If you are ending a same-sex marriage, a registered domestic partnership, or both in San Francisco, California family law handles your case through the same dissolution process used for any marriage, filed at the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco. What sets it apart is history. Registration dates, the Proposition 8 years, and how each parent's legal status was established can shape property, support and custody questions.
The decision to end a relationship is hard enough on its own. For many couples in the Castro, Noe Valley or the Mission District, it also means sorting out a domestic partnership registered years before a wedding, a marriage that could only happen after a court case, or a child whose second parent has never had a formal parentage judgment. Most people facing an LGBTQ divorce in San Francisco are not asking whether they can end the relationship. They are asking which relationship counts, from which date, and where that leaves them as a parent.
LGBTQ Divorce and Dissolution in San Francisco
California dissolves both same-sex marriages and registered domestic partnerships under the Family Code. For people who live in San Francisco, petitions are filed with the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco. The court's website lists where its family law cases are heard. "Dissolution" is the legal word for divorce. California uses it for both kinds of relationship.
Many couples in San Francisco hold two legal relationships with the same person: a registered domestic partnership and a marriage. Family Code section 299(e) treats these as two distinct relationships. Marrying did not convert or replace the partnership. A court can dissolve both together in a single proceeding.
Once a case begins, Family Code section 2339 sets a six-month waiting period. No judgment ending the marriage is final until six months have passed from the date the respondent was served with the summons and petition, or from the date the respondent appeared in the case, whichever came first. The court may extend that period for good cause. The six months is a statutory minimum. It does not predict how long a case will take, and cases with contested property, support or parentage questions often run longer.
The history matters here too. In November 2008, California voters approved Proposition 8, which provided that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California. No new same-sex marriages took place in California from November 2008 until after the U.S. Supreme Court decided Hollingsworth v. Perry on June 26, 2013. That decision addressed standing only. The Court held that the petitioners did not have standing to appeal the District Court's order, and it vacated and remanded the Ninth Circuit's judgment. For some San Francisco couples, those years explain why the legal marriage date is later than the relationship's real beginning. That gap can affect how long the marriage is considered to be and which assets fall inside it.
Same-Sex Marriage Dissolution: What California Law Requires
Residency comes first. Under Family Code section 2320, a judgment of dissolution generally cannot be entered unless one spouse has lived in California for six months and in the county of filing for three months immediately before the petition is filed. A spouse who moved from Alameda County or San Mateo County into San Francisco County within the last three months may not yet meet the county requirement for the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco, though the state requirement may already be met.
Section 2320 also has an exception written for same-sex couples. A California court can enter a judgment dissolving a same-sex marriage even if neither spouse lives in California, as long as the marriage was entered in California and neither spouse lives somewhere that will dissolve it. If the other jurisdiction does not recognize the marriage, the law presumes that it will not dissolve it, though that presumption can be rebutted. In those cases the proper court is the superior court in the county where the marriage was entered, and California law governs. A couple who married at San Francisco City Hall and later moved away may still look to the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco.
California is a no-fault state. Family Code section 2310 lists two grounds for dissolution: irreconcilable differences that have caused the irremediable breakdown of the marriage, and permanent legal incapacity to make decisions. Neither spouse has to prove wrongdoing.
Property is sorted by date. Under Family Code section 760, property acquired by a married person during the marriage while living in California is generally community property, meaning it belongs to the marital community rather than to one spouse alone. Family Code section 770 defines separate property to include what a person owned before marriage, gifts and inheritances received during marriage, and the rents and profits from that separate property. Couples whose finances began long before a legal wedding will find more on this in our article on property acquired before marriage equality, and retirement plans are addressed in our piece on dividing retirement accounts.
The closing boundary is the date of separation. Family Code section 70 defines it as the date a complete and final break occurred, shown by two things together: one spouse told the other they intended to end the marriage, and that spouse's conduct was consistent with that intent. The court considers all relevant evidence.
