A joint petition for divorce in California is a single filing that both spouses, or both registered domestic partners, sign together as co-petitioners. There is no respondent. Filing is treated as service on both of you, so the six-month waiting period starts that day, but property, support and parenting must still be resolved. This joint petition, under Family Code section 2330, is a different procedure from summary dissolution, a separate and more limited process covered later in this article.
Most people facing this question are two people who have already done the hard part. They have talked, they have agreed the relationship is ending, and they want a process that reflects that agreement instead of casting one of them as the person "filing against" the other. For same-sex and LGBTQ couples, the research rarely stops there. Many are untangling a registered domestic partnership as well as a marriage, years of shared life that started before they could legally marry, or a child whose second parent's legal status was never formally settled. Those are the pieces that decide whether a joint petition fits.
This article explains what the joint petition is, who can use it, how the six-month waiting period runs, how it differs from summary dissolution, and how parentage and domestic partnership history shape what the agreement has to cover.
What a Joint Petition for Dissolution of Marriage Actually Is
Family Code section 2330 is the statute that governs petitions for dissolution, and subdivision (c), which took effect January 1, 2025 (Stats. 2024, ch. 190), sets out the joint petition. Dissolution is the legal term California uses for divorce: the court judgment that ends a marriage or a registered domestic partnership.
In a standard petition, one person is the petitioner and the other is the respondent, who is served with papers and files a response. A joint petition removes that structure. Both people sign the same document as co-petitioners, and Family Code section 2331(b) provides that when the parties file a joint petition and joint summons, the petition "shall be deemed to be served on both parties upon the filing of the joint petition with the court and both parties shall be determined to have appeared in the matter."
The joint petition also asks the couple to state, up front, what they are agreeing to. Section 2330(c)(3)(A) requires "a list of issues upon which the parties intend to resolve by agreement," which may include:
"(i) The legal grounds for dissolution or legal separation. (ii) The date of separation. (iii) Child custody. (iv) Child support. (v) Spousal support or domestic partner support. (vi) Separate property. (vii) Community and quasi-community property. (viii) Restoration of former name. (ix) Attorney's fees and costs."
That list "shall represent all of the matters at issue in the dissolution." If the couple has an issue they do not intend to resolve by agreement, the statute directs them to file a standard petition instead.
The same joint approach is available for couples ending a registered domestic partnership. And for couples who are both registered partners and married to each other, Family Code section 299(e) allows them to "petition the court to dissolve both their domestic partnership and their marriage in a single proceeding." The partnership and the marriage are two separate relationships. Marrying did not convert one into the other, and the court can end both together.
Eligibility Requirements Under California Law
Family Code section 2320(a) sets the general residency rule: a judgment of dissolution of marriage may not be entered unless one spouse has been a California resident for six months and a resident of the filing county for three months immediately before the petition is filed. Only one spouse has to meet it.
Section 2320(b) carries an exception written for same-sex marriages. A California court may enter a judgment of dissolution, nullity or legal separation even if neither spouse lives in California, if the marriage was entered in California and neither spouse lives in a jurisdiction that will dissolve it. If the other jurisdiction does not recognize the marriage, the law presumes, subject to proof otherwise, that it will not dissolve it. Those cases are filed in the superior court of the county where the marriage was entered and decided under California law. Couples in that position can read more about divorcing after leaving California.
These rules apply the same way to every same-sex couple who married in California, whether before Proposition 8 in November 2008 or after marriages resumed following Hollingsworth v. Perry. Couples whose relationship began as a California registered domestic partnership face a related set of jurisdiction questions, and the answer can depend on whether they are also married and where each partner now lives. The answer to that jurisdiction question can depend on whether the couple is also married and where each partner currently lives, making it a fact-specific analysis.
The other gate is simple: both people must sign. A joint petition is, by definition, a shared filing. If one spouse or partner is unwilling to sign, the joint route is closed, and the person who wants to proceed files a standard petition as sole petitioner. The broader steps of that path are covered in our overview of the divorce process for same-sex couples.
The Six-Month Waiting Period and What It Means in Practice
Family Code section 2339(a) provides that "[s]ubject to subdivision (b) and to Sections 2340 to 2344, inclusive, no judgment of dissolution is final for the purpose of terminating the marriage relationship of the parties until six months have expired from the date of service of a copy of summons and petition or the date of appearance of the respondent, whichever occurs first." The court may extend that period for good cause.
Because section 2331(b) treats a joint petition as served on both parties, with both appearing, at the moment of filing, the six months begins to run on the filing date. It does not run from the day the couple decided to separate or moved apart. If one party later files an amended petition or response, section 2342.5(b)(3) — the joint petition procedure that became operative January 1, 2026 — treats the joint petition as revoked and the case continues as a standard one, but the original filing date still counts for the section 2339 deadline.
Six months is a floor, not a forecast. Until the judgment becomes final, the parties remain legally married and neither may remarry. Cases with property to divide, support questions or unresolved parentage often take longer than six months to reach a judgment, because the paperwork that settles those issues takes time to prepare.
Registered domestic partnerships have a parallel six-month rule in one setting. Under Family Code section 299(b), a partnership ended by filing a Notice of Termination of Domestic Partnership with the Secretary of State terminates "effective six months after the date of filing," unless either partner revokes the termination before then.
How a Joint Petition Differs from Summary Dissolution
Summary dissolution is a different procedure entirely, found in Family Code sections 2400 through 2406 (our summary dissolution article covers its current adjusted limits). It is a simplified path with strict eligibility conditions, and the two terms are not interchangeable.
