FL-110

Summons (Family Law)

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California · Respondent has 30 days to respond.

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Fill FL-110 with Ezel

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What Ezel does with FL-110

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What is FL-110?

The summons that opens a California family-law case. Filed alongside FL-100 (Petition); the respondent has 30 calendar days from personal service to file a Response (FL-120). The summons also imposes Automatic Temporary Restraining Orders (ATROs) on both spouses.

What happens if you miss the deadline: If the respondent does not file FL-120 within 30 days, the petitioner can request entry of default (FL-165).

How to file

Filing fee: FL-110 is filed with FL-100 and shares the family-law first-appearance fee (~$435-$450). No separate filing fee for FL-110.
Filing method: in-person, mail, efile (county-specific)
Filing deadline: FL-110 must be filed at the same time as FL-100. The 30-day response window for the respondent runs from PERSONAL SERVICE of FL-110 + FL-100, not from filing.
How to serve: Personal service is the standard method. Substituted service or service by publication is allowed only with a court order. The petitioner cannot serve themselves; a non-party adult or process server must serve. Service is documented on FL-115 (Proof of Service of Summons - Family Law).
Wet signature: No
Notarization: No
Original and copies: One original for the clerk plus one copy per respondent to be served (and at least one more for the petitioner's records).

Common pitfalls

The bulk of FL-110 is the standardized ATROs and respondent's-rights notice; the petitioner fills only the caption. The clerk stamps the date and case number when issuing. The summons becomes effective against the petitioner when filed (item 1) and against the respondent only when personally served.

Don't memorize the rules. Ezel walks you through FL-110 field by field, flags what the AI review treats as a blocker, and renders a court-ready PDF.

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You'll likely also file

Other Ezel-supported forms that commonly file alongside FL-110. Each one has its own guided fill, AI review, and PDF render.

FL-100

Petition (Marriage/Domestic Partnership)

The petition you file with this summons to start your divorce, separation, or annulment.

FL-105

Declaration Under Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA)

If you have minor children, you file this to list where the children have lived for the past 5 years.

FL-150

Income and Expense Declaration

Your income and expenses, which you share with your spouse within 60 days of filing your petition.

FL-142

Schedule of Assets and Debts

Your list of assets and debts, which you give to your spouse within 60 days of filing your petition.

FL-160

Property Declaration

A detailed property list you can use instead of FL-142 for your financial disclosure.

FL-141

Declaration Regarding Service of Declaration of Disclosure and Income and Expense Declaration

You file this to tell the court you gave your spouse your financial disclosure forms.

FW-001

Request to Waive Court Fees

If you cannot afford the filing fee, you can ask the court to waive it with this form.

FL-180

Judgment (Family Law)

The final judgment you submit to finish the case; the divorce cannot become final until 6 months after service.

FL-300

Request for Order

If you need temporary orders (custody, support, property) while the case is open, you ask for them with this form.

Field-by-field guidance

We've mapped every field on FL-110: what it asks, what counts as a blocker, what trips most filers up. Ezel puts all of it in front of you as you fill. Plain-English questions in, court-ready PDF out.

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Case Number

Blank when filing the original; clerk stamps it. Required on subsequent filings.

Inventing a case number for the original filing because the form has a labeled field. The clerk assigns and stamps the case number on FL-110 at intake; petitioners filing FL-100 + FL-110 together leave this blank.
Re-typing a partial number from another case when the petitioner has prior unrelated family-law cases.

Court Name Address

Required

Court name, full address, and branch in one block. Must match FL-100. Single textarea on FL-110 holds the entire court identification (name, street, city/zip, branch on its own line).

Listing a different courthouse than the one on FL-100. The FL-100 and FL-110 must reference the same court; mismatches produce a sua sponte clerk reject.
Listing the county clerk's mailing address when the courthouse has separate physical and mailing addresses. Use the courthouse street address.
Filing in the wrong county. Family law venue is the county of residence of either spouse for the prior 3 months (Family Code section 2320); filing elsewhere can be transferred.

Respondent Name

Required

Respondent's name on the summons. Must match FL-100 caption.

Using a married name on FL-110 when the FL-100 caption uses the maiden name (or vice versa). The summons names the respondent for service; mismatches with FL-100 cause the proof of service to fail.
Including 'and Doe' defendants from civil practice; family law uses two named parties (petitioner and respondent), not Doe placeholders.

Petitioner Name

Required

Petitioner's name. Must match FL-100 caption.

Listing the attorney's name as petitioner; petitioner is the spouse asking the court for relief, not the attorney. The attorney name (if any) goes in “Petitioner's name, address, and phone”.
Using a different spelling than FL-100 (middle initial added, legal name vs preferred name). Match FL-100 character-for-character.

Petitioner Contact

Required

Petitioner's contact info (or attorney's). Allows the respondent to communicate to set up service or settle.

Listing only a phone number, no address. The respondent's 30-day clock under CCP section 412.20 starts on personal service of FL-110, and they need a mailing address to send a response (FL-120) by mail.
Listing a friend's address for safety. The Secretary of State's Safe at Home address confidentiality program (Government Code section 6205 et seq.) provides a substitute mailing address for DV / sexual-assault / stalking survivors; the UCCJEA's DV address-confidentiality rule lives at Family Code section 3429(a). Do not list a third party's address without their consent.

Sources

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