Served With Divorce Papers in Riverside County: Your 30 Days, Your Four Options, and Form FL-120

The Riverside Family Law FAQ lists the options after service¹.

The 30 days run from the date of service¹. The start date depends on how the papers were delivered⁹¹⁰¹¹:

A six-month minimum applies to the divorce itself. No judgment of dissolution is final until six months have expired from the date of service or the respondent’s appearance, whichever is first, and the court can extend that period for good cause (Family Code section 2339)¹².

The papers served are the ones the petitioner filed: the summons (form FL-110), the petition (form FL-100), a UCCJEA declaration (FL-105) if there are children and the local Declaration of Residence (RI-FL036), along with a blank Response (FL-120)¹⁷⁸. In Riverside the Notice of Case Assignment and the Family Law Case Management Order are also served with the petition (Local Rule 5145)¹³.

The summons includes standard restraining orders. They bind the petitioner from filing and the respondent from service, and they bar either spouse from⁵:

• removing the children from California or applying for new passports for them without the other’s consent;
• cashing, borrowing against, canceling, transferring or changing the beneficiaries of insurance;
• transferring, concealing or disposing of property, except in the usual course of business or for necessities;
• creating or changing a nonprobate transfer;
• making an extraordinary expenditure without notifying the other party at least five business days beforehand.

The Response is form FL-120, and the Judicial Council’s list for responding also names FL-105 (with children), optional FL-160 and FL-311, and proof of service by mail (FL-335) or personal service (FL-330)⁸. The response fee is $450 on the Riverside schedule effective January 1, 2026². The summons tells a respondent who cannot pay to ask the clerk for a fee waiver form⁵, and an appearance, stipulation and waiver by a respondent in the armed forces carries no fee². The steps for the waiver are on court fee waivers in Riverside County.

Riverside accepts family law documents through eSubmit, with PDFs of up to 50 MB each, a $2.00 transaction fee, and a 4:00 p.m. cut-off for in-person and drop-box filings¹⁴.

A respondent whose spouse filed for legal separation can ask for a divorce in the Response¹⁵. Financial disclosures follow: the respondent serves a preliminary declaration of disclosure either with the Response or within 60 days of filing it, and files proof of service but not the disclosures themselves (Family Code section 2104)⁶. The forms are on the divorce disclosure forms.

Sources disagree Riverside’s flow chart says a default judgment with a signed agreement needs the respondent’s signature notarized, and the court’s FAQ says the same¹⁷. The Judicial Council’s page on default with an agreement says “Some courts or forms may require a notary,” and its page on finishing with a written agreement after a Response says signatures do not need to be notarized¹⁶¹⁷. The Riverside rule applies to the no-Response path; the other applies when a Response has been filed. Do not assume a notary is unnecessary on the Riverside default-with-agreement path.

After 30 days with no Response, the petitioner can ask for default, either together with the judgment or first⁴. The default does not end the case. The petitioner still has to finish the financial disclosures and submit the judgment, and the spouses stay married until a judge signs it⁴. The steps are on finishing a divorce in Riverside County.

The Riverside FAQ covers a spouse who was never served but finds a default judgment already exists: a Request for Order (FL-300) with “Set Aside Default Judgment” under “Other,” citing Code of Civil Procedure section 473 if the judgment is under six months old, Family Code section 2121 between six months and two years, and a separate action to vacate after two years. The FAQ suggests checking with the law librarian¹. The petitioner has a local form to set aside a default before filing an amended petition (RI-FL002, Local Rule 5166)¹³.

For an active duty service member, the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act prohibits entering a default judgment¹.

When the Response disagrees with the petition, the case goes to a settlement conference and then trial unless the spouses reach an agreement¹. Under Local Rule 5150, a party requests the conference and trial on form RI-FL008 after serving the preliminary disclosure, and a brief and the final disclosure are due at least ten days before the conference¹³. See the mandatory settlement conference.