Filing an uncontested divorce in Stanislaus County

One clerk's office for family law: 1100 I Street, Modesto

Stanislaus County has a single superior court with a single family law clerk's office, so there is no courthouse to choose and no assignment rule to apply. The court's Family Law division page says a dissolution is filed with the Family Law Clerk's Office at 1100 I Street, Modesto, during regular business hours, and the court's dissolution packet repeats the address and tells the filer to bring the original and two copies of each document there. The court's Main Courthouse page explains the geography: the building's listed address is 800 11th Street, Modesto, CA 95354, and the clerk's office for family law, child support services and Family Court Services is on the first floor at the I Street entrance, which is where 1100 I Street comes from. The court's web pages give that entrance the ZIP code 95354; its packet cover sheets print 95353, which is the ZIP of the court's post office box.

The Operating Hours page lists the Family Law Clerk's Office hours as 8:15 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, with telephone hours from 8:15 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The Family Law division page gives the telephone number as (209) 530-3100. The court's mailing address for the clerk's office is P.O. Box 1098, Modesto, CA 95353, and the local rule on default envelopes writes the clerk's return address as Clerk of the Superior Court, P.O. Box 1098, Modesto, CA 95353-1098.

Because the court has one family law counter, your filing instructions name that one address at every step and do not ask you to confirm a courthouse. What they do ask is that you bring the right number of copies, the fee or the fee waiver request, and the local forms the next section describes, because the court's Document Guidelines page says incomplete or incorrect documents are returned to the person who sent them without being filed.

Four ways a paper reaches the clerk

The court's Family Law division page says filings may be submitted in person, by eFile or by mail, and that a filing sent by mail must include the filing fee and a self-addressed stamped envelope. The Operating Hours page adds a fourth route: a Family Law Drop Box at 1100 I Street, available from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, and an Emergency Filing Drop Box for documents submitted after normal business hours. The court states the drop box rule it applies under California Rules of Court, rule 2.210(b): a document stamped up to and including 4:00 p.m. is filed as of the date received, and a document stamped after 4:00 p.m. is file-marked the following day.

The Document Guidelines page sets three habits for paper filings. The top page of each set must be time-stamped. Incomplete documents are returned unfiled. A self-addressed stamped envelope must accompany the copies if you want them conformed and returned by mail. Your filing instructions follow those three points: the original and two copies of each document, a stamped envelope where a copy comes back to you by mail, and the fee or the fee waiver request on top.

The judgment packet is the exception to the four routes. The court's two judgment packets describe delivery one way, taking the original and two copies to the Clerk's Office with the envelopes, and no court page read for this page says a proposed judgment may go by mail, in the drop box or by e-filing. The section on the judgment packet says what the court does say, and your filing instructions do not send the packet any way the court has not described.

The court's fees, item by item

The court's Local Rules, Fee and Bail Schedules page posts a document it calls the Stanislaus County Superior Court Fee Schedule 2024, which is the Judicial Council's Statewide Civil Fee Schedule effective January 1, 2024, and it links a Statewide Judicial Branch Fee Schedule beside it, with a note to contact the Clerk's Office for information about applicable local fees. The current statewide schedule, the Judicial Council Statewide Civil Fee Schedule effective January 1, 2026, read on October 18, 2026, lists the dissolution fees at items 97 and 98, and the 2024 schedule on the court's page lists the same amounts at items 96 and 97. The statewide schedule marks the fees that vary by county with an asterisk and says they vary only in Riverside, San Bernardino and San Francisco because of a local surcharge for courthouse construction; Stanislaus is not among them, and no local fee item for a dissolution appears on any court page read.

