What Is Collaborative Divorce in California?

Collaborative divorce in California is a process where you and your spouse each work with your own attorney. All four of you agree in writing to try in good faith to settle the matters you bring into the process without asking a judge to decide. Under the terms collaborative practice usually uses, if the process breaks down, those attorneys step aside before any court battle.

Most people facing this question have already decided they want to avoid a courtroom fight. Now they are trying to sort through names that sound alike: collaborative divorce, mediation, settlement talks between lawyers. You and your spouse may be reading this together, or one of you may be doing the research for both. Either way, the goal is the same. You want to know what each path actually asks of you before you commit to one.

This page comes from a California divorce mediation practice that works with couples in San Diego County and, online, anywhere in California. So it explains collaborative divorce in part by setting it beside mediation. It covers what the written agreement commits you to, how the process unfolds, what California law still requires along the way, and how custody is handled in each setting.

What Collaborative Divorce Means Under California Law

Family Code section 2013 is where California law recognizes the collaborative approach. The statute reads: "If a written agreement is entered into by the parties, the parties may utilize a collaborative law process to resolve any matter governed by this code over which the court is granted jurisdiction pursuant to Section 2000." It defines a "collaborative law process" as one "in which the parties and any professionals engaged by the parties to assist them agree in writing to use their best efforts and to make a good faith attempt to resolve disputes related to the family law matters... on an agreed basis without resorting to adversary judicial intervention."

That written agreement is usually called a participation agreement. It is the contract you, your spouse and your attorneys sign at the start. In it, everyone commits to the collaborative process and its ground rules.

One ground rule gives collaborative divorce its distinct shape. In collaborative practice, the participation agreement typically provides that if either spouse leaves the process and the case moves into contested court proceedings, both collaborative attorneys withdraw. Neither attorney goes on to represent either spouse in that court fight. Everyone at the table has a reason to keep working toward settlement, because walking away means starting over with new lawyers.

Collaborative divorce also differs from litigation. Litigation means asking a judge to resolve disputed issues through hearings. In a collaborative case, no one goes to court to argue over disputed issues. The court's role is to turn the finished agreement into a judgment.

It differs from mediation as well. In collaborative divorce, each spouse has their own attorney present throughout. In mediation, a neutral person helps you and your spouse talk through the issues and reach an agreement you both accept. That mediator does not act as either spouse's lawyer.

How the Collaborative Process Works Step by Step

Retaining attorneys. The process begins with each spouse retaining a separate attorney who practices collaboratively. These attorneys are typically trained in collaborative practice.

Signing the participation agreement. You, your spouse and both attorneys sign the participation agreement before substantive negotiation begins.

Four-way meetings. The work happens mostly in four-way meetings, with both spouses and both attorneys in the room. These meetings cover property division, spousal support, and, where you have children, child support, custody and parenting arrangements.

Neutral professionals, if both of you agree. You and your spouse may agree to bring in a neutral professional, such as a financial neutral or a child specialist. These roles are optional, and both of you decide whether to use them.

Financial disclosure. Information is shared openly. The collaborative label does not change California's disclosure rules. Under Family Code section 2104(f), each spouse serves a preliminary declaration of disclosure, a sworn statement listing assets, debts and recent tax returns. The petitioner serves it with the petition or within 60 days of filing the petition. The respondent serves it with the response or within 60 days of filing the response. If the petitioner served the summons and petition by publication or posting under a court order, and the respondent files a response before a default judgment is entered, the petitioner has 30 days from that response. You and your spouse may extend any of these time periods by written agreement, or the court may extend them by order.

Under Family Code section 2105(a), each spouse also serves a final declaration of disclosure and a current income and expense declaration, both signed under penalty of perjury. These are due before or at the time you enter into an agreement resolving property or support issues, other than temporary support. If the case goes to trial, they are due no later than 45 days before the first assigned trial date. The court can order otherwise for good cause.

You and your spouse may waive the final declaration, but only together. Under Family Code section 2105(d), the waiver must be signed under penalty of perjury, either in open court or by separate stipulation. It must state all five of the following:

• Both spouses have complied with section 2104 and have completed and exchanged their preliminary declarations.
• Both spouses have completed and exchanged current income and expense declarations.
• Both spouses have fully met their ongoing disclosure duties.
• Each spouse is making the waiver knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily.
• Each spouse understands that the waiver does not limit their disclosure duties, and that failing to meet those duties will result in the court setting aside the judgment.

The written agreement. Once every issue is resolved, the attorneys prepare a written settlement agreement. It is then submitted to the court so a judgment of dissolution can be entered.

The waiting period. The six-month waiting period applies to collaborative cases too. Under Family Code section 2339, a divorce judgment cannot end the marriage until six months have passed from the date the summons and petition were served or the date the respondent appeared in the case, whichever came first. The court may extend that period for good cause. For a closer look at how a signed agreement moves toward judgment in a mediated case, see this guide to a divorce mediation agreement.

What Collaborative Divorce Can and Cannot Resolve

The scope is broad. Collaborative divorce can address property division, spousal support, child support, and child custody and parenting time. What it cannot do is change the legal rules those issues are decided under.

Property is the clearest example. Family Code section 2550 directs the court to divide the community estate equally. The section allows exceptions, including when the spouses make a written agreement or an oral stipulation in open court. Couples in a collaborative case usually negotiate how the division is carried out: who keeps which asset, and how the values balance out.

