harassment/Domestic Violence Restraining Orders; civil, small claims and traffic offices are listed too. Rule 5.3 mentions "the Clerk's Office of the district courthouse to which the case is assigned," and Chatsworth's directory has a Family Law Clerk's Office. The entries were not expanded when the page was read, so the hours given here are the building's and the Clerk's Office's, not any single window's.

Five departments are listed at Chatsworth in the directory's October 1, 2026 edition, under the North Valley District heading: F40, F41, F48, F50 and F58, each marked General FL and each with its own telephone number in the directory. None is marked Restraining Orders, and the court's Master Calendar and Case Management departments appear at Stanley Mosk alone. The directory misprints Chatsworth's zip code as 9131; rule 2.2 and the courthouse page give 91311. For a reader weighing the Central District, the court's courthouse directory carries a notice: "Beginning May 4, 2026, the Superior Court of Los Angeles County will introduce a new department (courtroom) numbering system at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse."

Self-help at Chatsworth

Room 3700 on the third floor of the Chatsworth Courthouse, 9425 Penfield Avenue, is a center on the court's Self-Help Center Locations list (revised October 6, 2025), one of those giving in-person services with protective restraining orders, family law cases, eviction answers and CARE petitions. Its printed hours run Monday to Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., and Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Calls go to the court's Self-Help Call Center, (213) 830-0845, from Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. Not every center covers family law: the list marks Inglewood and Santa Monica as offering no family law assistance and Norwalk as CARE assistance only, and it has no center at the Santa Clarita Courthouse.

Walk-in help, the court's self-help site says, comes "on a first come, first served basis and is subject to availability. Spaces fill up quickly." By the court's own description, the center's staff help people "complete your court forms and educate you about court procedures," and give no legal advice. The Chatsworth Courthouse appears on the Judicial Council's self-help finder with (818) 407-2200 and a link to the court's self-help site, and on its own page the Judicial Council says: "Every superior court in California has free legal help available in family law and in small claims cases."

A Family Law Facilitator Office is also on the Chatsworth General Directory. Its role, by the court's Facilitator page: it "assists self-represented parties with child support, spousal support and health insurance issues," and "The staff does not give legal advice nor does it represent a party in a case or at a hearing." Local Rule 5.23 sets out the Facilitator's work for the court, starting with "Meeting with litigants to mediate issues of child support, spousal support, and maintenance of health insurance" and including stipulations, advice to the court, and orders in cases with no lawyer on either side. The Facilitator's hours and locations were unreadable on October 18, 2026, so none are given. Its subjects are support and health insurance.

The court publishes forms packets of its own for an uncontested divorce. Its Uncontested (Stipulated) Divorce Judgment Forms Packet without Minor Children (Rev 5/2025) sets a condition at the start, "You and your spouse or partner must agree on all issues of the case," and its completion sheet asks, "What courthouse was your case filed?" On the court's self-help site there is also a three-part divorce workshop series, the last part aimed at the filing spouse who is completing a default judgment.

Outside the flat fee, for a Santa Clarita filer as for anyone in the county: 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 Los Angeles County Bar Association Lawyer Referral and Information Service, at 213-243-1525, can refer you to a family law attorney.

E-filing from Santa Clarita

For a Santa Clarita filer, General Order 2022-GEN-009-00 of April 13, 2022 settles whether e-filing is required. Its recital dates the mandate: "Effective November 15, 2021 the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles mandated electronic filing of all documents filed in Family Law cases by litigants represented by attorneys." Under section 3(a), "self-represented litigants are exempt from mandatory electronic filing requirements." With no attorney of record in the case, a Santa Clarita filer is on the exempt side of section 3(a) and may e-file or not. Proposed judgments came off the order's list of exempt filings effective April 18, 2022, as its preamble records, a change that matters only to those who must e-file.

An e-filer follows the order's terms. Under section 6(a), "Electronic documents must be electronically filed in PDF, text searchable format." Section 6 puts redaction of confidential information on the filer, giving as examples a minor's initials and only the last four digits of a Social Security number. Section 7(a) dates a filing by the court day on which the court receives it electronically, at any hour of that court day up to 11:59:59 p.m., provided it is accepted. Under section 12, e-filing fees and costs are waived where the litigant has a fee waiver.

Section 5(b) provides that "Court generated documents will be served via email resource account to the email address registered with the EFSP," and it gives each family law courthouse an account. Chatsworth's is CH-FLNotification@lacourt.org, the account through which the court's own documents in an e-filed Chatsworth case reach the address you registered with your provider.