Under section 2400, summary dissolution requires conditions including all of these at the start of the case:
- Either party meets the residency requirements of section 2320.
- There are no children of the relationship born before or during the marriage or adopted during it, and neither party knows of a pregnancy.
- The marriage lasted no more than five years as of the date of separation.
- Neither party has an interest in real property anywhere, other than a qualifying residential lease.
- Unpaid obligations incurred after the marriage stay under a dollar limit set by statute, not counting car loans.
Section 2406 adds a consequence that matters to many couples: the court brochure explaining the procedure must state that "neither party to the marriage can in the future obtain spousal support from the other."
A joint petition under section 2330 has none of those caps. Couples with a house, retirement savings, children or a long marriage can use it, provided they agree on every issue they list.
The difference is especially relevant for same-sex couples whose shared lives predate their legal marriage. A couple together for twenty years who could only marry after 2013 may have a short legal marriage on paper but a long financial history in practice: a home bought together, combined savings, one partner who stepped back from work. Those facts often place them well outside summary dissolution's limits, even if the marriage itself is under five years.
What the Parties Must Resolve Before the Court Can Enter Judgment
Family Code section 2550 states the core property rule. Except upon written agreement, an oral stipulation in open court, or as otherwise provided by law, the court in a dissolution "shall … divide the community estate of the parties equally." Community property is, in plain terms, what the couple acquired during the marriage or partnership, and the details are covered in our article on community property for same-sex couples. Retirement accounts are often the largest community asset; see dividing retirement accounts in divorce.
Spousal support, sometimes called alimony, is the other major financial term. When support is contested, Family Code section 4320 lists the circumstances the court weighs, including each party's earning capacity measured against the marital standard of living, periods of unemployment taken to handle domestic duties, contributions one party made to the other's education or career, the paying party's ability to pay, each party's needs, and each party's obligations and assets, including separate property. Those factors determine what a court would weigh if support were contested, so they are often relevant context when parties are negotiating whether to include a support waiver in their agreement.
If the couple has children, the judgment addresses custody, visitation and child support. In same-sex families, that assumes both adults are legal parents, which the next section explains is not always settled.
All of this is usually collected in a marital settlement agreement, a signed contract setting out how property, support and custody are resolved. The court incorporates it into the judgment. For couples dissolving both a domestic partnership and a marriage under section 299(e), the agreement typically addresses both relationships by name. Any existing prenuptial agreement also shapes what the settlement covers; see pre- and post-nuptial agreements.
Parentage Considerations Specific to Same-Sex and LGBTQ Families
A court can only make custody orders for legal parents, and in a same-sex family, legal parentage is not always established for both adults. A spouse who did not give birth, and who has no voluntary declaration of parentage, judgment of parentage or adoption, may have less certain parental status than they assume. Agreeing on a parenting schedule does not, by itself, answer that question.
California law has several routes to legal parentage. Family Code section 7611(a) creates a presumption that a person is a child's parent when that person and the child's natural mother "are, or have been, married to each other and the child is born during the marriage," or within 300 days after the marriage ends. A presumption is a legal starting point that can, in some circumstances, be challenged.
For children conceived through assisted reproduction with donated sperm or eggs, Family Code section 7613(a) provides that an intended parent who consented is "treated in law as if that intended parent is the natural parent." The consent is to be in writing, signed by both the intended parent and the person conceiving. Without a written consent, a court can still find consent if there is clear and convincing evidence of an oral agreement, made before conception, that both would be parents.
Some families include more than two adults in a parenting role. SB 274 (Stats. 2013, ch. 564) allows a California court to find that a child has more than two parents in limited circumstances.
Adoption, including stepparent or second-parent adoption, is another way parental rights are established; see stepparent adoption for same-sex couples for how it works. Our firm does not take adoption matters. When parentage is unresolved at filing, it is generally addressed before or during the dissolution, so the judgment covers every legal parent. Our article on parental rights in same-sex divorce goes further.
Registered Domestic Partnerships and the Joint Petition
AB 205 (Stats. 2003, ch. 421) is the reason a domestic partnership dissolution looks so much like a divorce. From January 1, 2005, registered domestic partners have the rights and duties of spouses. Family Code section 297.5(a) provides that registered domestic partners "shall have the same rights, protections, and benefits, and shall be subject to the same responsibilities, obligations, and duties under law" as spouses, and section 297.5(b) applies the same rule to former partners and former spouses. The community property rules, support factors and dissolution procedures described above apply to partners as they do to married couples.
Family Code section 299 governs how a partnership ends. Some partnerships qualify for the Secretary of State notice of termination described earlier, which takes effect six months after filing and is treated "for all purposes as, the entry of a judgment of dissolution of a domestic partnership." Others go through the court.
Many LGBTQ couples registered as domestic partners before marriage was open to them in California and married each other later. For them, there may be two relationships to end, not one. Section 299(e) lets a court dissolve the partnership and the marriage together in a single proceeding, and a joint petition can be used to bring both before the court at once. Couples in this position are often surprised to learn the partnership still exists; working out its start date matters, because it can affect which property is community property.
If You'd Like to Talk Through Your Situation
A joint petition can look simple until the details surface: a domestic partnership that predates the marriage, property bought years before the wedding, or a child whose second parent never completed a parentage step. A consultation is a place to raise those questions. The firm handles California matters only and does not take adoption matters, though it can address the related parentage, custody and divorce questions.
To talk with the firm about a joint petition for divorce or legal separation, call LGBTDivorceLaw.com at (866) 343-4226 for a confidential consultation.