California Family Code 2339 requires that a divorce cannot be finalized until a minimum of 6 months have passed after the respondent has been served or has filed an appearance. There are no exceptions to this. You may hear about people getting their divorce judgments signed or ‘entered’ in 2 or 3 months. That is common. Depending on which county you live in, you may get your divorce judgment signed in as little as about 7 weeks or as long as 5+ months. However, that divorce judgment cannot terminate your marriage for a minimum of 6 months.

Almost certainly not. Hearings are expensive and time-consuming for courts. They try to avoid them. However, the final decision on a hearing, even in an uncontested divorce, is always the judge’s, and judges have different views on hearings. Some require a hearing in certain cases (such as long-term marriages without any provision for spousal support) and some judges don’t ever require a hearing.

That must depend on the facts of your case. If you have a contested case, a very large marital estate, a very complex case (trusts, active businesses, tax problems, etc.) or a case that involves domestic violence, you really should use a certified family law specialist attorney. You will be glad you did. However, if your case is relatively simple and uncontested, you can hire an experienced online divorce provider to prepare all of your paperwork and guide you through the process.

Hidden monthly fees. Many online divorce websites, including all of those who claim that $139, $149, $159 or $169 are their total fees, also charge monthly fees. Those monthly fees are usually $35-$40. On the top pages of their sites, they claim that $139 is a ‘complete fee’ or a ‘one-time payment.’ But they disclose the monthly fees in their Terms of Use where they know you won’t look. So you will pay $139 + (6 months X $40) = $379, NOT $139. They hit your credit card every month until you cancel. And they slow your case down on purpose so that you will pay the monthly fees for even longer than 6 months. It is very clear from reading the Better Business Bureau complaints of these frauds that they purposefully leave one critical document out of every batch. That means the court can sit on your case for 3-16 weeks (depending on the county) and then reject your submission because of the missing doc. The result is that your credit card gets hit an extra few times.

Yes, but it is much more difficult and time-consuming. If your spouse cannot be served with papers in the normal manner, your Summons must be published in your local newspaper for 4 consecutive weeks before your 6 months waiting period begins. If you have low income, the Summons can be posted in the court lobby for those 4 weeks. Publication (or posting) can only be done with a judge’s consent, which is very difficult to get. Judges always suspect that you really know where your spouse is. So you must prove to the judge that you have done everything reasonably possible to find your spouse. Again, the publication (or posting) is not an easy process.