An online uncontested divorce lets San Francisco spouses who agree on the key terms end their marriage by preparing court-ready paperwork from home — no hourly attorney bills and, in most cases, no trip to the courthouse.
The Complete Divorce turns California’s confusing Judicial Council forms into a plain-language, step-by-step process, then gives you accurate, filing-ready documents for the San Francisco Superior Court.
Court-ready forms & guidance
Attorney Dina Haddad’s experience
Standard court filing fee
California’s mandatory wait
Couples who are on the same page about property, debts, support, and any parenting arrangements, and simply want the paperwork done right.
Spouses in active conflict, cases with hidden assets, domestic-violence concerns, or anyone who needs a judge to decide contested issues — those situations still call for a litigator.
Because the process is uncontested and handled outside the courtroom, you skip the fees and friction of traditional representation.
What you don’t skip is experience: the platform is built on the family-law knowledge of attorney Dina Haddad, so couples get expert-designed guidance at every step instead of a blank PDF.
That’s why San Francisco couples — from Sunset District renters to Noe Valley homeowners — use The Complete Divorce to file confidently and keep control of their own case. Start your divorce today.
In San Francisco, an "online divorce" isn’t a separate legal process — it’s the ordinary California dissolution of marriage, prepared digitally instead of by hand or by a $400-an-hour lawyer.
You answer guided questions, your responses populate the correct Judicial Council forms, and you file them with the San Francisco Unified Family Court at the Civic Center Courthouse (many family-law documents can be submitted through the court’s e-filing system).
It matters here because San Francisco is one of California’s priciest places to hire counsel, where even a "simple" attorney-led divorce can run into the thousands. Doing it online keeps the cost measured in tens of dollars, not thousands.
To qualify, you must meet California’s residency rule: one spouse has lived in California for at least six months and in San Francisco County for at least three months before filing.
You’ll also need a complete, truthful set of financial disclosures and — for an uncontested case — genuine agreement on the terms. Not sure where to begin? Our California online divorce overview walks through every step.
No. California law does not require either spouse to hire an attorney, and the courts are built for people who represent themselves — the San Francisco Superior Court even runs a self-help ACCESS Center for that reason.
Statewide, the large majority of family-law cases involve at least one self-represented spouse, so filing on your own is the norm, not the exception.
When your divorce is genuinely uncontested, there’s rarely a legal issue for a lawyer to argue. What trips people up is paperwork: the right forms, correct service (or the new no-service joint route), mandatory disclosures, and a judgment package the court will actually sign.
That’s procedure, not advocacy — and procedure is exactly what a guided platform handles.
The Complete Divorce closes the gap by putting attorney Dina Haddad’s 22+ years of family-law experience into the workflow itself.
You skip the retainer while still getting documents prepared to a professional standard. If your situation involves custody disputes, safety concerns, or contested assets, that’s when you should still consult a lawyer.
For short, uncomplicated marriages, California offers its fastest path: summary dissolution (Family Code §§ 2400–2406).
It’s a streamlined, joint process designed for couples with very little to divide — and in San Francisco, it’s a narrower door than most people expect.
You and your spouse must meet every condition, including: married (or registered) five years or less, no children together and no current pregnancy, no real estate, limited community and separate property (roughly $57,000 or less each under 2026 figures, excluding vehicles), limited community debt, a signed property-and-debt agreement, and a mutual waiver of spousal support. You file the FL-800 Joint Petition after reading the FL-810 information booklet.
The catch for San Francisco: owning a home or sitting on tech stock usually blows past the caps immediately, so many local couples who agree on everything still won’t qualify. If that’s you, the joint petition below is almost always the better fit. Compare your options in our DIY California divorce guide.
As of January 1, 2026, California gives amicable couples a powerful new tool: the Joint Petition for divorce, Form FL-700 (created by Senate Bill 1427).
Both spouses sign as joint petitioners and file together — there is no "Petitioner vs. Respondent," and crucially, no one has to be served. For San Francisco couples who already agree, that removes the single most awkward step of a traditional filing.
Here’s how it differs from the old route. A standard divorce starts with Form FL-100, after which one spouse must formally serve the other, who then responds (or risks a default).
The FL-700 joint petition collapses that two-sided, adversarial structure into a single cooperative filing for one $435 court fee.
Unlike summary dissolution, the FL-700 has no property or marriage-length caps — couples with children, a San Francisco home, or retirement and equity accounts can use it, as long as they agree.
It’s the best option for most amicable San Francisco divorces that don’t fit the summary-dissolution box. (See the traditional path on our FL-100 petition guide.)
You start by answering guided interview questions; the platform selects the correct track for you — summary dissolution, the FL-700 joint petition, or a standard uncontested filing — and fills every matching Judicial Council form with your answers, flagging mistakes before they reach a clerk.
From there you get a court-ready packet plus plain-English instructions for filing with the San Francisco Unified Family Court, including how to e-file and how to complete your mandatory declarations of disclosure.
Because uncontested California divorces are decided on the documents, you typically never set foot in a courtroom and never hire an attorney — the judge reviews and signs your judgment by paperwork.