Spousal support has its own timeline rule. Family Code section 4336 provides that for a marriage of long duration, the court keeps jurisdiction over spousal support indefinitely, unless the parties agree otherwise in writing or the court terminates support. A marriage of ten years or more, measured from the date of marriage to the date of separation, is presumed to be of long duration, although the court may consider periods of separation and may find a shorter marriage is long. This does not mean support automatically lasts forever. It means the court keeps the power to make and revisit support orders.
Registered Domestic Partnership Dissolution in California
Under AB 205 (Stats. 2003, ch. 421), beginning January 1, 2005, registered domestic partners have the rights and duties of spouses, whenever they registered. Family Code section 297.5 states that rule broadly. Registered partners and former partners have the same rights, protections, benefits, responsibilities and duties as spouses and former spouses under California law. That includes their rights and obligations toward a child of either of them.
This applies to partnerships registered with the California Secretary of State. Ending one generally follows one of two paths.
The first is a simplified termination. Family Code section 299(a) allows partners to end a registered domestic partnership without a court case by filing a Notice of Termination of Domestic Partnership with the Secretary of State, if all of the conditions are met when it is filed. Both partners must sign. There can be no children of the relationship, and neither partner can know of a pregnancy. The partnership can have lasted no more than five years. Neither partner can own an interest in real property, aside from a qualifying short residential lease. Section 299(a) lists further required conditions as well, so this is a summary rather than the complete list. Debts and assets must fall under the limits that Family Code section 2400 sets for summary dissolution of a marriage. For marriages, section 2400(a) sets dollar limits on unpaid obligations incurred after the marriage (excluding car loans) and on community and separate property (excluding encumbrances and cars), and those amounts are adjusted under section 2400(b), so the current figures should be checked before relying on them. Summary dissolution of a marriage also requires a signed agreement dividing assets and debts and a waiver of spousal support. Meeting these criteria is fact-specific, and many San Francisco couples with property or children will not qualify.
The second path is a standard dissolution through the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco. It uses the same community property, date-of-separation and support rules described above for marriages.
Partners from the Castro to the Sunset District who registered first and married later can bring both relationships into one case under section 299(e).
Parentage in LGBTQ Families: How California Law Establishes Who Is a Parent
Legal parentage in California can arise in several ways. These include presumptions under Family Code section 7611, voluntary declarations of parentage, court judgments, assisted-reproduction consent, and adoption. A "presumed parent" is someone the law treats as a parent because of specific facts, unless the presumption is overcome.
Section 7611(a) presumes parentage where the parent and the child's natural mother were married to each other when the child was born, or the child was born within 300 days after the marriage was terminated by death, annulment, declaration of invalidity, or divorce, or after a judgment of separation. Because section 297.5(d) gives registered domestic partners the same rights and obligations toward a child as spouses, the same reasoning reaches partners. Section 7611(d) adds another route that matters in many LGBTQ families. A person who receives the child into their home and openly holds the child out as their own may be a presumed parent, whether or not they were married to the birth parent.
Assisted reproduction has its own rule. Under Family Code section 7613, when a woman conceives through assisted reproduction using donated sperm or eggs, an intended parent who consented is treated in law as the child's natural parent. That consent is to be in writing and signed by both. Even without a writing, a court may find consent if clear and convincing evidence shows an oral agreement, made before conception, that both would be parents. Section 7613 also addresses when a sperm donor is not a parent. The answer turns partly on whether the semen went through a licensed physician or sperm bank and on what the parties agreed in writing before conception.
California also permits a court to find that a child has more than two legal parents, if recognizing only two parents would be detrimental to the child (Family Code section 7612(c), added by SB 274, Stats. 2013, ch. 564). It is relevant to families formed with a known donor or co-parents.
