Filing an uncontested divorce in Tulare County

Two places to file: Visalia and Porterville

Tulare County has one superior court, and Local Rule 934(a) says that initial pleadings in a family law matter may be filed either at the Visalia Courthouse or the South County Justice Center in Porterville. The court's step-by-step page for starting a divorce, legal separation or nullity case gives the same two addresses, and its instructions for item 1 of the Summons (form FL-110) tell the filer to enter the name and address of the court in Visalia or Porterville where they intend to file. The choice belongs to the person filing; no page or rule read on October 18, 2026 assigns a case to one courthouse or the other by residence or zip code.

The court's Family Law division page lists the same two offices under the heading Civil Legal Filings, each with its telephone number, and the court's location pages give both buildings the same hours, Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Local Rule 100 adds that a drop box is installed at each court location except the juvenile court for papers deposited after 4:00 p.m. and before 5:00 p.m., and that a paper left in it is file-stamped with the date it was deposited.

Because the county has two family law filing locations, the office confirms yours with you before the petition is prepared, following the court's own rule that either may be chosen. The petition and every document after it then name that courthouse in the caption, and your filing instructions carry its address and hours. The two, as the court's pages gave them on October 18, 2026:

• Visalia: Clerk of Court, County Civic Center, 221 S. Mooney Blvd., Room 201, Visalia, CA 93291, (559) 730-5000.
• Porterville: South County Justice Center, 300 E. Olive Ave., Porterville, CA 93257, (559) 782-3700.

What the clerk stamps on the petition

Two things are stamped on the first page of the petition the day it is filed. Local Rule 901(a) assigns every new case to a specific judicial officer for all purposes and says the assignment is stamped there. Local Rule 906 sets every dissolution, legal separation and nullity case for a Case Management Conference 120 days after the petition is filed, and the court's starting page says that date is stamped on the first page of the petition as well. The rule allows the conference to be held in person, by telephone, by videoconference or by other appropriate means.

For an uncontested case the conference is a date to finish before. The court's judgment page says that if the judgment is submitted for the judge's signature before the first Case Management Conference, the case can be completed without attending court and the conference comes off calendar. The documents the office prepares follow that order: the petition and summons, then the disclosure, then the settlement agreement, then the judgment packet, with your portal showing what is due next.

Local Rule 934(c) says the parties may stipulate to transfer venue, and that a transfer may also be sought by a Request for Order or ordered on the court's own motion. The rule cites Code of Civil Procedure section 397. The court's local forms list includes FAM-012, Stipulated Order for Case Transfer.

The court's fees, item by item

The court publishes no fee schedule of its own. Its Forms and Filing page links the Judicial Council's Statewide Civil Fee Schedule effective January 1, 2026 as the schedule for Tulare County, and that schedule, read on October 18, 2026, is the source of every figure below. The schedule marks with an asterisk the fees that vary by county and says in its footnote that they vary in Riverside, San Bernardino and San Francisco because of a local surcharge; Tulare is not among the three, so the amount the schedule prints is the amount paid here. The court's own instructions for starting a divorce state the same figure, $435, as the filing fee for divorce, legal separation and nullity cases.

Of its items, these are the ones an uncontested divorce meets:

• Item 97, $435: the petition or other first paper in a dissolution of marriage or domestic partnership, legal separation or nullity case, charged under Government Code sections 70670(b), 70602.5 and 70602.6. You pay it at the counter, or through your provider, when the petition is filed.
• Item 98, $435: the response or other first paper a spouse files in answer to the petition, under Government Code section 70670(d). Your spouse pays this only by filing a response or an appearance.
• Item 99: a joint petition for dissolution or legal separation, other than a summary dissolution, $870, both first-paper fees printed as one figure.
• Item 103: a settlement agreement or stipulation for judgment signed by a spouse who has not responded and included in the judgment, no fee. The schedule adds that a defaulted respondent is not charged a first paper fee under Government Code section 70670, and the court's judgment page repeats the point in its own words: the respondent is not charged a first-filing fee if the signed settlement agreement is included in the judgment.
• Item 104: an appearance, stipulation and waiver of rights (form FL-130) where the responding spouse is in the armed forces, no fee.
• Not on the statewide schedule but stated on the court's e-filing fee page: a $30 court reporter fee is required in family law for any hearing a party initiates, and an e-filing that omits it is rejected. An uncontested divorce on a written agreement asks for no hearing, so this fee arises only if you request one.
• Certified copies: the Family Law division page says a certified copy of the judgment may be requested by mail with a check or money order for $15.00 plus a copy fee of $0.50 a page.

