The SUMMONS (FL-110) is a notice to your spouse that you have filed for divorce. It tells your spouse or domestic partner that a court case has started and what will happen if he or she does not respond in 30 days. It also contains a set of Standard Family Law Restraining Orders, commonly referred to as the “ATROs” and provides information regarding rights and options.

Both parties are subject to the Standard Family Law Restraining Orders, which means neither can do the following: • Remove the minor children of the marriage from California, even for vacations. • Change, cancel, borrow against, or dispose of any insurance. This includes life, health, auto, disability, and all other forms of insurance that are held for the benefit of either spouse or their minor children. • Transfer, conceal, encumber, or dispose of any property, including both real and personal property, community or separate property except in the usual course of business or for life necessities. • Create a nonprobate transfer, which means a transfer of property upon death that avoids probate. This does not include the creation of a will.

If you both have young children from your relationship, you will also need to file a declaration related to your children’s residences over the past five years, called the Declaration Under Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act, or UCCJEA (FL-105).

The Declaration Under Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act, commonly known as the UCCJEA (FL-105), is a mandatory California divorce form. It is a document that allows the judge to make sure that California has jurisdiction (authority) to make custody and visitation orders. In order for a California judge to be able to make these orders, the children must be residents of California.

If you are filing for divorce in Los Angeles County, you are required to fill in the Family Law Case Cover Sheet form FAM-020.

The family law case cover sheet is a local form that is used in Los Angeles County, and is used to help the court determine jurisdiction for your case. In essence, they want to make sure you are in the right court. It is fairly simply to fill in but important to include it.

It is worth checking if your county has additional forms that you might need to fill in when divorcing.

There are mandatory filing fees when you first file for divorce in California. This fee is commonly referred to as a first appearance fee. If you are on disability or another form of state aid and you apply for a waiver, you will automatically qualify to have these fees waived. If you need a payment plan or cannot pay the filing fees, you can also apply for this assistance.

You will need to bring your papers to your local courthouse and file them with the family law clerk’s office. Since most counties have multiple courthouses in multiple locations, make sure you look up the address of the family law courthouse. Be aware that most courthouses do not operate on a typical business hour schedule and may close as early as 1:00 pm.

For all documents you file with the court, you will need to double hole punch the original document at the top and make two copies of each pleading you want to file. The court clerk will take and file the original then stamp and return the two copies as endorsed-filed documents to you. One copy is for you, and one copy is to be served on your spouse.

Once the Petition, Summons, and, if you have minor children of the marriage, the UCCJEA have been filed, the next step is to serve your spouse with these documents. Service means to give the other party copies of the documents. Serving the initial documents gives your spouse notice that a case has been opened and that he or she is subject to the Standard Family Law Restraining Orders. Proper service is essential for moving forward with the divorce process – until service happens, the minimum waiting period of six months and a day does not begin.

Child Custody and Visitation (Parenting Time) Application Attachment Form FL-311 is an optional form, but it may help you ensure you do not leave anything out of your request.

The server must serve filed copies of your Petition, Summons, and if applicable, your UCCJEA. In addition, your server must give the other side the documents needed to respond to the divorce. This includes a blank Response (FL-120), and if you filed the UCCJEA, you will also need to provide a blank copy..

The server must serve filed copies of your Petition, Summons, and if applicable, your UCCJEA. In addition, your server must give the other side the documents needed to respond to the divorce. This includes a blank Response (FL-120), and if you filed the UCCJEA, you will also need to provide a blank copy..

Personal service happens when your server personally hands your spouse the divorce papers and blank response form or forms. That doesn’t mean it has to be a surprise or done in an embarrassing manner, as the date and time of service can be scheduled. You do not have to serve your spouse in a public venue, such as their place of employment. Embarrassing your spouse or trying to inflict pain is rarely a good choice. While it may make you feel better initially, you may come to regret your decision when it causes further conflict and increased litigation. Finally, at all costs, avoid having your spouse served in front of your children.

