California Uncontested Divorce

What is a California Uncontested Divorce?

A California uncontested divorce is a California divorce in which you and your spouse/partner will NOT be contesting or disputing any issues in the divorce, including the divorce itself.

Additionally, from a practical perspective, even if you and your spouse are not disputing anything, your case should not involve a very high net marital estate value, should not involve any complex legal issues and should not involve domestic violence or the threat of domestic violence to be considered as  uncontested.

Even if your case is technically uncontested, you would be well advised to hire a traditional lawyer for full representation if you have a very high net marital estate, any complex issue or any aspect of domestic violence.

You may also hear or see the term, “default divorce.” A default divorce is an uncontested divorce in which the non-military Respondent (the party who did not originally file the case) is served with divorce papers and does nothing, thereby allowing the party who filed the case to wait the 31 day default period  after the date of service of papers to apply for the “default” of the other party and an approval by the court of a default divorce judgment that conforms to what was requested in the original filing that was served on the Respondent.

A “true default divorce” is a default divorce which does not contain a Marital Settlement  Agreement signed by both parties.

All default divorces are uncontested divorces, but some uncontested divorces, mostly where the other party is active duty US military, are not default divorces. 

California Uncontested Divorce Should Almost Always Be Online Divorce

Because the California uncontested divorce procedure is relatively simple, compared to a traditional lawyer-negotiated, mediated or litigated process, online divorce presents itself as a good fit for almost all California uncontested divorces.

In a typical California uncontested divorce process, there will be three separate batches of California state and local county divorce documents.

All California counties have their own local forms that augment the state’s Judicial Council documents.  Most uncontested divorces will require one or more local county forms.

In most California uncontested divorces the three batches of uncontested divorce papers  would consist of:

1. a first filing batch that places your request for a divorce and other requests for court orders on record at your local Superior Court and gets you a case number that must appear on all subsequent documents in the case;
2. a second batch that satisfies California’s strict property/debt/income disclosure requirements and that is NOT filed at court but is served (presented to) in a specific way on your spouse together with one set of filed copies from the first filing batch; and
3. a third and final and larger batch of documents, filed at court at least 31 days after batches one and two are served (in most cases), and that contains a request for entry of your spouse’s “default” and entry (approval) of a default judgment that makes the divorce final 6 months plus one day from the date the Respondent was served and potentially contains many other court orders, requested in the first filing batch, regarding issues in the divorce.

If there is at least one minor child of the marriage, many more divorce documents are included in the divorce process than if there was no minor child. However, those additional divorce papers still fit into the three batches described above.

Reality Check

If you have recently made the difficult personal decision to end your marriage or domestic partnership in California on an uncontested basis, ALMOST all such divorces can and should be handled through online divorce. 

Online divorce is cost-effective, convenient and self-empowering to you. Nothing more than online divorce is needed in almost all uncontested divorces. Anything more than online divorce will be unnecessarily expensive, time-consuming and completely frustrating to both parties.

However, as indicated above,  in the following types of cases, you definitely need a traditional full-representation divorce lawyer, even if the divorce is technically uncontested:

1. contested cases: – you and your spouse are going to be fighting about something – anything, even minor or silly stuff;
2. complex cases: – your divorce contains some issue like a complex tax issue, the existence of a family trust, an interest in a complex business entity, or a special needs child who may need lifetime support; (this is obviously not an exhaustive list);
3. high dollar value marital estate: – there’s no specific limit; use your judgment, but lots of zeros on the end of values of property makes everyone nervous;  certainly if you are over a $5M net marital estate, you have a high dollar case;
4. domestic violence or the threat of domestic violence: – such cases require special handling; you need a full-representation lawyer who has that experience and knowledge, even if, as is common, such cases are uncontested; your health is too important to ignore this;

Don’t kid yourself on this decision. You know your case better than anyone at this point. So don’t ask a traditional lawyer who offers only full-representation, a large retainer and a $450 billable hour treadmill if your case needs a traditional lawyer who offers only full-representation, a large retainer and a $450 billable hour treadmill. You already know the answer.

Lawyers are generally honest professionals, but not when it comes to placing  your interests above their incomes. They are in an extremely competitive industry where there are way too many lawyers in relation to the demand for their services. They all want to remain in business because they all believe genuinely that they are all swell and doing great work. They will even tell you so.  Look at their websites.

Traditional lawyers are trained, knowledgeable and experienced only in how to churn ALL divorce cases to very high cost,  They will tell you, with full sincerity, when they have finished unnecessarily draining your cash and assets that they have done a wonderful job for you. They will claim they have saved you from numerous terrible legal consequences – very few of which will ever be specified and none of which would likely have occurred.

The choice between an unnecessary traditional lawyer and the much better fit of online divorce can be a difficult one, even if you are certain that your divorce will be uncontested.  It is always easy, as any traditional lawyer will tell you, to imagine that your spouse will be untrustworthy during the divorce process.

You should make that decision on your own. If you suspect that your divorce fits one of the above excluded-from-online-divorce descriptions, you should assume that it does. And make that decision without the biased professional advice of a traditional churning lawyer.

Using the simpler and cheaper online divorce process for one of those categories is definitely false economy and can actually increase your long-term cost in your case. Don’t risk it.

What to Avoid in Online Divorce For Your California Uncontested Divorce

In the UK, since September 2021, ALL divorces must be online divorces, whether they are uncontested or not. All UK divorces must be handled by lawyers (solicitors). There is no non-lawyer online divorce in the UK.

In the US, when the Internet kicked in around 1999, the American Bar Association and its 51 state and DC counterparts completely failed to recognize the potential for online divorce and the consequent dangers of not controlling the online divorce industry from the beginning. In short, US bar associations completely failed their duty to protect American legal consumers. As a result, many divorce consumers have been harmed in their divorces.

