• Requirements for obtaining a divorce in California.man and woman divorced image by Ivonne Wierink from Fotolia.com
  
  If you are in a marriage or domestic partnership in the state of California and have decided the marriage or partnership is not working, you may choose to file for a divorce. The requirements for filing for a divorce in California include a residency requirement, a declaration of the grounds for divorce, and following state-legislated procedures.
  
  

Residency Requirements

• California requires that one of the spouses in a marriage has lived in the state for at least the six months immediately preceding the filing of the petition. The petition will then be filed in the county where you have lived for the last three months or where your spouse has lived for the last three months. As for domestic partners who became such in the state of California, they consented to the laws of California when they applied for the partnership and therefore are bound to the jurisdiction even if they have moved out of the state.
  
  

Grounds

• California has only two options for grounds for divorce: irreconcilable differences and incurable insanity. Most people choose to file under irreconcilable differences as this makes the divorce case simpler and takes less time. It also allows the parties to focus on settling the divorce issues instead of proving who was at fault for the marriage or domestic partnership ending.
  
  

Procedure

• First file a Petition for Dissolution of Marriage or Domestic Partnership. Also file state-mandated declaration forms if there are any minor children and for any property of the marriage or partnership. Sample fill-in-the-blank forms can be found on the California courts' self-help website. These forms need to be filed with the clerk of court in the county where you are filing the divorce, and then will need to be served on your spouse/domestic partner by either personal service or certified mail. This is the court's way of assuring that your spouse/partner is aware of the proceedings.
  
  

Final Orders

• If your spouse/domestic partner does not file an answer to the petition, you may ask the court for a default judgment. This essentially gives you what you have asked for in the divorce as a rule. If your spouse/domestic partner does file and answer, you may prepare an agreed entry and waiver of final hearing if you are in agreement on all the issues in your divorce. If your spouse/partner filed an answer but there remain contested issues in your divorce, ask the court for a final hearing and the judge will rule on the contested issues in your divorce.