What are the steps of a California divorce, start to finish?

A California divorce moves through five stages: filing and serving a petition under Family Code section 2330; a 30-day window for the response; mandatory financial disclosures under Family Code section 2104; temporary orders and settlement or trial; and entry of judgment, which cannot take effect sooner than six months after service.

Every California dissolution follows the same skeleton. One spouse files a petition and summons in superior court under Family Code section 2330 and serves the other, which starts both the six-month minimum waiting period and automatic restraining orders freezing assets and insurance. The respondent has 30 days to file a response. Both spouses must then exchange preliminary declarations of disclosure — a schedule of assets and debts plus an income and expense declaration — under Family Code section 2104; a judgment entered without them is vulnerable to being set aside. While the case is pending, either spouse can seek temporary custody, support, and fee orders. Most cases end in a written settlement converted to a stipulated judgment; contested issues go to trial before a family court judge, never a jury. Judgment terminates marital status no earlier than six months and one day after service, per Family Code section 2339.

Authority: Cal. Fam. Code § 2330