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Step one · Do you qualify
Divorce records in Contra Costa live with the Superior Court Clerk’s Office, which maintains both a public case index and a certified-copy service.
The free route is the court’s online case search, where typing a party’s full name returns matching cases with their docket entries, hearing dates, and current status.
For a certified copy — the version banks, title companies, and immigration officers require — you file a written request at the Peter L. Spinetta Family Law Center or mail it to 751 Pine Street, Martinez, CA 94553.
Fees track California Government Code §70626: roughly $40 for the certification plus $0.50 per page copied.
Older cases (filed before the court’s current electronic archive) sometimes require a records retrieval request, which adds several business days. A sealed file — DVROs, cases with confidential party names, juvenile-adjacent matters — never appears in the public index.
A neutral mediator costs a fraction of two attorneys and keeps you out of court-ordered counselling.
Hire a family-law attorney on the one disputed clause rather than the whole file.
Lock in everything you do agree on, with the narrow issues reserved.
Give the disagreement time to settle before anyone signs.
Step two · The filing path
File at the Peter L. Spinetta Family Law Center, 751 Pine Street, Martinez, CA 94553. This is the one courthouse in Contra Costa that accepts family-law filings.
The clerk window runs 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM, and the court accepts e-filing through Odyssey eFileCA for nearly every petition, response, and judgment packet.
There is no family filing counter in Richmond, Pittsburg, Antioch, or Walnut Creek.
The path is six steps and lives mostly online if you choose to.
Confirm you meet residency — six months in California, three months in Contra Costa.
Prepare your FL-100 petition and FL-110 summons, or sign one FL-700 joint petition together.
File and pay the $435 fee (or submit an FW-001 waiver).
Serve your spouse, unless the joint petition eliminates that step.
Submit the judgment packet after the the six-month waiting period expires
Step three · Your paperwork
Every California Judicial Council form from FL-100, FL-110, and FL-115 to FL-180— applies in Contra Costa exactly as it does statewide.
What makes a Martinez file read differently from a Santa Clara one is the local layer the court adds on top.
Because Contra Costa is a confidential-mediation county under Family Code §3177 (it has not opted into recommending counseling), the mediation paperwork trail looks nothing like Santa Clara’s.
Instead you’ll see a Confidential Mediation Statement, a Parent Orientation certificate from the court’s “Families in Transition” program and the court’s local Family Law Case Information Sheet, which must accompany every initial petition.
Pro se and pro per filers are fully welcome and routed through the Family Law Facilitator’s Office for forms review before anything hits the clerk’s queue.
| Courthouse | Address | Phone | Family law role | E-filing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Family Justice Center (primary) | 201 N. First St, San Jose, CA 95113 | (408) 882-2900 | All family-law filings for Sunnyvale residents | Yes, via Odyssey eFileCA |
| Hall of Justice | 190 W. Hedding St, San Jose, CA 95110 | (408) 882-2900 | DVROs with criminal protective orders | Yes |
| Downtown Superior Court | 191 N. First St, San Jose, CA 95113 | (408) 882-2100 | Related civil (business valuation, QDRO disputes) | Yes |
| Juvenile Dependency Court | 115 W. Hedding St, San Jose, CA 95110 | (408) 278-5900 | Custody when CPS or dependency is active | Yes |
| Self-Help Resource Center (inside FJC) | 201 N. First St, San Jose, Room 110 | (408) 882-2926 | Free forms review for pro per filers | n/a |
| Family Court Services (inside FJC) | 201 N. First St, San Jose | (408) 534-5600 | Mediation and counselling appointments | n/a |
| South County Courthouse | 301 Diana Ave, Morgan Hill, CA 95037 | (408) 695-7510 | Civil only, no family filings accepted | Yes |
If custody is contested at all, Contra Costa sends both parents to Family Court Services for mediation — and this is where the county parts ways with its Bay Area neighbors.
Contra Costa has kept mediation confidential. The mediator cannot write a report to the judge, cannot recommend a parenting plan, and cannot testify about what either parent said.
Santa Clara does the opposite. Alameda joins Contra Costa on the confidential side; San Francisco too.
The practical consequence for an uncontested filer: when you and your spouse arrive with a signed stipulated parenting plan, mediation is skipped entirely, and there is no “recommendation” risk to manage.
Confidentiality also changes how you prepare — parents in contested files often speak more candidly than they would in Santa Clara, where the counselor becomes a witness.
The Spinetta Family Law Center hosts a Family Law Facilitator’s Office on the first floor — a free, court-run resource that reviews forms, calculates child and spousal support under state guidelines, and helps assemble judgment packets for pro per filers.
The Facilitator cannot give legal advice or represent you, but they will tell you when your packet is wrong, which usually saves a return trip and a re-serve.
If the $435 state filing fee is a barrier, the court accepts the FW-001 fee waiver for applicants at or below 125% of the federal poverty guidelines, or anyone receiving means-tested public assistance (CalWORKs, Medi-Cal, CalFresh, SSI, SSP).
The Self-Help Center at the same courthouse runs workshops on uncontested divorce and judgment prep. Check out the full divorce cost here.
The Complete Divorce was built by a California family law attorney for people who already agree and want to finish the paperwork without paying hourly for it.
The platform walks you through every form Contra Costa requires, auto-populates your judgment packet, and flags the pension, support, and property provisions a Martinez case needs before the clerk flags them for you.
We support the standard dissolution, the new FL-700 joint petition, summary dissolution and a legal separation workflow using the same forms with a different final judgment.
Who can Use The Complete Divorce:
Couples who agree, DIY filers who want attorney-grade forms without attorney pricing, and anyone comfortable managing their own file with a backstop.
Who We are Not for:
Active high-conflict matters, contested custody with safety concerns, cases with active DVROs, or international custody disputes that trigger the Hague Convention.
Yes it is completely possible. Pro se filing is permitted under California law for every family matter, and the Spinetta Center is set up to route self-represented parties through the Facilitator’s Office before anything reaches a judge.
What makes an uncontested filing survive is agreement before paperwork: a signed set of decisions on property, support, parenting, and debt.
The six-month waiting period runs the same whether you have counsel or not, so there is no procedural time penalty for filing pro per.
The real question is whether your file has an issue that needs a lawyer — contested pension language, international custody, business valuation, allegations of hidden assets.
If none of those apply, an uncontested filing without an attorney is the mainstream choice. Start your divorce and move forward confidently.
