Glossary
Plain-language definitions for the terms you will run into in a California divorce, custody, or support case, matched to the forms and language courts actually use.
Automatic temporary restraining orders, usually called ATROs, are a standard set of restrictions that apply the moment a California divorce, legal separation, or nullity case is filed. They restrain both spouses from removing a child from California without the other's written consent or a court order, from canceling or changing insurance coverage, from transferring or hiding property, and from taking on new debt against shared assets outside the normal course of business. ATROs bind the filing spouse (the petitioner) as soon as the case is filed, and bind the responding spouse (the respondent) once they are formally served. They are printed on the back of the Summons, and no separate request or judge's signature is required. Violating an ATRO can lead the court to order money or property returned and to impose sanctions.
The best interest of the child is the legal standard California judges use to decide custody and visitation. Instead of favoring either parent by default, the court weighs factors including each parent's ability to care for the child, the child's health, safety, and welfare, any history of abuse or substance use, and, depending on the child's age and maturity, the child's own wishes. The standard applies to every custody decision, from an initial parenting plan to a move away case, where one parent wants to relocate with the child. It can override what either parent personally wants if the arrangement would not serve the child, and judges do not need both parents to agree before making a best interest finding.
Bifurcation splits a California divorce into separate pieces so the court can decide one issue, most often the legal end of the marriage, before finishing the rest of the case. A bifurcated status only judgment restores each spouse to single status while property division, support, or custody stay pending for a later hearing. Courts do not grant this automatically: the requesting spouse must file a motion, explain why deciding status early will not complicate the remaining issues, and often agree to conditions, such as continuing health insurance for the other spouse. Even with bifurcation, the marriage cannot legally end before California's mandatory six month waiting period has passed. Bifurcation is most useful when one spouse wants to remarry or file taxes as single before every issue in the case is resolved.
Community property is anything either spouse acquires during the marriage using income earned while married, regardless of whose name is on the title or account. California is a community property state, which means this property is presumed to belong equally to both spouses and is generally divided 50/50 in a divorce, regardless of who earned or purchased it. Common examples include wages earned during the marriage, a home bought with those wages, and retirement contributions made while married. Community property is different from separate property, which one spouse owned before marriage or received individually as a gift or inheritance. Courts identify and value each asset and debt using forms like the Property Declaration before dividing the community estate.
A default happens in a California family law case when the respondent is properly served with the petition but does not file a Response within 30 days and does not otherwise appear in the case. Once the petitioner requests it and the court enters a default, the respondent loses the right to participate further, receive notice of hearings, or object to the terms the petitioner proposes, unless the court later sets the default aside for good cause. The petitioner then finishes the case by filing a request to enter default along with a declaration and proposed judgment. A default does not mean the petitioner automatically gets everything asked for; the judge still reviews the paperwork for accuracy and legal compliance before signing judgment.
A default with agreement happens when the respondent does not file a formal Response but the spouses have reached a full written agreement on every issue in the case, such as property division, support, and custody. The respondent signs the agreement instead of filing a Response, and the petitioner submits it along with the Declaration for Default or Uncontested Dissolution so the judge can review and sign judgment based on its terms. This route is generally faster and less adversarial than a contested case, though it still requires the same financial disclosures as any other California divorce. It differs from a plain default, where the respondent never engages with the case or the paperwork at all.
California requires both spouses in a divorce or legal separation to exchange a preliminary declaration of disclosure early in the case, before any settlement or default judgment can be finalized. This packet, built around the Declaration of Disclosure form, requires each spouse to list all income, assets, debts, and expenses, attach recent tax returns, and disclose any investment or business opportunities that arose during the marriage. The goal is to prevent either spouse from hiding money or property before dividing the community estate. Disclosures are exchanged directly between spouses rather than filed with the court, though each spouse files proof that the exchange happened. Skipping or falsifying disclosure can let the other spouse reopen the case later, even after judgment.
Dissolution is the formal legal term California uses for what most people call divorce: the court process that ends a marriage or domestic partnership and restores both people to single status. A dissolution case addresses not just ending the relationship but also dividing community property and debt, and, when there are children, establishing custody, visitation, and child support. Every dissolution case in California has a mandatory six month waiting period, counted from the date the respondent is served or, for a joint petition, from the date of filing, before the marriage can legally end, no matter how quickly the spouses agree on everything else. Dissolution is available whether spouses agree on every issue or disagree on all of them; the process differs mainly in how much of it is contested.
