Residency Requirements For California Divorces & Legal Separation

To file for divorce in California, you must have been a resident of California for 6 months and of the county in which you are filing the divorce petition for 3 months immediately prior to the filing.

There are no residency requirements for filing for Legal Separation in California. Therefore, for persons who cannot meet the residency requirements for divorce, they can first file for Legal Separation and later amend their Petition into a divorce proceeding once they have met the residency requirements. In situations where it is necessary to obtain custody, support and other orders from the court as quickly as possible, filing for Legal Separation first and later changing the proceeding into one for divorce may make sense.