The court's Family Law FAQ page states when the fee is due: fees are paid upon the filing of the first documents that open a case, or the first paper a party files in any case. The items on the statewide schedule that arise in an uncontested divorce:

• Item 97, the petition or other first paper for a dissolution of marriage or domestic partnership, a legal separation or a nullity: $435, citing Government Code sections 70670(b), 70602.5 and 70602.6. The clerk collects this when an ordinary petition is opened.
• Item 98, the response or other first paper filed in answer to a dissolution petition: $435, citing Government Code section 70670(d). It falls on your spouse only if a response or another first paper is filed.
• Item 100: a joint petition for summary dissolution of marriage or domestic partnership, $435, paid once by the two of you together.
• Item 103, a settlement agreement or stipulation for judgment signed by a defaulted respondent and included in the dissolution judgment: no fee, citing Government Code section 70677(c). A spouse whose only act in the case is signing the agreement owes the clerk nothing.

How many first-paper fees each path pays here

An ordinary petition where your spouse signs the settlement agreement and files nothing pays item 97 once, $435, and item 103 confirms that the agreement itself carries no fee. If your spouse files a response to an ordinary petition, items 97 and 98 are both paid, $870 across the two of you. A joint petition under Family Code section 2342.5 pays both first-paper fees, $870, because section 2342.5(h) provides that a joint petition is filed with the fees of Government Code section 70670(b) and (d) unless both spouses have fee waivers. A couple who qualify for a summary dissolution under Family Code sections 2400 to 2403 pay item 100 one time, $435. The joint petition does not save a court fee in Stanislaus County; the clerk collects both first-paper fees.

Law Offices of Rozsa Gyene charges a flat fee that is separate from the court's and is paid to the office: $599 for a summary dissolution, $999 for a joint petition and $1,499 for an ordinary petition. The flat fee 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 Stanislaus County, 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. If a further revision round is wanted, the office quotes it before doing any of the work. The fee is earned in stages, and whatever part has not been earned is refunded if the representation ends early.

The office prepares; you file. It 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 litigant, carrying the written instructions the attorney reviewed. The office represents one spouse only: the other spouse is not a client of this office in the divorce and is not advised by it, and may consult an attorney of their own choosing.

If you cannot afford the fee

The court has no separate web page for fee waivers. Its Family Law FAQ answers the question what to do if you cannot afford the filing fee: you may be eligible for a waiver, and you ask the clerk for a fee waiver packet and read it to see whether you qualify. The court posts the packet on its Common Forms and Packets page as the Request for Fee Waiver and Order, revised January 2024, and it holds the Judicial Council's information sheet (form FW-001-INFO), the Request to Waive Court Fees (form FW-001) and the Order on Court Fee Waiver (form FW-003). The packet's filing instruction is specific: one original plus one copy of the application, and one original plus two copies of the order. It states that the application is confidential and is not served on the other party, and that a person over the income guidelines may ask to pay in installments.

The statute the forms apply 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 Judicial Council's published limit, or who cannot pay the fee and still meet the basic needs of the household (section 68632), and the clerk files the petition while the request is decided (section 68634(c)). The court's FAQ adds two consequences in its own words: if fees are waived, the court may order payment of the waived fees and costs against the other party when the judgment is signed, or add them to the judgment. The court's default judgment packet and its FAQ each state a period after the entry of judgment within which waived fees must be paid, and the two figures differ, so this page prints neither; your filing instructions say what the court's current material says when your packet is prepared.

A granted waiver also covers the cost of e-filing: local rule 1.14 D says a party who has received a fee waiver from the court is exempt from the fees and costs associated with electronic filing, and the court's E-Filing page says a party filing with a fee waiver, or with a previously granted waiver in the case, is not charged a fee to file. On a joint petition, section 2342.5(h) asks for both first-paper fees unless both spouses hold waivers, so each spouse who needs one submits their own request. The office prepares the request and the order form as part of the flat fee when you ask. The waiver reaches the court's fees only; the office's fee is unchanged by it.

E-filing: mandatory for attorneys, optional for you

Local rule 1.14, Mandatory Electronic Filing, lists family cases among the case types in which all documents presented for filing must be e-filed, and then exempts you: self-represented parties are not required to file documents electronically, though the rule says they are encouraged to use e-filing. You are a self-represented party in this court, because the attorney prepares your documents in a limited scope engagement and does not appear in your case, so the choice between paper and e-filing is yours.

