Summons (Family Law)

Petition (Marriage/Domestic Partnership). FL-100 and FL-110 are the case-opening packet for every dissolution / legal separation / nullity in California; the clerk does NOT issue FL-110 without FL-100, and FL-100 does NOT perfect personal jurisdiction over the respondent without FL-110. FL-110 is served on the respondent with FL-100 (plus FL-105 UCCJEA Declaration when minor children are involved under FC 3409(a)) and triggers the respondent's 30-day response window under Code Civ. Proc. section 412.20 (referenced by Family Code section 215 and 2020); a default under FC 2335.5 plus CCP section 585(b) follows on entry of default via FL-165 if no FL-120 is filed in time, leading to FL-180 default judgment per FC 2336 prove-up procedures. Service is personal under CCP 415.10 (most common), substituted under CCP 415.20(b) plus mailing (after diligent personal-service attempts documented on FL-115 / POS-010), mail with notice and acknowledgement under CCP 415.30 (the respondent's signed return starts the 30-day clock), or publication under CCP 415.50 with court order on FL-980 application. The Automatic Temporary Restraining Orders (ATROs) under FC 2040(a) on the FL-110 back page take effect on the PETITIONER at FILING and on the RESPONDENT at SERVICE, restraining both parties from transferring community property except in ordinary course, cashing or modifying insurance, removing minor children from California without written consent or court order, and modifying nonprobate transfers; the FL-110 service date is the operative trigger for ATRO compliance on the respondent's side. Filing fee is unified ($435-$450 in most counties under Gov. Code section 70670, plus per-county surcharges) and covers the FL-100 + FL-110 first appearance together; FW-001 waives both fees because they are bundled under the first-appearance fee structure.

Declaration Under Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA). Required whenever the FL-100 case involves minor children (FL-100 item 4.b checked). FL-105 supplies the home-state and ongoing-proceedings facts required by Family Code section 3409(a)(1)-(5) before the court can make any custody order; without an FL-105 on file the custody portion of any later FL-180 judgment is voidable for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction under FC 3402 (home-state definition) and FC 3421 (initial jurisdiction; the court that issued the first custody order keeps continuing jurisdiction under FC 3422 unless the child and both parents have left the issuing state). FL-105 documents (a) each child's address history for the past 5 years (FC 3402(g) home-state requires the child lived in CA for 6 consecutive months immediately before the petition, or since birth if under 6 months), (b) the names and addresses of every person the child lived with during that time, and (c) any prior or pending custody, visitation, guardianship, dependency, or adoption case involving the child in any state. FL-105 is served with the FL-100 + FL-110 packet so the respondent receives the petitioner's UCCJEA declaration with the initial papers; the respondent files their own FL-105 with FL-120 if the child's residence history or pending proceedings differ from the petitioner's account (mismatched FL-105s flag a UCCJEA inquiry by the judicial officer and may stall the case until the home-state question is resolved on the record under FC 3410 communication with the foreign-state court). More than 4 children or more than 5 address rows use FL-105(A) continuation; the wizard surfaces the continuation when the family-size intake exceeds the form's row capacity. FL-110 itself does NOT establish subject-matter jurisdiction over custody (it establishes personal jurisdiction over the respondent via CCP 415.10 service and triggers FC 2040 ATROs); the personal-jurisdiction and subject-matter-jurisdiction pieces are independent and BOTH must be on the record before the court can enter custody orders.

Income and Expense Declaration. FL-150 carries every dollar figure the court uses to set child support under Family Code section 4055 (the statewide guideline / DissoMaster / X-Spouse formula) and spousal support under FC 4320 (factors include marketable skills, age, health, marital standard of living, marriage duration, and 11 other items). The petitioner's preliminary-disclosure clock under Family Code section 2104(f) runs from FILING of FL-100 + FL-110 (not from service of FL-110 on the respondent); the petitioner has 60 days from filing to serve FL-150 + FL-142 (or FL-160) on the respondent. The respondent's parallel preliminary-disclosure clock under FC 2104(f) runs from filing of FL-120 (not from service of FL-110, either). Both spouses exchange FL-150 again in the FINAL disclosure under FC 2105(a) at least 45 days before any trial (CRC 5.401(b)) and before FL-180 judgment enters (FC 2106), unless final disclosure is mutually waived under FC 2105(d). FL-150 is served on the other spouse but NOT filed with the court in the preliminary or final disclosure exchange (FC 2104(a) and 2105(c)); the FL-141 Declaration Re Service of Disclosure proof of service is the form that goes in the court file. FL-150 IS filed with the court at any current support hearing (FC 3552) and must be current within 90 days of the hearing under Cal. Rules of Court rule 5.260(a)(3), or accompanied by a no-material-change declaration. The FL-110 page-2 ATROs (FC 2040) constrain pre-judgment financial moves both parties must report on FL-150 (no extraordinary expenditures, no insurance changes, no transfer or encumbrance of community property without written consent), so the respondent's FL-150 is also the petitioner's window into ATRO compliance. FC 3667 income imputation may apply when an FL-150 reports zero or implausibly low income without documentation; the judicial officer can set support based on earning capacity rather than reported earnings.

