Late-breaking legal changes and fixes that affect

How to Do Your Own Divorce —California

Forms Updates. The companion CD contains forms that can be used with the free Adobe Reader (see below). To check for new and fixed forms updates, click here.

Adobe Reader. The free Adobe Reader, available here, allows you to fill out and print forms, but you can't save what you entered so when you close the file your data will be lost.
The best alternative that we know of for Windows is the $30 Cute PDF Form Filler that allows you to fill out forms and save the data you entered. To buy it or get a free trial version, click here.

30% off for owners of old editions. If you bought your book directly from us, or if you send us the cover of your old edition, you can get 30% off on the new book which includes the latest CD! Total price is $20.97 plus tax and shipping. To order, call Nolo at (800) 464-5502, M-F, 9-5.

Alerts for the 31st Edition

February 13, 2008

FW-001 Fee Waiver Information.
Shortly after we sent the 31st edition to press, the Judicial Counicil belatedly released an update to the allowable income limits for a fee waiver, as follows:

January 2008 — What's New in the 31st Edition

New printing, new CD, 7 new forms

2 new and 5 revised forms. Do not use older versions! The companion CD for the 31st Edition contains the latest Judicial Council forms for use on your computer. Available early January. To download the forms, click here.

One revised form in the book. FL-192 Notice of Rights and Responsibilities is used in cases with minor children.

On the CD: In addition to the above, the CD includes FW-001 Fee Waiver Information, FL-314 Child Custody Information, FL-342(A) Non-guideline Support Attachment, MC-120 Confidential Reference List, FL-800 Petition for Summary Dissolution, FL-810 Summary Dissolution Booklet.

Page 72—Colored paper. State rule supercedes any county requirement for certain forms to be on colored paper. However, if clerk insists, it might be easier to comply than argue.

Page 75—New privacy rules. With the exception of the Case Registry Form, which is not on public view, on any document filed with the court or attached to any document filed with court, you should disguise all Social Secuirty and account numbers by replacing them with asterisks and the last four numbers. For example, "****-**-1234" would replace someone's SS number. If the court should ever require the full numbers, they'll ask you to report them on form MC-120, which will be kept from public view. You do not disguise numbers on documents served on the other side.

Page 77—Fee Waiver. Updated new schedule of income levels eligible for Fee Waiver.

Pages 133 - 134—Judgment. Explains how to get required language to fit in inadequate space available on Judgment form. See April 5 alert notice, below.

Alerts for the 30th Edition

July 1, 2007

FL-192 Notice of Rights and Responsibilities and
FW-001 Application for Waiver of Fees and Costs.
Revised. After July 1, 2007, do not use older versions of these forms.
To download, click here.

April 5, 2007

FL-180 Judgment, pages 133 and 134. Item 4p on the Judgment form was reduced to one single line of text in the new form, making it difficult or impossible to enter the language recommended on page 134. If you are using Method A (for counties other than Los Angeles or San Bernardino) simply remove the word "contained" and the rest of the sentence will fit and still mean the same thing. For Method B, at item 4p you should enter "See Further Orders" and as your first Further Order, put "It is further ordered that the Settlement Agreement..." and continue with the language in Method B, page 134.

March 20, 2007

Page 72 - Colored paper. Some counties used to require that certain documents be filed on colored paper, but effective January 1, new Court Rules 1.31(f), 1.35(f) and 2.103 superseded local rules and all court documents are now to be filed on white recycled paper, at least 20-pound weight. If a clerk returns a document and requests it on colored paper, you can either refile it with a note calling the clerk’s attention to the above Rules of Court or you can just do as the clerk asks — sometimes that’s easier.

March 15, 2007

Page 76 - Fee Waiver Schedule. Effective February 6, a new schedule was publishled increasing slightly the maximum household income a family can earn to qualify for a fee waiver. To download the new schedule, click here.

February 12, 2007

FL-341  Child Custody and Visitation Order is new for 2007 but did not make it onto the CD. To download, click here.

What's New in the 30th Edition

January 2007 — new printing, new CD, 18 new forms

18 revised forms. Do not use older versions! The companion CD for the 30th Edition contains the latest Judicial Council forms for use on your computer. To download the forms, click here.

Revised forms found in the book are: FL-105 Declaration Under UCCJEA, FL-144 Stipulation and Waiver, FL-150, Income and Expenses, FL-160 Property Declaration, FL-170 Declaration for Default Disso, FL-180 Judgment.

On the CD: In addition to the above, the CD includes FL-345 Property Oderd Attachment, MC-040 Notice of Change of Address, MC-05 Substitution of Attorney, 6 new forms for Fee Waiver, and two new forms to request dismissal of an action.

Page 32—Undue influence is presumed if a written agreement made by unrepresented parties is challenged in court due to a significantly unequal division of property, but this does not apply to mediated settlements when the agreement is more than 6 mos. old.

Page 54—DV affects spousal support. If domestic violence by the payor against the recipient is proven, it can affect the amount or duration of support. If the recipient was convicted of violence against the payor in the five years prior to the divorce or at any time afterward, there is a presumption that there should be no award for spousal support (Family Code § 4325).

Page 75—Privacy Revoked. Legislation that permitted you to seal records with sensitive information simply filing a form was held unconstitutional, Section 7.2 was removed and FL-316 was removed. All thanks for this unfortunate decision are due to the court of appeals for the L.A. district.

Pages 130 - 133—The Judgment form adds a new item 4(k), so instructions for the judgment are renumbered from 4(k) to 4(o) as necessary.