If you e-file, rule 1.14 B says the documents must be e-filed through one of the court's approved e-filing service providers, with provider information on the court's website. The E-Filing page says anyone may begin a case and e-file from home by selecting an authorized provider from the E-Filing Portal, and its portal button opens the Odyssey eFileCA site; the page does not publish a list of provider names for family law, so this page names none. Providers charge their own fees, which a fee waiver removes. The page's user rules ask that party names be entered in all capital letters and that each document be submitted as a separate lead document, not as an attachment to another.

Some family law documents cannot be e-filed at all. The E-Filing page lists them: exemplifications, joint petitions, orders to show cause regarding contempt, requests for order with temporary orders or orders shortening time, subpoenas and writs. The one that matters in an uncontested divorce is joint petitions. The Joint Petition (form FL-700) under Family Code section 2342.5 and the Joint Petition for Summary Dissolution (form FL-800) under sections 2400 to 2403 are both joint petitions, so if your path is either one, your filing instructions send you to the counter, the mail or the drop box rather than to a provider. An ordinary petition (form FL-100) is not on the list.

Local rules and the two local forms

The court's Local Rules of Court, effective July 1, 2026, are linked from its Local Rules, Fee and Bail Schedules page. Rule 1.14 governs e-filing, and Rule 7, Family Law, governs the rest of a divorce: rule 7.03 on the time for service of the petition and response, rule 7.04 on the case management conference, rule 7.20 on family law judgments, rule 7.21 on the time for filing a judgment and the time for finality, rule 7.22 on formatting requirements for all judgments, rule 7.23 on judgment procedure and rule 7.24 on rules specific to default and uncontested judgments. Rule 7.22 B states the court's position on forms: Judicial Council forms and the court's local forms are required, and non-conforming papers may be rejected.

The court's dissolution packet, revised January 6, 2025, is headed with five steps to a final judgment, and it lists two local forms to file with the Petition (form FL-100) and Summons (form FL-110): the Confidential Declaration (local form FL003) and the Notice of Family Law Case Management Conference (local form FL007), which the packet says in capital letters must be printed on bright green paper. The Common Forms and Packets page repeats the instruction, marking the notice with the words print on green paper. The office prepares both local forms with your petition, and your filing instructions tell you which page comes out of the printer on green stock and how many copies of each you bring.

Rule 7.03 sets three clocks. Proof of service of the petition must be filed within 60 days after the petition is filed (7.03 B). If your spouse does not respond, the request to enter default must be filed within 60 days after the time to respond lapses, with a current Income and Expense Declaration (form FL-150) or Financial Statement (Simplified) (form FL-155) and a Property Declaration attached (7.03 F). The default judgment must then be submitted within 60 days after the default is entered, and the rule says a failure may draw an order to show cause regarding sanctions (7.03 G). Your portal carries each of those dates from the one before it.

Rule 7.04 explains the green form. The court sets each case for a case management conference approximately 150 days after the date of filing, and the filing spouse serves the notice of the conference and a blank conference statement on the other spouse with the petition. The court's packet says a Case Management Conference Statement (form FL-005) must be filed and served by the fifteenth calendar day before the conference, and it adds the sentence that matters in an uncontested case: you will not have to appear if a judgment has been submitted and filed with the court. Rule 7.23 A completes the thought, because after the judge signs the judgment the Family Law Clerk's Office vacates any pending case management conference and tells the parties so when it mails the notice of entry of judgment.

The judgment packet in Stanislaus County

Rule 7.24 A sets the gate. An uncontested judgment may be submitted only if one of three things has happened: the responding spouse has been declared in default, has appeared but has also filed an Appearance, Stipulation and Waivers form, or the parties have stipulated orally in open court. Rule 7.24 F.1 then says a default is submitted by way of affidavit and a default hearing is set only on a party's specific request or by order of the court, and the court's judgment packet for a case with a response filed says a judgment incorporating a marital settlement agreement generally does not require a court hearing. California Rules of Court, rule 5.405 fixes the forms a court may require to the Judgment Checklist (form FL-182), rule 5.411 governs a stipulated judgment and rule 5.415 requires the envelopes.

