Uncontested divorce in California (2026)

California divorces on irreconcilable differences, a pure no-fault standard, and the process runs through the superior court in your county. Two rules shape every case. First, residency: one of you must have lived in California for six months and in the county where you file for three. Second, the six-month waiting period, which is the single most misunderstood part of a California divorce.

That six months is a minimum, not an estimate. It runs from the date the responding spouse is served, and no judge can make your divorce final before it ends, even if you settle everything in week one. California also requires both spouses to exchange formal financial disclosures before a judgment can be entered, so an uncontested case is really three things: opening paperwork, a complete disclosure exchange, and a signed judgment. Because California is a community-property state, that judgment divides what you built during the marriage.