GOING TO COURT WITHOUT A LAWYER Handbook for Litigants

GOING TO COURT WITHOUT A LAWYER Handbook for Litigants

A Guide for Handling Uncontested

DIVORCE LEGAL SEPARATION

Going to Court Without a Lawyer

Handbook for Litigants--A Guide for Handling Uncontested Divorce and Legal Separation

Updated January 2015

Copyright ? 2015 by Judicial Council of California All rights reserved.

Except as permitted under the Copyright Act of 1976 and as otherwise expressly provided herein, no part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic, online, or mechanical, including the use of information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the copyright holder. Permission is hereby granted to nonprofit institutions to reproduce and distribute this publication for educational purposes if the copies are distributed at or below cost, and if the copies credit the copyright holder.

For additional information, please contact: Equal Access Program Center for Families, Children & the Courts Judicial Council of California 455 Golden Gate Avenue San Francisco, CA 94102

This report is also available on the California Courts Web site: courtinfo.programs/equalaccess

Printed on recycled and recyclable paper.

Last updated January 2015

This brochure will help you understand the court process and fill out the legal forms you will need for an uncontested Divorce, Legal Separation, or Annulment. "Uncontested" means that:

You and your spouse or domestic partner can agree outside of court about how you want to handle money and parenting issues,

or Your spouse or domestic partner is unlikely to file any

forms in court disagreeing with your requests.

GET LEGAL INFORMATION You should consider getting help from a lawyer before you file any of your court forms. If you cannot afford to hire a private attorney, you should know that each California court has hired an attorney to give free help with child, spousal and partner support problems. These attorneys are called Family Law Facilitators. Although the Facilitators can't represent either spouse or domestic partner in court, they can help in other ways. In some counties, the Facilitator gives classes to help people fill out court forms. Many Facilitators also have books and other materials written about the law and the courts, and they can tell you about the other resources such as lawyer referral services, legal aid clinics, and self-help law centers in your area. Many courts also offer more services like this in a self-help center.

You can also find much more information at the California Courts Online Self-Help Center: courts.selfhelp

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