Summary dissolution in California: the short marriage divorce
A summary dissolution is one joint filing by both spouses, with no service, no hearing and nothing further to file. It is available only to marriages that fit the limits the court's booklet sets.
Who qualifies
The court's own booklet (form FL-810, Summary Dissolution Information (Rev. April 28, 2025), Family Code section 2400) sets the limits. Every one must be met:
- Married less than 5 years, counted from the date of marriage to the date of separation.
- No children born or adopted before or during the marriage, and no pregnancy.
- Neither spouse has an interest in real property anywhere, other than a lease of one year or less without an option to buy.
- Community debts, not counting car loans, of no more than $7,000.
- Community property, not counting cars and not counting what is owed on it, worth no more than $57,000.
- Neither spouse has separate property, not counting cars, worth more than $57,000.
- Both spouses give up spousal support forever, and both sign the joint petition and the property settlement agreement.
- One spouse has lived in California for six months and in the filing county for three months.
How it works
Both of you read the booklet. The attorney prepares the Joint Petition for Summary Dissolution (form FL-800), the property settlement agreement dividing what you own and owe, the proposed Judgment of Dissolution and Notice of Entry of Judgment (form FL-825), and your declaration of disclosure. Both of you sign the petition and the agreement in ink, exchange disclosures, and file the set together with the court's fee and two stamped envelopes.
Nobody is served. Six months after the filing the court enters the judgment on its own and mails it to each of you. Either of you can stop the case before then by filing a notice of revocation (form FL-830). A summary dissolution gives up the right to appeal.
What it costs
Law Offices of Rozsa Gyene prepares a summary dissolution for a flat fee of $599, attorney-prepared and attorney-reviewed, plus the court's filing fee of $435 as of September 7, 2026 paid to the court. The screening on the start page checks every limit above before you pay anything; a marriage that does not fit is offered the regular uncontested divorce instead, at $1,499.
Rozsa Gyene, State Bar of California No. 208356, 3500 W. Olive Ave., Suite 300, Burbank, CA 91505.