Schedule of Assets and Debts. Required preliminary disclosure under Family Code section 2104(a) and (c), served on the other spouse with FL-150 (Income and Expense Declaration) and FL-142 plus tax returns for the prior two years under FC 2104(c)(3), and proven by filing FL-141. FL-110 service triggers two independent clocks the user must not conflate: (1) the respondent's 30-day response clock under FC 2020(a) and CCP 412.20(a)(3), which runs from FL-110 personal service; and (2) the 60-day preliminary-disclosure clock under FC 2104(f), which runs from FILING of FL-100 on the petitioner side, or from FILING of FL-120 on the respondent side, NOT from service of FL-110. The petitioner can also serve the preliminary disclosure WITH the FL-100 petition under FC 2104(a) (a 'concurrent' service that satisfies both clocks at once); the respondent can serve preliminary disclosure WITH FL-120 to do the same. FL-141 records the date and method of service for each side. Filing and confidentiality. FL-142 itself is NOT filed with the court under FC 2104(b) and CRC 5.405(c); the FL-142 face explicitly warns 'DO NOT FILE WITH THE COURT.' Only FL-141 (the declaration that service occurred) goes in the public court file; FL-142 and FL-150 stay between the parties (and any attorneys). The clerk returns mistakenly filed FL-142 / FL-150 disclosures and accepts only FL-141 into the file. Confidentiality reflects the fiduciary-duty architecture of FC 1100, 2100-2102, and 721: full mutual disclosure between spouses, but no public airing of family finances. Substitutes and continuations. FL-160 (Property Declaration) is an acceptable substitute for FL-142 when the case is property-heavy and the FL-142 grid is too thin to capture multiple assets per category; FL-161 is the continuation page for FL-160. Either FL-142 or FL-160 (with FL-161 overflow) satisfies the schedule-of-assets-and-debts requirement under FC 2104(c)(2). The MC-025 continuation page can supplement narrative descriptions but does not replace the structured grid. Final disclosure (second exchange). The same documents must be exchanged a second time as the final declaration of disclosure under FC 2105(a) before judgment on FL-180 enters; FC 2105(c) lists the required final-disclosure content (current values, current debts, current income, all material facts and information regarding the valuation and characterization of all assets and liabilities). FC 2105(d) permits a mutual waiver of the final disclosure on FL-144, but waiver of the preliminary disclosure is NOT permitted (Marriage of McLain, 7 Cal.App.5th 262; Marriage of Steiner & Hosseini, 117 Cal.App.4th 519). FC 2107(c) (the default carve) allows the petitioner in a true default case (respondent never filed FL-120, no marital settlement agreement) to skip receipt of the respondent's final disclosure, but the petitioner must still serve and prove the petitioner's own final disclosure to the respondent (the FL-141 on file for the petitioner is what makes this work). Sanctions and set aside exposure. Missing or sandbagged FL-142 disclosures expose the offending spouse to monetary sanctions and evidence preclusion under FC 2107(b)(1)-(3); fee-shifting under FC 271 and FC 2030; and set-aside of the resulting judgment under FC 2107(d) and FC 2122 (FC 2122(e) mistake of fact or law; FC 2122(f) failure to comply with disclosure requirements). FC 1101(g) awards 50 percent of any undisclosed community asset to the wronged spouse; FC 1101(h) awards 100 percent of an undisclosed community asset where the breach involved fraud, oppression, or malice (Marriage of Rossi, 90 Cal.App.4th 34, 100 percent of lottery winnings to innocent spouse; Marriage of Brewer & Federici, 93 Cal.App.4th 1334, non-disclosure of community asset is a substantive ground regardless of materiality; Marriage of Modnick, 33 Cal.3d 897, modern set-aside doctrine). ATRO interaction. FL-110 imposes the four Automatic Temporary Restraining Orders under FC 2040(a)(1)-(4): no transfer, encumbrance, hypothecation, concealment, or disposal of community, quasi-community, or separate property except in usual course of business or for necessities of life (a)(2); no nonprobate transfer modifications without notice (a)(3); no cashing, borrowing against, canceling, transferring, disposing of, or changing the beneficiary of any insurance held for the benefit of the parties or their children (a)(4); no creating or modifying nonprobate transfers (a)(3); and no removing minor children from California (a)(1). The asset and debt list captured on FL-142 is the baseline against which any post-service transfer is challenged; documenting the asset on FL-142 at filing closes off later 'I forgot about that account' defenses to ATRO violations and to FC 1101(g) / (h) set aside motions. Conversely, omitting a community account from FL-142 is itself a fiduciary breach under FC 1100(e) and 721 and is independently sanctionable.

