Divorce 101. A series of occasional blogs about divorcing in California. Part 4. Service of process when filing for Divorce in California

Today we go over an essential step in a divorce process. Once the petition is filed (commonly referred to as “the divorce papers”) it must be served on the other spouse. This phase of the divorce process is called “service of process.” In our experience, if the respondents live close to one of our locations, they choose to stop by and be served in person by one of us. We do that for free, included in the cost of the divorce papers. If they don’t want to make the trip to the nearest office, then we mail them the filed petition.
All the respondent needs to do is sign the notice of acknowledgment and mail it back to us. It’s that simple. Signing the acknowledgment does not preclude the respondent from filing a response, in the event there are things in the petition he/she disagrees with. But at least the six months and one day waiting period can start.
There are cases however, when the other spouse refuses to sign or is difficult to locate, or simply is dragging his/her feet or wants to delay the process from moving forward. In those cases the petitioner can hire a professional process server to personally deliver the papers. Each office of The Document People can refer you professional process servers who can quickly and efficiently, and at a modest expense, serve your reluctant spouse and allow the process to continue.
The Document People is a network of legal document assistants with a common purpose: helping customers with uncontested divorces. We are looking forward to offering you divorce assistance in our offices in Woodland Hills (now part of We the People), Santa Monica (now part of We the People), San Fernando, Torrance, Anaheim and Oceanside.
The information contained in this blog – including information of a legal nature – is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be construed as legal advice on any subject matter.