Service can also happen by mail. This requires your spouse to sign a document acknowledging service of the divorce papers. This form is called a Notice and Acknowledgment of Receipt (FL-117) , and your spouse has 20 days after receiving the divorce papers to sign and return it to you. Remember, even if you are serving by mail, you still have to use an adult-aged third party.

Proof of Service of Summons (FL-115) tells the court you had the papers served on your spouse or domestic partner.

Once the Respondent has been served, you will need to make sure that the Court has proof of service. For the initial divorce papers, this proof is given with a form called the Proof of Service of Summons (FL-115).

If you have served by mail, the completed Notice and Acknowledgment of Receipt must be attached to the Proof of Service of Summons. Completing this form correctly is vital to moving your divorce forward, and missing any of the information will result in delays. You will also need to file your proof with the court.

You will need to file proof with the Court that the Petitioner has been served. This is done by completing and filing a Proof of Service by Mail. While there are multiple forms that will suffice, the mostly commonly used Proof of Service by Mail form is FL-335.

If the Petitioner has an attorney, you will want to serve the attorney. If the Petitioner does not have an attorney, then you will want to serve the Petitioner directly.

If you miss the deadline, the Petitioner has the option of moving forward with the divorce without your input.

The Preliminary Disclosure documents include a Declaration of Disclosure (FL-140) and Schedule of Assets and Debts (FL-142). In addition, the Petitioner must provide their spouse with copies of all tax returns he/she filed within the last 2 years.

The Respondent must also serve Preliminary Disclosures on the Petitioner within 60 days of filing a response.

It makes sense to begin discussing financial settlement as soon as both spouses have exchanged their preliminary declaration of disclosure.

You will not be able to obtain a divorce without completing your financial disclosures. You may be subject to sanctions (fines), and may even lose the assets you refuse to disclose.

Accurate financial disclosures allow both parties to obtain a fair outcome.

A financial disclosure consists of four forms: FL-140, FL-141, FL-142 (or FL-160), and FL-150. It is a specific way of listing out all assets, debts, income, and expenses. In addition, you will state who owns or owes each asset or debt, when the property or debt was acquired, and provide a rough value of each item.

As part of the divorce process, you will be dividing property, including debts, as well as determining support. It’s therefore very important that both you and your spouse know what your assets and debts actually are.

You are required to provide a substantial amount of documentation, including but not limited to the following:

• Paycheck stubs

• Federal and State income tax returns • Mortgage statements

• Pink slips to vehicles

• Real property deeds

• Bank account statements

• Retirement statements

• Credit card statements

• Life insurance policy statements

All of these documents need to be formatted in a very specific way. You will then need to serve all of your financial disclosures on the other side; however, you will only file FL-141 and FL-150 with the court.

Assuming your spouse is participating in the case, you will not be able to obtain a divorce until your spouse completes his or her financial disclosure. If they don’t, they will suffer financial penalties but it will really slow things up, and getting them to cooperate is a good strategy. Perhaps even offering to pay for admin support if they are not great at filling in forms.

Now you can legally get married again. But there may be some loose ends.

Here is a checklist that you might find useful:

• Have you told your children’s schools? Sometimes kids reveal the effects of the divorce at school more than at home, and the completion of the divorce process that their school will appreciate knowing has taken place.

• You can now ammend your Will (which hopefully you have already changed in the interim prior to be legally divorced).

• Have you applied for a new passport, bearing your new details?

• Have you dealt with any joint back accounts or financial administrative matters, including telling the mortage lender if you haven’t already done so?

• Have you applied for a new driver’s licence, bearing your new details?

• Have you updated the details on any relevant insurance policies, or tax documents?

• Have you updated the relevant details on telephone and utilities bills?

If you require any further forms, visit the Government Website here……

All the links below lead to experts from my Alternative Divorce Directory where experts in law, finance and wellbeing offer guidance and no-obligation conversations to see how they can assist you with your DIY or Self-Managed divorce.

Now it’s time to heal and move on ….