The court publishes two judgment packets. The Request to Enter Default and Judgment Packet, revised May 2023, lists the Request to Enter Default (form FL-165), the Declaration for Default or Uncontested Dissolution (form FL-170), the court's local Supplemental Declaration to FL-170 (local form FL-019), the Property Declaration (form FL-160) where there are assets or debts, the Judgment (form FL-180) and the Notice of Entry of Judgment (form FL-190). The Judgment Packet for a case with a response filed, revised June 2012, lists the Appearance, Stipulations and Waivers (form FL-130), the Stipulation and Waiver of Final Declaration of Disclosure (form FL-144), FL-170, FL-180, the court's local marital settlement agreement attachment (local form FL-020) and FL-190. Rule 7.24 D names the local forms' purpose: a Supplemental Declaration (local form FL-019) or a Pre-Hearing Statement (local form FL-002) can be used for issues the FL-170 does not cover. Rule 7.24 E.5 says the settlement agreement is attached to the judgment rather than filed as a separate paper.

Three rules in 7.22 shape the judgment the office drafts. Rule 7.22 A requires every judgment to state in the upper left corner the name and address of the person presenting it for signature. Rule 7.22 I.1 requires real property in a judgment to carry the complete street address and the legal description, and says a judgment will not be signed if it contains only the street address; rule 7.22 I.2 asks for supporting papers on vehicle, bank and retirement divisions, such as Kelley Blue Book printouts and account statements as of the date of separation. Rule 7.22 J requires the judgment to address spousal support for both parties, and says a marriage of ten years or more is presumptively of long duration, so that support cannot be automatically waived without a showing of the ability to be self-supporting; the office drafts the support paragraph of your agreement with that rule in front of it.

One rule is Stanislaus's own and affects the spouse who files nothing. Rule 7.24 E.3 says the signature of the spouse who was defaulted on any marital settlement agreement or stipulated judgment shall be notarized, citing Family Code section 2338.5, and the court's default packet repeats it: a signed and notarized marital settlement agreement. A notary is not something the office provides; the spouse who signs the agreement arranges the notarization, and your filing instructions say so before the agreement is sent for signature.

The envelopes and the delivery. Rule 7.23 B requires an original and two copies of the notice of entry of judgment with the proposed judgment, and two stamped envelopes addressed to the parties as listed on the notice, of appropriate size and with sufficient postage. Rule 7.24 B adds, for a request to enter default, a stamped envelope addressed to the defaulted spouse with the clerk's return address, Clerk of the Superior Court, P.O. Box 1098, Modesto, CA 95353-1098. Both packets say to take the original and two copies to the Clerk's Office with two self-addressed, postage-paid envelopes, one to you and one to the other party, and to use large envelopes if the judgment exceeds six pages. The court's FAQ says the final judgment papers are submitted to the Clerk's Office for the judge's signature and that the divorce is not final until the signed papers come back. If the clerk returns the packet, its first correction is part of the flat fee.

Appearing remotely, if a hearing is ever set

In Stanislaus County an uncontested divorce on a written agreement is decided without a courtroom: Family Code section 2336 and California Rules of Court, rule 5.409 allow the judgment to be entered on your declaration without a hearing, rule 7.24 F.1 says a default is submitted by affidavit, and the court's packet says a judgment with a marital settlement agreement generally needs no hearing. If a hearing is set in your case, the court's Remote Appearances page says a remote appearance in a family law matter is requested by completing and filing the Judicial Council's Request for Remote Appearance forms, RA-010 and RA-020, and that a telephonic appearance cannot be scheduled by telephone. If the request is granted, the RA-020 comes back marked Granted with the department's telephone number, which the page describes as a direct line into the courtroom. The court's VCourt and UDC platforms are for civil and probate matters, not family law. The office does not appear at a hearing; if the court sets one, the granted RA-020 and your instructions say what the court has asked for.