Property Declaration. FL-160 is the permitted alternative to FL-142 in the preliminary disclosure exchange under Family Code section 2104(a) that each spouse must serve on the other; either party may use FL-160 in place of FL-142 (one spouse may use FL-142 while the other uses FL-160 in the same case; FL-141 captures the asymmetry on its face). Property-heavy cases (multiple real estate parcels, multiple businesses, multiple retirement accounts, valuable collections) typically choose FL-160 because each FL-160 covers one asset or debt category in detail with continuation rows on FL-161, where FL-142 lists everything in flat tabular rows in 14 categories on a single form. The petitioner's 60-day window to serve preliminary disclosures runs from FILING the petition under FC 2104(f), not from service of FL-110; the respondent's clock runs from filing FL-120. FL-110 is the personal-jurisdiction summons under CCP 412.20 and FC 215; FL-160 sits inside the disclosure side of the case opened by FL-100 + FL-110. FL-160 served as preliminary disclosure is NOT filed with the court (FC 2104(b) and 2105(c)); only FL-141 proves the exchange. FL-160 IS filed when used as an FL-100 / FL-120 / FL-180 attachment (the FL-100 cover sheet item 11.l permits property declaration as an attachment to the petition; the FL-180 judgment may attach FL-160 as a characterization schedule for community-property division). The Automatic Temporary Restraining Orders (ATROs) under FC 2040(a) printed on FL-110's back page restrain both spouses from transferring, encumbering, or disposing of any community / quasi-community / separate property without written consent or court order, except in the ordinary course of business or for necessities of life; FL-160 is the structured inventory of exactly that ATRO-restrained property, so the FL-110 ATRO and FL-160 disclosure cover the same asset universe. Maintaining FL-160 currency through trial is also how a party demonstrates ATRO compliance: any change in disclosed assets between FL-160 and the final FL-180 must be explainable as 'ordinary course' or covered by written consent or court order under FC 2040(a)(1). Failure to disclose on FL-160 (or to keep the FL-160 inventory current as new assets are acquired during the dissolution) can lead to set-aside under FC 2122(d), Rossi 100% omitted-asset rule, and FC 2107(b)-(c) sanctions.

Declaration Re Service of Disclosure. FL-141 is the court-filed proof that each party served the other with their preliminary (FC 2104(a)) and final (FC 2105(a)) declarations of disclosure (FL-150 Income and Expense Declaration plus FL-142 Schedule of Assets and Debts or FL-160 Property Declaration). The petitioner's preliminary-disclosure 60-day clock under Family Code section 2104(f) runs from FILING of FL-100, not from service of FL-110, so the petitioner's FL-141 documenting that preliminary exchange typically posts weeks after the FL-110 service event; the respondent's parallel FC 2104(f) clock starts from FILING of FL-120 once the respondent appears, and is decoupled from the FL-110 service date entirely (a respondent who never files FL-120 has no FC 2104(f) obligation despite being served with FL-110). FL-141 itself is the ONLY disclosure-related form filed with the court (FC 2104(b)); FL-142 / FL-160 / FL-150 are exchanged between the spouses and stay out of the public file because they contain itemized financial detail. Both parties file their own FL-141 separately: one for the preliminary exchange (FC 2104(a)) and one for the final exchange (FC 2105(a)) before FL-180 enters, or one FL-141 checking the FL-144 mutual-waiver box if the parties waived final disclosure under FC 2105(d) (preliminary cannot be waived). Without a petitioner's FL-141 documenting preliminary disclosure, the court cannot enter default or FL-180; without each party's final FL-141 (or FL-144 waiver), the court cannot enter the contested judgment. The FL-110 ATROs under FC 2040 also keep running until FL-180, so the disclosure on FL-141 captures the asset baseline those ATROs protect.