Family Court Services (FCS) mediation is required in every contested California child custody or visitation case before a judge will decide the dispute. Each county Superior Court provides mediators, generally mental health professionals with specific training, at no cost to the parents. Mediation focuses only on custody and visitation, called parenting time; it does not address property division or support. If the parents reach an agreement in mediation, it goes to the judge for review and, if approved, becomes a court order. If they do not agree, some counties allow the mediator to prepare a recommendation, while others send the case straight to a contested hearing where the judge decides. Mediation sessions are generally confidential, though the confidentiality rules differ in cases involving domestic violence.
A fee waiver lets a person with low income file California court paperwork without paying the standard filing fees, which run several hundred dollars for a divorce petition or response. To qualify, a person generally must receive certain public benefits, have a household income below a set percentage of the federal poverty guideline, or show that paying the fees would create extreme financial hardship. The request is made on Form FW-001, and the court either approves it, denies it, or sets a hearing before ruling on the order, Form FW-003. An approved fee waiver can cover filing fees, service of process costs, and other court fees throughout the case, not just the initial filing. Waivers are not automatic and can be reviewed or ended later if financial circumstances change.
The FL-150 Income and Expense Declaration is the financial disclosure form every party in a California family law case involving support must complete. It requires detailed reporting of income from all sources, tax filing status, assets, monthly living expenses, and, for employees, recent pay stubs. Courts rely on the numbers reported on the FL-150 to calculate guideline child support and spousal support, and to evaluate requests to change existing orders. The form must be updated and refiled whenever a party's financial circumstances change significantly, and before most support related hearings. Because support calculations are formula driven, an inaccurate or outdated FL-150 can directly change how much support a person pays or receives, so courts take its accuracy seriously.
Guideline child support is the amount of support California courts calculate using a single statewide formula set out in the Family Code, rather than a judge's personal discretion. The formula factors in both parents' net disposable incomes, the percentage of time each parent has physical custody of the children, called the timeshare, tax filing status, and certain deductions like health insurance and mandatory retirement contributions. Judges are required to apply the guideline amount in almost every case; departing from it requires specific written findings that the guideline amount would be unjust or inappropriate. Because the formula is standardized, most parents can estimate guideline support directly once they know both incomes and the custody timeshare, without needing a judge to calculate it first.
Imputed income is income a California court assigns to a parent based on their ability to earn, rather than what they actually report earning, when calculating child or spousal support. Courts impute income when a parent is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed without a good reason, such as quitting a job to reduce a support obligation, and there is evidence of the parent's earning capacity and opportunity to work at that level. To impute income, the court generally needs proof of the parent's skills, education, work history, and local job availability, not just an estimate. Imputed income is added to a parent's actual income before running the guideline support formula, and it can significantly increase the support a court orders someone to pay.
Irreconcilable differences is the standard legal ground California uses to end a marriage or domestic partnership. It means the relationship has broken down to the point that it cannot be saved, without either spouse having to prove fault such as adultery or abuse. California is a no fault state, so a petitioner checks this ground on the Petition rather than blaming the other spouse for the breakup. Irreconcilable differences is by far the most common ground listed, though incurable insanity is technically also available under California law in rare, specifically documented cases. Courts do not investigate or require evidence of what caused the differences; simply stating the ground on the petition is sufficient to proceed with the dissolution.
Judgment is the final court order that legally ends a California family law case and makes every agreed or ordered term, such as property division, support, and custody, formally binding and enforceable. A judgment can be entered after a trial, after the spouses reach a full settlement, or by default if the respondent never participates. Even after a judge signs a judgment, the marriage does not legally end until the later of the signing date or the expiration of the mandatory six month waiting period. Once entered, the court clerk sends a Notice of Entry of Judgment confirming the effective date. A judgment can later be modified for custody and support matters, since those stay under the court's ongoing jurisdiction, but property division terms are generally final once judgment is entered.
Legal custody is a parent's right and responsibility to make major decisions about a child's health care, education, and welfare, such as choosing a school, consenting to non-emergency medical treatment, or authorizing therapy. It is separate from physical custody, which is about where the child actually lives day to day. California courts can award joint legal custody, letting both parents share decision making and requiring them to consult each other, or sole legal custody, giving one parent the exclusive right to decide, usually because the parents cannot communicate effectively or there is a safety concern. Joint legal custody is far more common than joint physical custody, and it does not require an equal parenting time schedule; a parent can hold joint legal custody while spending significantly less than half the time with the child.
