Filing For Divorce in San Bernardino or Riverside County

If you're wondering how to file for divorce in San Bernardino or Riverside County, this article will help point you in the right direction and provide forms and helpful information.

Rules for filing a divorce (Petition for Dissolution of Marriage) case:

• One of the spouses must live in (1) San Bernardino County for at least 3 months and (2) in the State of California for 6 months immediately before filing the divorce petition.
  
• The proper courthouse within San Bernardino or Riverside County depends upon the residence of either of the spouses: San Bernardino, Victorville, Riverside, Hemet, Indio, Blythe.
  

NOTE: You are not automatically divorced 6 months after you file your petition. You must complete the process and obtain a judgment signed by a judge or commissioner before you are officially divorced.

If you're married and want to maintain marital status but legally separate in all other regards, you may file for legal separation. Similar to divorce, the court will issue orders regarding custody, visitation, support and award property or divide assets and debts. If your partner files a response and requests a dissolution of marriage the court will grant this.

Image courtesy: http://www.sb-court.org/Portals/0/Documents/PDF/Self%20Help/OverviewOfDivorce.pdf

If you're the petitioner, (or the spouse seeking the divorce), here's how to begin the process:

1. Download and fill out the "Petition" - Family Law form FL100, the Summons FL110 and Proof of Service of Summons FL115.
2. You should also complete the Declaration Under Uniform Child Custody Jurisdition and Enforcement Act form FL105 if you have minor children with your spouse. Also complete forms FL311 for the Child Custody and Visitation Application Attachment and the optional Property Declaration FL160.

If you're the respondent, (or the spouse being petitioned), here's what you need to know:

1. Complete the Response form FL120 and either A) Proof of Personal Service FL330, or B) Proof of Service by Mail FL335 depending on how you will serve the response.
2. If you have minor children with your spouse, (the petitioner), you should also complete the Declaration Under Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act FL105 and the Child Custody and Visitation Application Attachment FL311.

Filing Your Divorce Forms with the Court

When your forms are completed you'll need to go to your local family courthouse and file them. At that time you'll most likely be filing the Petition, Summons and Declaration Under Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act if you have minor children. You'll need to pay the initial filing fee, ($435 as of this writing), unless you financially qualify to have the fee waived Form FW001. However, the court needs to approve this. Once you've received the stamped copies from the court clerk you can serve your spouse with a copy of the documents soon after leaving the courthouse.

Serving Your Spouse

Now that you've filed your documents with the court, the first thing you should do is serve your spouse with the documents as soon as reasonably possible. "Service of Process" is crucial to the court and legal process because it puts all parties on official notice as to what's going on in the case and provides an opportunity to appear.

Your spouse may have chosen to proceed pro se, without an attorney, and you should serve them directly at his or her home address. Otherwise, if your spouse has retained a divorce lawyer you would serve the papers to the attorney at their office.

If you are the petitioner you must follow service rules when serving the documents:

1. You can hire a process server, county sheriff or an adult friend or relative not involved in the case to hand deliver the documents.
   
2. If your spouse is cooperative you can deliver through the mail, have your spouse complete and send back to you for filing with the court. This requires a Notice and Acknowledgement of Receipt FL117.
3. You should serve copies of all filings with the court along with a blank response form and a blank Declaration Under Uniform Child Custody and Jurisdiction Enforcement Act form FL105.
   

If your spouse is in the military, jail or otherwise hard to locate process service may be difficult. In these instances you should discuss directly with the court clerk for clarification and instructions.

There's a lot to consider when filing for divorce in California, most of which is beyond the scope of this article. You may want to discuss options for your family with a therapist or counselor, and consult with a divorce lawyer in the Inland Empire if any of the following is true:

• You anticipate resistance or a legal fight from your spouse
  
• Your spouse has hired a divorce lawyer
• There are significant assets at stake, (property, financial, business Etc.)
• There is a history of domestic violence or you fear violence may occur

DISCLAIMER: This article does not constitute legal advice, but merely provides general legal information available through public documents on government websites. This information is not published by an attorney and this information may change from time to time, you should discuss legal matters with the best attorney for your case.