How many first-paper fees each path pays here

A summary dissolution under Family Code sections 2400 to 2403 pays one first-paper fee. An ordinary petition where your spouse signs the settlement agreement and files nothing pays item 97 once, $435, and item 103 says the spouse who signs and does not respond pays nothing. An ordinary petition where your spouse files a response or an appearance pays items 97 and 98, one by each of you, $870 in all. A joint petition under Family Code section 2342.5, in force since January 1, 2026, pays both: subdivision (h) provides that the joint petition is filed with the fees under Government Code section 70670(b) and (d) unless both spouses have fee waivers, and item 99 of the statewide schedule prints the two together as $870. The joint petition changes who signs the first paper and how the case begins; it does not lower what the court collects in Tulare County.

None of that is the office's fee, which is paid to the office and stands apart from the court's: $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, written filing instructions for Tulare County that the attorney reviews 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 needed, it is quoted before any work on it begins. The fee is earned in stages; should the representation end early, the part not yet earned is refunded.

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 litigant with the attorney's written instructions in hand. The office represents one spouse only; the other 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 keeps a fee waiver page with a section headed, in its words, Can I Ask for a Fee Waiver in a Divorce Case, and its answer lists divorce, legal separation and annulment among the cases in which a waiver may be requested. The forms it names are the Request to Waive Court Fees (form FW-001) and the Order on Court Fee Waiver (form FW-003), with form FW-002 for additional fees and form FW-010 for reporting improved finances. The page says the forms may be presented to the clerk when the case is filed or filed by mail with a self-addressed stamped envelope, and that a fee waiver expires 60 days after judgment is entered.

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 limit the Judicial Council publishes, or who cannot pay the fee and still meet the household's basic needs (section 68632), and the clerk files the petition without payment while the court decides (section 68634(c)). Form FW-001-INFO explains the three categories. The court's e-filing fee page adds that a fee waiver may be e-filed together with the initiating petition, with the FW-001 and the FW-003 uploaded as separate PDFs, and that the petition and the waiver are then processed at the same time.

Family Code section 2342.5(h) requires both first-paper fees on a joint petition unless both spouses hold waivers, which means each spouse who needs a waiver files an FW-001 of their own. When you ask, the office prepares the request and the order form within the flat fee. A waiver reaches the court's fees only; it does not change the office's fee.

E-filing is optional for a self-represented filer

The court accepts electronically filed documents in civil, family, probate, small claims and adoption cases, as its Forms and Filing page states, and its list of e-fileable case types names family cases involving divorce, legal separation or nullity. Local Rule 117 is the authority: the court permits the electronic filing of documents in any action or proceeding specified on its electronic filing page. The court's e-filing FAQ then answers the two questions a self-represented person asks. Are self-represented parties eligible to e-file? Yes, though the FAQ adds that it is not mandatory that they do so. Is e-filing mandated for any case type? No. You are a self-represented litigant for this purpose, because the attorney prepares your documents in a limited scope engagement and does not appear in your case, so the choice between paper and electronic filing is yours.