What stays with you throughout is attorney-built guidance drawn from 22+ years of practice, so a self-filed divorce doesn’t mean a guessed-at one. Ready to begin? Review the simple and affordable monthly subscription and start today.
San Francisco handles divorces through its Unified Family Court, based at the Civic Center Courthouse, 400 McAllister Street.
Unlike counties with multiple family-law branches, San Francisco centralizes dissolution cases in one location, which keeps filing straightforward once your forms are correct.
You have two filing routes. You can file in person or by drop-box at McAllister Street, or you can use the court’s electronic filing system through an approved e-filing service provider — the option most online filers prefer, since it timestamps your documents without a courthouse trip.
Either way, the court charges the standard $435 first-appearance fee (per spouse on a standard petition; a single fee on a joint FL-700).
Need help understanding the process before you file? The court’s ACCESS Center (400 McAllister St., Room 509) offers free self-help services for self-represented litigants. The Complete Divorce complements that by delivering a packet already formatted for San Francisco, so your filing isn’t bounced for a technical error. See exactly how the online divorce process starts.
Every California divorce is governed by a mandatory six-month waiting period (Family Code § 2339). Your marriage cannot legally end sooner than six months and one day.
For a standard case, counted from the date your spouse is served; for a summary dissolution or FL-700 joint petition, counted from the date you file. No San Francisco judge can waive or speed up that cooling-off clock.
So the realistic timeline isn’t about how fast the court moves — it’s about how fast you move inside that window. Couples who agree and prepare accurate paperwork typically reach a signed judgment in roughly six to eight months, while errors, missing disclosures, or rejected forms add weeks of back-and-forth.
That’s where preparation pays off: filing complete, San Francisco–formatted documents the first time means you’re simply waiting out the statutory period, not restarting it. Organize everything up front with our California DIY divorce checklist.
Two separate costs matter in a San Francisco divorce, and people constantly confuse them. The first is the court filing fee, set statewide at $435 and paid directly to the San Francisco Superior Court.
The second is the cost of preparing your paperwork — which is where a traditional attorney, often billing well over $300 an hour here, turns a simple case into a five-figure expense.
Court-ready forms and guidance — a fraction of local attorney rates.
Separate, and goes to the court, not to us.
The Complete Divorce replaces that second cost with a $49.99/mo subscription for court-ready forms and guidance — a fraction of local attorney rates. (The $435 court fee is separate and goes to the court, not to us.)
If the filing fee is a hardship, you may not have to pay it at all: California’s fee-waiver program can reduce or eliminate it for qualifying low-income filers, and San Francisco processes these requests routinely.
California is a community-property state, so most assets and debts acquired during the marriage are split 50/50 — and in San Francisco, "50/50" can involve unusually large numbers.
A Bay Area home, startup equity, RSUs, stock options, and retirement accounts make local estates some of the most valuable in the state, which is exactly why summary dissolution rarely fits here.
An uncontested online divorce still works for these couples — the key is agreeing on how to divide things and documenting it correctly.
You’ll list separate versus community property, assign each asset and debt, and record the deal in a written marital settlement agreement that becomes part of your judgment. Full, honest financial disclosures are mandatory even when you agree.
Where values are high, the FL-700 joint petition shines, because it imposes no asset ceiling. For a deeper look at the rules, see our guide to community and separate property division.
See how people simplified their divorce, saved thousands, and avoided the emotional and financial strain that often comes with the traditional system. Their stories show what’s possible when divorce is handled differently.
Yes. You prepare California’s Judicial Council forms online, then file them with the San Francisco Unified Family Court in person or by e-filing — no attorney required for an uncontested case.
The Complete Divorce charges $49.99/mo for divorce and legal separation. The San Francisco Superior Court’s $435 filing fee is separate, though qualifying low-income filers can request a fee waiver.
California’s mandatory waiting period means no divorce is final sooner than six months and one day. Most agreeable San Francisco couples who file accurate paperwork finish in six to eight months.
Usually not. Uncontested California divorces are decided on the documents, so a judge reviews and signs your judgment by paperwork. Most San Francisco couples never attend a hearing.
One spouse must have lived in California for at least six months and in San Francisco County for at least three months before filing. Legal separation has no residency requirement.
Absolutely. California law never requires an attorney, and most family-law filers represent themselves. A guided platform handles the forms and procedure, backed by Dina Haddad’s 22+ years of experience.
Yes. The FL-700 joint petition, available since January 2026, requires both spouses to sign as co-petitioners and file together. In exchange, no one has to be formally served.
Summary dissolution has strict caps — under five years married, no kids, no real estate, limited assets. The FL-700 joint petition has no such limits for agreeing couples.
File with the San Francisco Unified Family Court at the Civic Center Courthouse, 400 McAllister Street, or submit electronically through an approved e-filing provider. The Complete Divorce formats everything for you.
Yes. Couples with children can’t use summary dissolution, but they can file the FL-700 joint petition or a standard uncontested case, adding the required custody and support paperwork.