Legal separation is a California court process that resolves the same issues as a divorce, property division, support, and custody, without actually ending the marriage. Spouses who legally separate remain legally married and cannot remarry, but they live apart under a court order that divides their finances and, if applicable, sets custody and support. Legal separation has no residency requirement and no mandatory six month waiting period, so it can sometimes finish faster than a dissolution. Couples choose legal separation instead of divorce for reasons such as religious beliefs, keeping health insurance tied to a spouse's employer plan, or not yet meeting California's residency requirement for divorce. A legal separation can later be converted to a full dissolution if either spouse decides to end the marriage.
A marital settlement agreement, often called an MSA, is a written contract between divorcing spouses that spells out how they will divide property and debt and, if relevant, handle spousal support, once they have negotiated the terms themselves rather than leaving them to a judge. Once both spouses sign the agreement, it is submitted to the court along with the other required forms, and the judge incorporates its terms into the final judgment. An MSA can cover as much or as little of the case as the spouses have agreed on; any remaining unresolved issues still go before a judge. Because a signed, court approved MSA becomes part of the enforceable judgment, spouses should review its terms carefully, since it is generally much harder to change than an informal agreement.
Nullity is the California legal process for declaring that a marriage or domestic partnership was never legally valid in the first place, commonly called an annulment. Unlike dissolution, which ends a valid marriage, nullity treats the relationship as if it never legally existed, though it does not erase real world facts such as children born during the relationship. California grants nullity only on narrow legal grounds, including bigamy, incest, one spouse being underage without required consent, fraud that goes to the core of the marriage, or a spouse being unable to consent due to mental incapacity or force. There is no general time limit for bigamy or incest, but other grounds, such as fraud or being underage, must generally be raised within a set number of years of discovering the issue or turning 18.
The petitioner is the spouse or parent who starts a California family law case by filing the initial petition with the court, such as a Petition for Dissolution or a request establishing parentage. Filing first does not give the petitioner any legal advantage in how the case is decided; California courts treat both parties' requests and evidence equally regardless of who filed. The petitioner is responsible for formally serving the other party, called the respondent, with the petition and summons, and for meeting the case's procedural deadlines. In some case types, such as a joint petition, both people sign as co-petitioners with equal status. The terms petitioner and respondent are simply procedural labels tied to who filed first, not judgments about fault or the merits of either side's position.
Physical custody determines where a child actually lives and which parent is responsible for the child's day to day care. California courts can order joint physical custody, where the child spends significant time living with both parents, or primary physical custody, where the child lives mainly with one parent and the other typically has a defined visitation or parenting time schedule. Physical custody is distinct from legal custody, which covers decision making rather than where the child sleeps. The actual division of time, called the timeshare, directly affects the guideline child support calculation, since the parent with less time typically pays support to the parent with more time. Physical custody orders can be modified later if circumstances change significantly and the new arrangement serves the child's best interest.
Pro per, short for the Latin phrase in propria persona, meaning in one's own person, describes someone who represents themselves in a California court case without a licensed attorney. Courts also use the terms self-represented or pro se, a related term used more often outside California, to mean the same thing. A pro per litigant has the same legal rights and the same procedural responsibilities as someone represented by a lawyer; the court holds pro per parties to the same filing deadlines and rules of evidence, even though they cannot expect the clerk or judge to give legal advice. Most people filing for divorce or custody in California proceed pro per, which is part of why the Judicial Council publishes standardized, fill-in forms and free self-help centers in every county courthouse.
Proof of service is the court form a person files to formally document that another party in the case was properly given, or served with, legal papers, such as a summons, petition, or request for order. California requires proof of service for nearly every major filing because the court needs confirmation that the other side had a fair chance to respond before it can act on a document or grant a default. The form states who served the papers, how, whether in person, by mail, or another approved method, when, and where; the server, who cannot be a party to the case, signs it under penalty of perjury. For the initial petition and summons, this is usually the Proof of Service of Summons form; filing it late or inaccurately is one of the most common reasons a California family law case gets delayed.
Quasi-community property is property that a couple acquired while living outside California, in a way that would have counted as community property had they lived in California at the time. It commonly comes up when a couple, often military families who relocate frequently between states, moved to California after acquiring assets such as a home, retirement account, or business interest elsewhere. Once a California court has jurisdiction over the divorce, it treats quasi-community property the same as ordinary community property acquired in state, generally dividing it equally between the spouses regardless of whose name is on the title. This rule prevents couples from avoiding California's community property division simply because they earned or bought something while living in another state before relocating.