If you e-file, you do it through an approved electronic filing service provider, at any hour; the court's e-filing page says documents may be e-filed 24/7 through an approved electronic filing service provider. The court's provider list begins with the Journal Technologies portal and lists the approved providers by name, among them One Legal, First Legal, Rapid Legal, InfoTrack, Green Filing and Law Help Interactive. The court's pages give no figure for what a provider charges. The court's e-filing FAQs say 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. Questions about e-filing go to the clerk's office at (559) 730-5000, option 4.

Some family law documents are exempt from e-filing. The FAQ lists the Family Law Request for Entry of Default, the Family Law Notice of Entry of Judgment, and any order bearing an original judicial signature. Two of those, forms FL-165 and FL-190, belong to a judgment packet, and the court's judgment instructions describe that packet as carried to the clerk in person; the section on the judgment below says what it contains.

Filing on paper is the alternative: at the Room 201 window in Visalia or at the South County Justice Center in Porterville during building hours, or in the drop box after 4:00 p.m. under Local Rule 100. Local Rule 505 says that conformed copies are returned by mail only when the request is accompanied by a self-addressed stamped envelope. Your filing instructions name Visalia or Porterville, the route you chose and what to ask the clerk for: the conformed copies with the case number, the stamped assignment and conference date, and on an ordinary petition the summons. Those go into your portal, and the next documents are prepared from them.

What you bring at each step

At the petition. The court's starting page lists the Petition (form FL-100) and the Summons (form FL-110) as the forms that open an ordinary case, and the office prepares them for your signature in ink where the instruction sheet shows, with the fee waiver request if you are making one and the fee if you are not. For a joint petition the first paper is the Joint Petition (form FL-700) with its summons, and for a summary dissolution the Joint Petition for Summary Dissolution (form FL-800) with the property settlement agreement; the court posts a Summary Dissolution Packet on its Filing Instructions page and a sample Dissolution of Marriage packet on its Sample Packets page. The filing instructions say how many copies to bring.

At service, on an ordinary petition. After your spouse is served, the Proof of Service of Summons (form FL-115) is filed. The court's starting page then sets the deadline the statute sets: you must serve your spouse with your financial disclosures within 60 days of filing the summons and petition, the Declaration of Disclosure (form FL-140) with the Income and Expense Declaration (form FL-150) and either the Schedule of Assets and Debts (form FL-142) or the Property Declaration (form FL-160). Family Code section 2104 requires that preliminary disclosure. The disclosure itself is not filed; the Declaration Regarding Service of Declaration of Disclosure (form FL-141) is, and the court's page says in so many words that your case cannot proceed to judgment unless this form is filed.

At the judgment. The packet described in the next section, carried to the clerk with the copies, envelopes and stamps the court's page specifies. Nothing goes in it that the court does not require: California Rules of Court, rule 5.405 fixes the list on the Judgment Checklist (form FL-182), rule 5.411 governs a judgment on a written agreement, and Family Code section 2336 with rule 5.409 allows the judgment to be entered on your declaration without a hearing.

The judgment packet in Tulare County

The court's page Completing the Judgment in your Divorce, Legal Separation, or Nullity Case gives instructions for three kinds of judgment: a default judgment, a default with agreement, and an uncontested judgment. For each it says to take the original and two copies of each completed form to the Clerk of Court for filing at the courthouse in Visalia, Room 201, or in Porterville. That is the only delivery the page describes, and two of the packet's forms, the Request to Enter Default (form FL-165) and the Notice of Entry of Judgment (form FL-190), are on the court's list of documents exempt from e-filing, so your filing instructions describe an in-person delivery.

The forms the page lists. For a default judgment: FL-165, the Declaration for Default or Uncontested Dissolution or Legal Separation (form FL-170), the Judgment (form FL-180) with the local judgment attachments, and FL-190. For a default with agreement: the same, plus your spouse's FL-141 and the settlement agreement. The page is specific about that signature: the respondent's signature on the settlement agreement must be notarized, or can be witnessed by Self-Help Resource Center staff. The office does not provide a notary, so the signature is notarized where your spouse arranges it or witnessed at the center as the court allows. For an uncontested judgment, where your spouse has appeared: the Appearance, Stipulations, and Waivers (form FL-130), FL-141, the Stipulation and Waiver of Final Declaration of Disclosure (form FL-144), FL-170, FL-180, the settlement agreement and FL-190. The page also says both spouses' FL-141 forms must be on file.