The Self-Help Center and the Family Law Facilitator

The court's Self-Help Center is at 800 11th Street, Room 220, Modesto, on the second floor of the Main Courthouse, and its information page gives its hours as Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. It is a walk-in service, first come, first served, and the page says to plan on spending at least half a day when you visit. Its voicemail is (209) 548-6237, with calls returned on Wednesdays between 8:00 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., and its email is Self.Help@StanCt.org, answered in one to two business days. The page lists help with the paperwork to begin a dissolution among its services, and the court's FAQ says the Self-Help Center and the Office of the Family Law Facilitator are available to assist with finalizing judgment paperwork at no charge. Local rule 7.20 says the clerk's office refers self-represented litigants to both.

The Office of the Family Law Facilitator shares the same office, Room 220, and the court describes it as free with no income requirement, but limited to paternity, child support and spousal support; all other family law matters are sent to the Self-Help Center. The court publishes the Facilitator's hours on two pages, its Family Law division page and its Self-Help information page, and the two pages give different hours, so this page prints neither and links both. The Facilitator's page says the office may not assist parties who are represented by an attorney and that communications with it are not confidential.

Both offices are staffed by neutral court employees who are not your lawyer, and the Self-Help Center says it cannot assist or answer questions for third parties, including attorneys, law firms, document preparers and paralegal services. The office's documents are prepared so that you do not need either office to complete them, and your portal and the office are where your questions go first; the court's own staff answer the questions only the court can, such as what the clerk at the counter expects on the day.

The flat fee does not cover every case. Minor children, a business, a pension that needs its own order, real property outside California, a legal separation or an annulment, a spouse who cannot be found, or a disagreement the two of you will not settle each put a case 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.

Summary dissolution in this county

The court's Summary Dissolution packet, revised January 19, 2024, shows what the clerk expects of a couple who qualify under Family Code sections 2400 to 2403: the Joint Petition for Summary Dissolution (form FL-800), a Confidential Declaration (local form FL003) for each spouse, an Income and Expense Declaration (form FL-150) for each spouse with proof of income, and the Judgment of Dissolution form the packet names, with two self-addressed stamped envelopes. The packet states in capital letters that the court will finalize the dissolution automatically if no Notice of Revocation (form FL-830) is filed within six months, which is what section 2403 provides.

Two county points follow from the rest of this page. The joint petition for summary dissolution pays item 100 once, $435. And because the E-Filing page lists joint petitions among the family law documents the court does not accept electronically, the summary dissolution is filed on paper, at the counter, by mail with the fee and a stamped envelope, or in the Family Law Drop Box. The office's flat fee for a summary dissolution is $599, and the Judicial Council's summary dissolution information (form FL-810) is the test of whether you qualify.

After the judgment, in this county

The court's FAQ says it in one line: you are not automatically divorced six months after you file your case. Local rule 7.21 A says a judgment may be submitted at any time, but no judgment can be final until six months have passed from the date of service of the summons and petition or the date the responding spouse appeared, and if the judgment is presented after those six months, marital status ends on the date the court signs it. The statute behind the rule is Family Code section 2339, and form FL-107-INFO counts the earliest date as six months and one day from service or appearance. The judgment states the date your marriage ends (section 2340), and nothing filed in Stanislaus County brings that date forward.

The clerk mails the entered Judgment and the Notice of Entry of Judgment to each spouse in the envelopes your packet supplied, and vacates the case management conference at the same time. The office does not prepare or record deeds, so a transfer of California real property that your agreement calls for is a separate matter after the judgment, and rule 7.22 I.1 means the judgment itself must already carry the property's legal description. The residence rule is Family Code section 2320: six months in California and three months in the county before the petition is filed here.

Every source below was read on October 18, 2026. Each address, hour, fee, rule number and form number on this page comes from one of them, and whatever the court's materials did not confirm has been left off.

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