The respondent is the spouse or parent who did not file the initial petition and instead receives, or is served with, the paperwork starting a California family law case. After being served, the respondent generally has 30 days to file a formal Response, which states their own requests about property, custody, or support and allows them to actively participate in the case rather than risk a default. Filing a Response does not mean a respondent disagrees with everything the petitioner asked for; a respondent can agree to most terms and only contest specific issues. Once served, the respondent is automatically bound by California's ATROs even without filing anything, so certain actions such as transferring property or changing insurance become restricted immediately upon service.
A Request for Order, generally referred to by its form number, the RFO (FL-300), is how a person asks a California family court judge to make or change an order while a case is open, or after judgment for issues like custody and support that remain modifiable. Common uses include asking for temporary child or spousal support, a temporary custody or visitation schedule while the case is pending, or a change to an existing order because circumstances changed significantly. The requesting party files the RFO along with supporting declarations explaining the facts, and the other party can file a responsive declaration opposing or agreeing to some or all of the request. Most RFOs are set for a court hearing where a judge, not just the written filing, decides the outcome.
Separate property is anything a spouse owned before the marriage, or acquired individually during the marriage through gift, inheritance, or with funds that stayed clearly separate. Unlike community property, separate property generally stays with the spouse who owns it and is not divided in a divorce. Common examples include a home purchased before the wedding, an inheritance received solely by one spouse, or personal injury settlement funds in some circumstances. Separate property can lose its separate character if it gets mixed with community funds without clear records, a problem called commingling, such as depositing an inheritance into a joint account used for household expenses for years. Because tracing separate property back to its original source can get complicated, especially with real estate bought before marriage but paid down with marital income, these cases often require detailed financial records.
Service of process is the formal, legally required way of delivering court papers, most importantly the initial summons and petition, to the other party in a California family law case, so they receive official notice and a chance to respond. General rules require personal service by someone other than a party to the case, such as a process server, sheriff, or any adult over 18, though substituted service or service by publication is allowed in limited situations, such as when a person cannot be located after diligent effort. Proper service matters because a case cannot legally proceed, and a default cannot be entered, until the court has proof the other party was served correctly. Improperly served papers can be challenged later, potentially delaying or undoing orders made in the case.
Spousal support, often called alimony in other states, is court ordered financial support one spouse pays to the other after separation or divorce. California distinguishes between temporary spousal support, ordered while the case is still open and usually calculated using a formula that varies by county, and long-term, or post-judgment, spousal support, set at the time of judgment using the broader set of factors listed in Family Code Section 4320, including the marriage's length, each spouse's earning capacity, age, health, and standard of living during the marriage. Unlike guideline child support, there is no single statewide formula for long-term spousal support; judges have significant discretion. As a rough guideline, support in marriages under 10 years often lasts roughly half the marriage's length, though courts can order support for any length of marriage if the facts support it.
Summary dissolution is a simplified, paperwork only path to end a short, low asset California marriage or domestic partnership, often without a court hearing. To qualify, spouses must have been married or registered fewer than 5 years, have no children together and not be expecting one, have combined community property under $57,000, have separate property, other than a vehicle, under $57,000 each, owe no more than $7,000 in debts acquired during the marriage other than car loans, and agree that neither spouse will receive spousal support. Both spouses must sign a joint petition and a full property settlement agreement dividing everything they own. Because the requirements are strict and any single disqualifying fact rules it out, most couples with children, a home, or meaningful joint debt use the regular dissolution process instead.
The UCCJEA, short for the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act, is the law that decides which state has authority to make and change custody orders when a child, or the child's parents, have connections to more than one state. California, like most other states, uses the child's home state, generally where the child has lived with a parent for at least the past six consecutive months, to decide jurisdiction. In every California case asking a court to make custody orders, each parent must file a signed Declaration Under UCCJEA listing every place the child has lived in the past five years and disclosing any other custody case involving the child anywhere else. The UCCJEA exists to prevent two states from issuing conflicting custody orders for the same child and to stop a parent from moving a child to a new state simply to find a friendlier court.
Virdix guides you through the exact California Judicial Council forms for your case, using the same plain-language terms defined above.
Start Your Case NowThis glossary is general information, not legal advice, and definitions are simplified for readability. Family law terminology can carry different consequences depending on the facts of a specific case. Virdix is a document preparation service, not a law firm, and does not provide legal advice. For advice about your specific situation, consult a licensed California family law attorney or visit selfhelp.courts.ca.gov.