Riverside County Divorce Filing Fees: The Court’s 2026 Fee Schedule for Family Law Cases

The totals are the figures printed on the court’s schedule effective January 1, 2026¹. They leave out the cost of serving papers, which the court does not collect, and the cost of copies, which is listed below.

The Judicial Council’s statewide schedule lists the first paper in a family law case at $435, marked with an asterisk that says the amount “will vary” in Riverside, San Bernardino and San Francisco because of a local surcharge². Its appendix shows the arithmetic for Riverside: the $435 uniform fee, a $50 local courthouse-construction surcharge, and a $35 reduction in the share sent to the state construction fund, for a total of $450². The surcharge has been $50 for all cases since January 1, 2009, under Government Code section 70622².

The court’s own schedule, effective January 1, 2026 and revised December 31, 2025, prints $450 on each family law first-paper line and cites Government Code sections 70670, 70602.5 and 70602.6¹. The California Courts self-help guide tells readers to expect “$435-$450”, which matches the two schedules³.

Good to know Older pages and forum posts quote $435, $435 to $460, or $450 to $465 for Riverside. The two official schedules in force in 2026 give one figure for the petition, $450, and the same for the response. Plan on that, and check the court’s schedule for any change on the next January 1.

Source: the Riverside schedule effective January 1, 2026, pages 7 and 8¹. The statewide schedule lists the same items; where it says “amount set by court”, the Riverside figure is the one above².

Two local rules matter here. Rule 5110 says every Request for Order is subject to the statutory fee, and Rule 5125 says any request or stipulation to continue a hearing is subject to the $20 fee⁷. Inside a domestic violence restraining order case, the $60 and $25 charges on a request to change custody, visitation or support apply only after the protective order is no longer in effect¹⁷.

The joint petition

Sources disagree Since January 1, 2026 two spouses can file one joint petition for divorce or legal separation (forms FL-700 and FL-710). The statewide schedule lists that joint petition at $870, which covers both petitioners’ appearance², and the self-help guide to the joint petition gives the same figure⁹. The Riverside schedule has no separate joint-petition line; its first-paper row reads “including a joint petition” at $450¹. The court has not published which figure its clerks collect. Ask the clerk before filing, and do not assume the lower one.

Two of these deserve a sentence. The $15 certified copy of the dissolution record is the document other agencies usually ask for as proof of divorce, and it is a different line from the $40 general certification¹. And a filing paid with a check that bounces, or a first paper paid short, is void unless cured within 20 days of the court’s notice, in cash, certified check or another form the court names¹².

Riverside’s family law filings go through eSubmit, the court’s document portal, not the civil eFiling system. eSubmit charges “a $2.00 transaction fee” on every non-exempt submission, takes up to 15 PDF documents of 50 MB each for one case, and charges nothing for domestic violence or gun violence restraining order filings⁴. The schedule prints the same $2 per case¹. The in-person and drop-box cut-off is 4:00 p.m.; a document received through eSubmit at any time on a court day counts as filed that day⁴. The steps are in eSubmit and remote hearings in Riverside family law.

If you receive CalFresh, Medi-Cal, SSI, SSP, CalWORKs, General Assistance, IHSS, CAPI, WIC or unemployment benefits, or your gross monthly household income is at or below the table printed on form FW-001, or you cannot pay court fees and meet basic needs, the court can waive its fees⁵⁶. The table on the form revised March 1, 2026 starts at $2,660.00 a month for a household of one and $5,500.00 for a household of four⁵.

A granted waiver covers filing fees, the clerk’s copies, the sheriff’s fee to serve papers and a court reporter’s attendance fee, among others⁵. It does not cover lawyer fees, private mediation, transcripts, or the newspaper’s charge when the court allows service by publication⁶. The waiver ends 60 days after the judgment, and in a family law case the court can order repayment if your finances improve; you can ask for a hearing first⁵. The full procedure, including what to do in the ten days after a denial, is on court fee waivers in Riverside County.

The fee schedule is only the court’s side. A divorce also costs whatever it takes to have the other spouse served, since the court does not serve papers in a divorce; a friend over 18, a process server or the sheriff can do it, and the sheriff’s fee is one the fee waiver covers⁵. Later costs can include a court reporter, a custody evaluation (“determined by private evaluator” on the Riverside schedule) and court-appointed counsel for a child, whose cost is set by hours and the parties’ ability to pay¹. The ranges published for attorneys, online document services and mediators are on what a divorce costs in Riverside County.