At the counter, appointments go through the court's scheduler, Schedule Appointment with Clerk's Office, where the user picks a courthouse and an appointment type. Chatsworth appears there with CIV, FL, SMCL and TR. The scheduler leaves FL undefined, and so does this page; what it shows is that Chatsworth offers the code and the Santa Clarita Courthouse does not. The rules also mention delivery once. Local Rule 5.3(a)(2)(B), on ex parte applications, lets those papers be presented "through the Clerk's Office's resource account, by fax filing, by drop-box filing or by physical delivery (advance appointment is necessary)." No other drop-box statement turned up on the court's site on October 18, 2026; this one is about ex parte papers, and nothing here applies the rule to petitions or judgment packets.

The judgment packet, submitted at Chatsworth

The rules for the judgment packet apply county-wide; at Chatsworth the difference is the place it goes. Under rule 5.3 the place is "the Clerk's Office of the district courthouse to which the case is assigned," while the court's own packet asks on its completion sheet, "What courthouse was your case filed?" A Santa Clarita case filed at Chatsworth answers with the Chatsworth Courthouse, where the General Directory shows a Family Law Clerk's Office. A case filed at Stanley Mosk under rule 2.3(a)(1)(B) returns its packet there.

Local Rule 5.17 sets what goes in. The judgment comes as an original and three copies, and "The court will retain the original and one copy"; with it go two self-addressed, stamped envelopes "with the court's address as the return address," which at Chatsworth is 9425 Penfield Avenue, Chatsworth, CA 91311. The forms list opens with the Declaration for Default or Uncontested Dissolution, then whichever applies of the Request for Default and the Appearance, Stipulation and Waiver form. The rule names the issues that need a hearing absent written agreement. For a defaulting spouse who signs the judgment, it says: "Filing fees will not be required from a defaulting party that has signed a judgment. The signature of the defaulting party must be notarized." Notarizing is not part of the office's work. Rule 5.16(b) lets a stipulated judgment on reserved issues go in "without appearance."

Three more points round out the subject, one statewide and two from the court. Section 2336 of the Family Code, together with rule 5.409, permits an uncontested judgment to be entered on your declaration with no hearing, though the court's 2011 Divorce Overview chart, still served from its self-help site, notes that "In a small number of complex situations, a hearing is required even for a default divorce." The same chart says "The Preliminary and Final Declarations of Disclosure are not filed with the court but are served on the other spouse," which matches what Family Code section 2104 requires. And by the court's Family Law Division page, "In all Family Law departments and hearing types, the Court has remote video and audio courtroom appearance technology via LACourtConnect (LACC)," a court-wide statement that covers the Chatsworth departments; the office makes no court appearances. The judgment steps in general are on the county page; this page adds only what a Chatsworth case does with them.

What does not change because you live in Santa Clarita

Residence is a county question. Section 2320 of the Family Code looks for one spouse's residence in California for six months and in Los Angeles County for three, before the petition; Santa Clarita, Chatsworth and the Stanley Mosk Courthouse all sit in that one county, and the city you live in bears on the courthouse, never on your right to file. Court fees are on the county page item by item, and a joint petition owes a first-paper fee for each spouse, $870 in all, as section 2342.5(h) of the Family Code provides and as the Judicial Council's Statewide Civil Fee Schedule effective January 1, 2026 lists at item 99. The waiting period under section 2339 is six months, counted from service on your spouse or your spouse's appearance, the Judicial Council's FL-107-INFO names six months and a day as the earliest end, and by section 2340 the judgment states when the marriage ends. Filing at Chatsworth rather than at Stanley Mosk, e-filing rather than driving, or finishing the packet early changes none of it.

Law Offices of Rozsa Gyene prepares and reviews every document for a flat fee in a limited scope engagement under California Rules of Court, rule 5.425: $599 for a summary dissolution, $999 for a joint petition, $1,499 for an ordinary petition. You file the documents yourself with written filing instructions for the Chatsworth Courthouse, or for Stanley Mosk if that is your choice, reviewed by the attorney before they are released to you. The office does not file, does not serve, does not appear in court, does not provide a notary, and does not prepare or record deeds; a title company or another attorney does that. The flat fee includes one revision round of the settlement agreement and the first correction of a judgment packet the court returns; a further round is quoted before any work on it begins. The fee is earned in stages, and the part not yet earned is refunded if the representation ends early.

The office represents one spouse only; your spouse is not its client, receives no advice from it, and is free to consult an attorney of their own choosing. The source for each court fact is listed below with the date it was read, October 18, 2026.

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