When the US bar associations failed to control online divorce, the usual type of conman filled the vacuum. Many of those providers are completely ruthless and  legally untouchable as they are located in India, Ukraine, the Czech Republic and Mexico. Price fraud and incompetence are rampant in the unregulated non-lawyer online divorce industry. 

There are presently two types of price fraud or trickery you should be aware of in non-lawyer online divorce:

1. $139 – $299 seems to be the range of online divorce fees that many non-lawyer alleged low-cost providers have settled into. However, their total fees are in the range of $350-$1100. On their top website pages, the $139 – $299 fee is claimed as a “complete” fee or some similar description. However, if you look at their Terms of Use, where they know you will not look, but to which you agree when you sign up, you will see that the $139 – $299 is only for 30 days of service. California divorce will take 6 months to finalize. After the first month, they will hit your credit card every month (for about $40 per month) until you cancel. And when you call to cancel, they’re still in India or Ukraine. They just put you on hold for a few hours. If you read just a few of the hundreds of Better Business Bureau complaints of the non-lawyer “$139+” providers, it becomes clear that what they do to keep getting paid is to leave one critical document out of each batch of divorce papers so that your case gets rejected at court and delayed and you get stuck with more monthly $40 payments. They are also aggressive up-sellers of things like “premium” packages. That aggressive up-selling starts literally within seconds of your hiring these criminals. If you decline, they will hint that something could go very wrong in your case if you do not take the $199+ “premium” package.
2. Since summer, 2021, there has also been a disappointing price fraud trend from 2 California-based non-lawyer providers. These are competent firms –  unlike the India/Ukraine group.  They are both fronted by hot-shot Hollywood-type lawyers, but they are not law firms. They each have multiple uncontested divorce packages at different prices, which is great. They each have a very attractive $99 DIY package. And then the next packages up are $1100. Beyond that, their packages go as high as $4500. The difference between their first 2 packages – $99 and $1100 – should be enough to make you suspicious. The problem is that the $99 teaser fee does not include any client support. You cannot ask questions of a caseworker, and you WILL have questions. You get to use their online software only, but otherwise you are on your own. You have to figure out many normal and natural questions yourself. So when you screw up your case or simply cannot proceed because you don’t know how, they will up-sell you to their $1100 package.

You should avoid both of these non-lawyer price frauds.

How To Proceed

If you have made the decision to proceed in your divorce, and you are certain that your case will be a California uncontested divorce, you should aim at using Online Divorce Lawyer for the reasons stated above.

You should avoid non-lawyer online divorce for reasons of price fraud and trickery alone. Again, see above.

However, bear in mind that the scope of this article has not included anything but a passing mention of the huge problems of incompetence in the completely unregulated non-lawyer online divorce industry. Almost all non-lawyer providers are clueless. They have no idea what they are doing. They pretend to be knowledgeable about divorce procedures in all 3000+ counties in the US.

They have no idea about your local court’s rules of court or policies. They will screw up your case, and you will then need a traditional full-representation lawyer and much more money to correct the problems in what should have been a simple California uncontested divorce. Remember also that most non-lawyer online divorce providers are located outside the US and are well beyond the reach of your local District Attorney or the FBI.

So, if you are not in California, does your state even have online divorce lawyers? Most states don’t yet have online divorce lawyers. We see a few in Florida and New Jersey and perhaps a few other states are just beginning on this inevitable trend. Online divorce lawyers are certainly a key developing trend in the US.

Bear in mind that lawyers using email and zoom and sending you a 25-page questionnaire to complete by hand and return by email so that someone can manually cut-and-paste your data onto forms is NOT online divorce. 

A genuine online divorce lawyer should offer all of the following:

• an included preliminary case strategy session by phone or zoom or similar
• simple and clear flat-fee packages and pricing so that you know your cost up front and what is included and what is not included
• secure sign-up process
• a secure encrypted interactive online divorce interview you complete from the comfort of your home or office (cost-reducing and empowering – you are the source of all data in your case – fewer mistakes) 
• all data sent and stored over an encrypted connection to a physically secure server within the US
• password protection for your data and email notifications of all accesses to your private data
• daily incremental data backups
• built-in context sensitive help system that includes video helpers, free support calculators and helpful pop-ups
• immediate downloads of fully prepared state and local county divorce papers – no snail mail delays or ridiculous “shipping costs”
• professional document review of all fully prepared divorce papers
• includes Marital Settlement Agreement where applicable
• includes request to waive court costs based on low income, child custody and visitation/parenting plan, child support, spousal support, division of property/debt and name change all either at no additional cost or at clearly specified additional cost so that you always know what your cost will be if your case remains uncontested
• service of process upon your spouse or referral to appropriate process servers
• full compliance with state disclosure laws
• e-filing at courts where available
• obtaining of final divorce judgment with all court approved orders

If You Have a California Uncontested Divorce, You Are in Luck

Online Divorce Lawyer has you covered. We are working on expansion to other states, but we have been in full operation in California since 2018.

All Online Divorce Lawyers are independently owned law firms staffed by California licensed attorneys.

While prices and packages differ between Online Divorce Lawyers, California uncontested divorce consumers can obtain their California  uncontested  divorces in most parts of the state for flat fees in the range of $700-$1500. This is cheap uncontested divorce | online divorce by a licensed California divorce lawyer.

And you can reach your local Online Divorce Lawyer at 1-800-DIVORCE, the best and most memorable legal brand in the world.

You’ll never forget your lawyer’s phone number. And in the future, when a friend or colleague needs similar services, you’ll be able to say, “Just call 1-800-DIVORCE. They took care of me.”

Call 1-800-DIVORCE to be connected to your local Online Divorce Lawyer or complete the web form below to be contacted.