Envelopes and stamps. The page states the count: for a default judgment or a default with agreement, provide three envelopes and five stamps; for an uncontested judgment, two envelopes and four stamps. California Rules of Court, rule 5.415 is the statewide reason the envelopes exist, because the clerk mails the Notice of Entry of Judgment in them, and Local Rule 924 adds a Tulare detail: an envelope provided to the clerk for mailing to a party in default must carry the return address of the superior court clerk, Room 201 of the County Civic Center in Visalia or 300 E. Olive Avenue in Porterville, not the address of the person filing. Your filing instructions print the correct return address for your courthouse.

Judgment attachments. The court's instructions say to include judgment attachments to match the custody, support and property orders requested in the petition. The court's local attachments are FAM-008 (spousal support), FAM-009 (property division) and FAM-010A and FAM-010B (other orders), with FAM-005 to FAM-007 for custody and child support, which a case within the flat fee does not have. The Local Rules forms list marks each of these attachments optional, and the court's pages and forms list read on October 18, 2026 name no local form as required with the petition itself; the filing instructions say which attachments your packet carries, with the agreement attached to the Judgment as rule 5.411 contemplates.

What the court will not sign. The judgment page lists four things that stop a default judgment: it is missing custody and support orders in a case with minor children; it includes orders not requested in the petition; it terminates spousal support in a marriage of ten years or more; or it divides property unequally. The petition the office prepares asks for the orders the judgment will carry, because the court's list makes the two match.

Appearing remotely, if a hearing is ever set

An uncontested divorce on a written agreement needs no hearing: Family Code section 2336 and rule 5.409 allow the judgment to be entered on declarations, and the court's own page says a judgment submitted before the first Case Management Conference takes the conference off calendar. If a hearing is set, the court's Request Remote Hearings page says parties may appear by video or by telephone using Zoom, which the page describes as a remote conferencing service provided for free, and that the request is made through the court's online form no more than one week before the hearing. Local Rule 937(b) adds that in a non-evidentiary family law hearing a party may appear remotely on the court's platform without first filing a Notice of Remote Appearance (form RA-010).

The same page lists the hearings that require a personal appearance: settlement conferences, trial readiness hearings, trials and contested hearings, and restraining order hearings. It notes that parties may still participate by CourtCall, which Local Rule 108 governs, and gives a help line for scheduled remote appearances at (559) 738-2330. Local Rule 906(a) allows the Case Management Conference itself to be held by videoconference. The office does not appear at a hearing; if the court sets one, the instructions say what the court has asked for and your portal shows the date.

Local rules and local forms

The court's Local Rules in force on October 18, 2026 are the revision effective July 1, 2026, announced on its news page, where the court also posts proposed amendments. Chapter 9, Family Law Matters, runs from Rule 900 to Rule 938. The ones that touch an uncontested dissolution are Rule 901 (notice of assignment), Rule 906 (family centered case resolution and the Case Management Conference), Rule 917 (the Income and Expense Declaration), Rule 924 (entry of default and the clerk's return address), Rule 926 (parties not represented), Rule 928 (procedures for entry of judgment and child support orders), Rule 930 (the Self-Help Resource Center and Family Law Facilitator), Rule 934 (venue) and Rule 937 (remote appearances at family law hearings).