This section often feels the most personal. When one parent is biological and the other is not, and nothing beyond the birth itself was ever formalized, that parent's legal position in a custody case may differ from what the family has lived for years. That difference is a reason parentage status is often looked at early in a San Francisco case, alongside property and support. Parentage actions for San Francisco residents are heard by the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco. For background on adoption as one of these routes, see our overview of adoption for LGBTQ families.
Filing for Divorce or Dissolution at the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco
Dissolutions, domestic partnership dissolutions and parentage cases for San Francisco County residents begin at the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco. The court's website lists where its family law cases are heard. At a high level, one party files a petition, the other is served, and the six-month clock under section 2339 starts from service or appearance.
Family Code section 10002 requires each superior court to maintain an office of the family law facilitator. That office is staffed by a California-licensed attorney with family law experience. Statewide self-help material on dissolution is also published by the California Courts at courts.ca.gov.
Filing fees and forms change, so the court's own website is the reliable source for them.
Couples come to this process from across San Francisco and the greater Bay Area. A spouse living in Marin County, San Mateo County or Alameda County may file in their own county once the residency rules are met. The emotional weight of this stage is real, and our article on emotional health during divorce addresses it directly.
What Makes LGBTQ Divorce Legally Distinct in San Francisco
Dates come first, because many San Francisco couples have more than one. A single relationship may include a domestic partnership registration date, a California marriage date, and sometimes a marriage or civil union entered in another state. Each date may bear on which property is community or separate, and on whether a marriage reaches the ten-year presumption under section 4336.
The Proposition 8 years add another layer. Couples who could not marry in California between November 2008 and June 26, 2013 may have a domestic partnership that predates their marriage by years, or they may have married elsewhere during that window. Property acquired during each period may be treated differently. The legal analysis follows the relationship records, not the anniversary a couple celebrates. A premarital agreement can add one more set of terms, and our guide to prenuptial agreements for LGBTQ couples covers how those work.
Interstate questions come up as well. Couples who married in San Francisco and later left California may still look to section 2320(b). Couples living in the Castro or elsewhere in the Bay Area with a marriage or union from another state raise recognition questions that depend on the specific facts and the other state's law.
Parentage gaps are the last distinct issue. A non-biological parent who did not complete a second-parent adoption, sign a voluntary declaration of parentage, or obtain a parentage judgment may stand on different legal footing than the biological parent. A presumption under section 7611 or consent under section 7613 may still apply. This issue rarely appears in the same form in different-sex divorces, and it can sit at the center of a San Francisco custody dispute.
Working With LGBTDivorceLaw.com in San Francisco
LGBTDivorceLaw.com practices California family law. That includes dissolution of same-sex marriages, domestic partnership dissolutions, parentage, custody and support matters for people in San Francisco and throughout the Bay Area. The practice has two limits. It handles California matters only; its attorney is licensed in California. It does not take adoption matters. Adoption is covered on this site as information about how it affects parental rights. Where adoption bears on a case, the firm's work is the related parentage, custody or divorce question.
Frequently asked questions
Which court handles divorce and dissolution cases for San Francisco?
Dissolution, domestic partnership dissolution and parentage petitions for San Francisco residents are filed with the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco. The court's website lists where its family law cases are heard. Family Code section 10002 requires every California superior court to maintain a family law facilitator office, which offers procedural help to people representing themselves.
If You'd Like to Talk Through Your San Francisco LGBTQ Divorce
An LGBTQ divorce in San Francisco often turns on facts that ordinary divorce guides skip. These include when a partnership was registered compared with when a marriage happened, what each person owned before either date, and how a non-biological parent's status came about. A consultation can go through those records: registration and marriage certificates, the likely date of separation, and how any child was conceived or joined the family, and talk through the rules that often come up for a timeline like that. For someone still deciding whether legal help is needed at all, the court's family law facilitator office or the California Courts self-help pages may be a useful first stop.
To talk through your marriage, partnership or parentage question, call LGBTDivorceLaw.com at (866) 343-4226 for a confidential consultation.