Request to Waive Court Fees. FL-100 + FL-110 share a single first-appearance fee under Gov. Code section 70670 of about $435 to $450 in 2026 (uniform statewide first-paper filing fee, plus per-county surcharges of $30 to $80 in some counties); FW-001 waives that fee for indigent petitioners under the general civil fee-waiver statute (Gov. Code section 68632). Eligibility is by means-tested benefit on FW-001 item 5a (CalFresh, Medi-Cal, SSI, SSP, CalWORKs, Tribal TANF, CAPI, IHSS), by 125% Federal Poverty Guideline household income on item 5b (with proof attached, typically pay stubs, tax returns, or benefit letters), or by financial hardship on item 5c (with FW-001 item 7 line-by-line monthly income / expense breakdown). The clerk decides ex parte within 5 court days under Cal. Rules of Court rule 3.51. File FW-001 + FW-003 (Order on Court Fee Waiver) alongside FL-100 + FL-110 at case opening; the clerk holds the case-opening packet pending the fee decision but the file-stamp date controls for the petitioner's 60-day disclosure clock under Family Code section 2104(f) and the respondent's 30-day response window under CCP 412.20 (FC 215), regardless of when the FW-001 ruling issues. The Automatic Temporary Restraining Orders printed on FL-110 under FC 2040(a) attach at filing regardless of fee status; missing FW-001 only blocks formal docketing, not the ATROs' substantive effect once the FL-100 + FL-110 packet is served. A granted FW-001 carries forward under Gov. Code section 68632(c) to every later filing in the same case (FL-141 disclosure declaration, FL-150 income / expense, FL-300 RFOs, FL-180 judgment, FL-435 wage assignment) without a fresh waiver. The court can review eligibility periodically under Gov. Code section 68636 (court may notice a hearing on continued eligibility, and the petitioner must respond with current income proof or face retroactive fee assessment); FC 4014 also allows the court to require reimbursement of waived fees from a later support recovery. A denied FW-001 is reviewed on FW-006 within 10 days under CRC 3.55(d).

Proof of Service by First-Class Mail. The original FL-110 Summons must be personally served on the respondent under Code Civ. Proc. section 415.10 (personal delivery), substituted service under CCP 415.20 (leave-with-competent-person plus mail when personal-service attempts fail with reasonable diligence under FC 215 / CCP 415.20(b), normally three attempts at different times of day), or by mail with acknowledgment under CCP 415.30 using FL-117 Notice and Acknowledgment of Receipt (effective only if the respondent returns the signed acknowledgment under CCP 415.30(c)); a respondent who fails to return the FL-117 within 20 days is liable for the cost of personal service under CCP 415.30(d). The family-law summons proof is FL-115 (Proof of Service of Summons, judicial-council family-law version) under Cal. Rules of Court rule 5.68 and the family-law equivalent of POS-010; POS-030 is the underlying CCP proof-of-service form used once the respondent has 'made an appearance' (filed FL-120 or any responsive document, served a written notice of appearance under CCP 1014, or otherwise submitted to court jurisdiction) and follow-up papers (FL-300 Request for Order, FL-150 Income and Expense Declaration, FL-141 Declaration Regarding Service of Disclosure, status conference notices, ex parte applications) are served by mail under CCP 1013(a) or by overnight delivery under CCP 1013(c). The signed POS-030 is filed with the court for each subsequent mailing, attached to the back of the document served or filed separately under CRC rule 2.260(a); the server must be 18 or older and not a party under CCP 1013(a) and CCP 1013a, so the petitioning spouse cannot mail-serve their own follow-up paper to the respondent (use a non-party friend, family member, professional process server, or attorney's staff). The respondent's 30-day response deadline under Family Code section 2020 and CCP 412.20(a)(3) runs from the FL-110 personal service (proved on FL-115), not from any later POS-030 mailing of follow-up papers; the 30-day clock for mailed papers under CCP 1013(a) (5-day extension to motion-response and similar deadlines for in-state mailing, 10 days for out-of-state, 20 days for outside the U.S.) applies only to post-appearance motion practice and does NOT extend the original FL-110 30-day appearance deadline. For respondents outside California, the petitioner may serve FL-110 outside the state under CCP 415.40 (mail with return receipt requested) or by any method allowed by the Hague Service Convention for respondents abroad in signatory countries (FC 215 incorporates the Hague rules for international service of summons in California family-law matters); POS-030 is then replaced by FL-115 with the international-service box and the return receipt or Hague certificate attached as exhibit. FL-110 service that is defective at the summons stage cannot be cured by later POS-030 mailings; the respondent who appears and timely objects under CCP 418.10 (motion to quash) within the response window may have the FL-110 service set aside, and the petitioner must re-serve before any default under FL-165 / FL-180 can be entered.