Rule 926 is the one written for a case like yours. It says that a proposed marital settlement agreement in which only one party has legal counsel should contain language in substantial conformity with the rule's text, an acknowledgment that the unrepresented party has been advised to obtain independent legal counsel, initialed by that party. The office represents one spouse only, so the settlement agreement it prepares for a Tulare County case carries that acknowledgment and a place for your spouse's initials. Rule 928 governs judgments that order child support, requiring form FL-192 and specified language; a case with minor children is outside the flat fee, and the rule is named here so you know where the court's requirements for it live. Rule 915 has Findings and Order After Hearing prepared on local form FAM-001 before the parties leave the courtroom, by Self-Help Resource Center staff when neither party has a lawyer; it applies only if a hearing is held.

The court's Family Law local forms page lists the local forms approved for use in Tulare County: FAM-001 Findings and Order After Hearing; FAM-002 Settlement Conference Statement; FAM-003 Child Custody and Visitation Declaration Attachment; FAM-004 Child Support Modification Declaration Attachment; FAM-005 through FAM-010B, the attachments to the Judgment for custody, child support, child support payable, spousal support, property division and other orders; FAM-011 Petition for Grandparent Visitation; FAM-012 Stipulated Order for Case Transfer; FAM-013 Declaration of Supervised Visitation Provider; FAM-014 Declaration of Due Diligence; FAM-015 Stipulation for Court Commissioner to Act as Temporary Judge; and FAM-016 Order Appointing Expert. The court's forms list names none of them as required with a dissolution petition, and marks the judgment attachments optional. The court's starting page also points to LawHelp Interactive, a free guided interview, for people filling out the Judicial Council forms themselves; the documents the office prepares do not use it.

The Self-Help Resource Center and the Family Law Facilitator

The court runs one office under two names, the Self-Help Resource Center and the Office of the Family Law Facilitator, at both courthouses: Room 203 of the County Civic Center, 221 S. Mooney Blvd., Visalia, CA 93291, and the South County Justice Center, 300 E. Olive Ave., Porterville, CA 93257. Local Rule 930(c) confirms both locations. The telephone number is (559) 737-5500, the email address is selfhelp@tulare.courts.ca.gov, and the lobby and telephone hours on its page are Monday through Thursday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. The page says the center's services are free regardless of how much money you make, and that its staff are neutral court employees who are not your lawyer.

The center's page lists dissolution, legal separation and nullity among the matters it helps with, along with parentage, custody and visitation, child and spousal support and modifications, and it lists what it cannot help with: property disputes, division of retirement plans, discovery, trial preparation and contempt. The court's judgment page adds two services that matter in an uncontested case: the center can assist with completing the judgment forms, and where the spouses agree on all issues it can assist with writing up the settlement agreement; and its staff can witness your spouse's signature on the agreement in place of a notary. The documents the office prepares do not depend on the center; questions about them go to the office through your portal, and the center answers what the Visalia or Porterville clerk expects at the window.

Outside the flat fee, in Tulare 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 this county

Once the judge signs, the clerk uses the envelopes you provided to mail the entered Judgment and the Notice of Entry of Judgment (form FL-190) to each spouse. The judgment states the date the marriage ends (Family Code section 2340), and that date is never earlier than six months after your spouse was served or appeared (section 2339); form FL-107-INFO puts the earliest date at six months and one day, and the court's pages say the same thing twice, on the judgment page as six months plus one day from the date the respondent was served, and on the Family Law division page as six months and one day from the date of service, provided all required documents have been submitted to the court. Nothing filed in Tulare County shortens that period, and a judgment entered later carries the later date.

A certified copy of the judgment, for an agency that asks for one, may be requested from the Family Law division by mail with a check or money order for $15.00 plus $0.50 a page, as the division's page states. The Judicial Council's guide to what happens after a divorce is final explains how a former name restored in the judgment is changed on identification with the certified copy.

To file here at all, Family Code section 2320 requires one spouse to have lived in California for six months and in Tulare County for three months before the petition is filed; the court's Family Law division page states the residence requirement in its own words. Every address, hour, fee, rule and form on this page was read from the court's own pages and PDFs on October 18, 2026, and each source is listed below.

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