Respondent's Response. Personal service of FL-110 on the respondent under CCP 415.10 (or substituted service under CCP 415.20 if personal delivery proves impractical) starts the 30-day window for filing FL-120 under Family Code section 2020; the clock runs from the personal-service date shown on FL-115, not the date the respondent actually reads the papers. Out-of-state respondents get the same 30-day window; FC 2020 does not extend by mail rules because the service is personal. If FL-120 is filed timely, the case proceeds as contested and the parties trigger the preliminary disclosure obligations (FL-141 / FL-150 / FL-142 / FL-160 served within 60 days of FL-120 under FC 2104(f)), status-conference scheduling, and discovery. If no FL-120 lands within 30 days the petitioner can request default under FC 2020 plus Cal. Rules of Court rule 5.402 and CCP 585, and the case can move to FL-180 judgment without further input from the respondent; a late respondent can still appear by stipulation or by moving to set aside default under CCP 473(b) within 6 months of the default entry, or under the broader family-law set-aside grounds in FC 2122 (fraud, perjury, mental incapacity, duress) within the longer statutory windows (FC 2122(a)-(f), up to 1 year for fraud). The petitioner does not file FL-120 themselves but watches the docket and the 30-day mark; the FL-110 (and its FL-115 personal-service proof) is the anchor document for either outcome. Service of FL-110 also activates the Family Code section 2040 Standard Family Law Restraining Orders (ATROs) on both parties from the service date forward; the ATROs continue until judgment regardless of whether FL-120 is filed.

Judgment (Family Law). FL-180 is the final judgment that ends the dissolution / legal separation / nullity case opened by FL-100 + FL-110, entered either by default after the respondent's 30-day window under FC 2020 lapses, by uncontested judgment under FC 2336 if both parties stipulate, or after a contested trial. Personal service of FL-110 on the respondent (documented on FL-115) triggers the 6-month-and-1-day cooling-off period under Family Code section 2339(a) before marital status can be terminated by FL-180: status cannot be restored to single until 184 calendar days after the FL-110 service date even if the parties agree to a faster judgment, even by stipulated short-cause judgment. The earliest-possible FL-180 entry date that gets recorded in item 3 of FL-180 (date of jurisdiction over the respondent + 184 days) is calculated directly from the FL-115 proof-of-service date for FL-110, so the petitioner uses the FL-115 date as the anchor. Section 2339(b) carves out limited exceptions (party's death, fraud, etc.); none routinely apply. The cooling-off period applies only to marital status (the divorce itself); ancillary orders on custody, support, and property division can be entered earlier by stipulated FL-180 with the marital-status piece bifurcated under FC 2337 (a court can sign a partial FL-180 reserving the dissolution-of-status piece until the 184 days run). Failing to wait the 184 days from FL-110 service voids the marital-status portion of FL-180; clerks calendar the math at judgment entry and reject early-filed FL-180s. FL-110 also imposes FC 2040 ATROs that remain in force until FL-180 is entered.

Request for Order. FL-300 is the in-case motion vehicle for any pre-judgment relief once the case is open. The FL-110 Standard Family Law Restraining Orders (ATROs) under Family Code section 2040 restrain BOTH parties from (a) transferring, encumbering, hypothecating, concealing, or in any way disposing of any community, quasi-community, or separate property except in the usual course of business or for the necessities of life; (b) cashing, borrowing against, canceling, transferring, disposing of, or changing the beneficiaries of any insurance or other coverage held for the parties or the minor children; (c) removing the minor children of the parties from the state without the prior written consent of the other party or court order; and (d) creating or modifying a nonprobate transfer in a manner that affects the disposition of property subject to the transfer without the other party's written consent or court order. A party who needs to take any action the ATROs forbid must either obtain the other party's written consent or file FL-300 to request court permission (ex parte under FL-300 + FL-305 for emergency relief, or noticed motion under FL-300 + Code Civ. Proc. section 1005(b) 16-court-day timing). FL-300 is also the vehicle for affirmative pre-judgment orders: child custody and visitation, child or spousal support, attorney's fees and costs under FC 2030 / 2032 / 2031, property control under FC 2045, exclusive temporary use of the family residence or vehicle under FC 2045 / 6321, and contempt for ATRO violation under CCP 1218 plus FC 271 sanctions. Filing FL-300 does not modify the ATROs by itself; the ATROs remain in effect until judgment unless a specific FL-300 order says otherwise. Violations during the ATRO period are contempt and grounds for monetary sanctions; the violating party may also be ordered to undo the transaction or compensate the other party from separate funds.