Child support has firmer limits. Under Family Code section 4065(a), parents may agree on a child support amount, but the court must approve it. The court will not approve an amount below the state's guideline formula unless the parents declare all five of the following:

• They are fully informed of their rights concerning child support.
• They are agreeing to the order without coercion or duress.
• The agreement is in the best interests of the children.
• The children's needs will be adequately met by the agreed amount.
• The right to support has not been assigned to the county, and no public assistance application is pending.

The same rules apply in mediation, as explained in this overview of child support mediation.

Custody and parenting arrangements reached collaboratively still go to the court as part of the judgment. A judge must sign the judgment of dissolution. The collaborative process removes contested hearings. It does not remove the court.

Two limits run through every section of this page. First, the process may not suit couples where there has been domestic violence, coercion or a serious power imbalance. In those situations safety comes first, and no one should be encouraged to negotiate directly with the other spouse. Second, the structure depends on both spouses staying in. If either spouse withdraws, the participation agreement's withdrawal rule takes effect.

Collaborative Divorce Compared to Mediation and Litigation

It can help to think of these three paths by who is in the room and who decides.

Litigation. Each spouse has an attorney who advocates for that spouse alone. When you and your spouse cannot agree, a judge decides disputed issues after contested hearings, on the court's schedule. This comparison of divorce mediation vs. litigation walks through that path in more detail.

Mediation. Evidence Code section 1115 defines mediation as "a process in which a neutral person or persons facilitate communication between the disputants to assist them in reaching a mutually acceptable agreement." The mediator does not represent either spouse, does not advocate for either one, and does not decide anything for them. Either spouse may have a lawyer of their own during mediation; neither is required to. The same section defines a mediation consultation as a communication between a person and a mediator for the purpose of starting, considering or reconvening a mediation, or retaining the mediator.

Collaborative divorce. Each spouse has their own attorney throughout, and everyone commits in writing to resolve the issues without asking a court to decide them. The participation agreement's withdrawal rule is what separates collaborative divorce from ordinary settlement talks between lawyers.

Confidentiality works differently too. Under Evidence Code section 1119, what is said in a private mediation, and writings prepared for it, generally cannot be admitted as evidence or obtained in discovery. Communications between participants remain confidential, except as the Evidence Code's mediation chapter otherwise provides. That protection is not absolute. Under Evidence Code section 1123, a written settlement agreement prepared in mediation and signed by the settling parties can be admitted or disclosed in any of these situations:

• The agreement says it is admissible or subject to disclosure.
• The agreement says it is enforceable or binding.
• All parties expressly agree, in writing or orally as Evidence Code section 1118 allows, to its disclosure.
• The agreement is used to show fraud, duress or illegality relevant to an issue in dispute.

These private-mediation rules do not govern the court's own custody mediation, which follows the separate rules described in the next section.

None of these paths is always faster, less expensive or less stressful. Any of them may be, depending on the couple and the issues.

Child Custody in a California Collaborative Divorce

In a collaborative case, you and your spouse negotiate custody and parenting arrangements with your attorneys. If you both agree, a child specialist neutral can join that work. The parenting plan you reach is then submitted to the court as part of the judgment.

The court's own system works differently. Family Code section 3160 requires every superior court to make a mediator available. Under Family Code section 3170, when a petition or other filing shows that custody or visitation is contested, the court must set the contested issues for mediation. In San Diego County, that court mediation is child custody recommending counseling with the Superior Court's Family Court Services, under Family Code sections 3170 and 3183.

Under Family Code section 3183(a), except as provided in section 3188, the court's mediator may submit a custody or visitation recommendation to the court, consistent with local court rules. The mediator must first give the recommendation in writing to the parties and their attorneys before the hearing. A mediator authorized to do this is called a child custody recommending counselor. Family Court Services calls this person the Family Court Counselor. According to Family Court Services, if no agreement is reached, the counselor makes a recommendation and the court hearing proceeds. The judge makes the decision.

That court process is held in private and is confidential under Family Code section 3177. Evidence Code section 1117(b) states that the Evidence Code's mediation confidentiality chapter, including sections 1119 and 1123, does not apply to it. Under Family Code section 3170(b), domestic violence cases are handled by Family Court Services in accordance with a separate written protocol approved by the Judicial Council.

Collaborative practice and private mediation are both separate from Family Court Services. Simple Divorce Mediation is a private practice with no connection to the court or any government program. More on the court's process appears in this explainer on child custody mediation.

When Collaborative Divorce May or May Not Be a Fit

If you are in immediate danger, call 911.

Where there has been domestic violence, coercion or a protective order, safety comes first. A person in that situation should not be encouraged to negotiate directly with the other spouse in any setting, whether collaborative or mediated. This page on when mediation is not appropriate covers those concerns more fully.

Outside those situations, collaborative divorce generally rests on three conditions:

• Both spouses take part voluntarily.
• Both spouses share financial information openly.
• Both spouses stay in the process.

If either spouse withdraws, the collaborative attorneys step aside under the participation agreement, and the matter moves forward through other channels. Couples who weigh these paths are often thinking less about the law and more about how they want the next year of their family's life to feel. That is a fair thing to weigh.

Collaborative divorce is available to couples throughout California. In San Diego County, family law cases are heard by the Superior Court of California, County of San Diego. Whether collaborative divorce, mediation or another path fits a particular couple depends on their circumstances. This page describes the conditions; the decision belongs to you and your spouse.

If You'd Like to Talk Through Your Options

Sorting out collaborative divorce, mediation and litigation is less about labels than about how you and your spouse want to work through property, support and parenting. A conversation can cover how mediation approaches property, support and parenting issues, how California's disclosure rules work generally, and how the process handles situations where spouses agree on some issues but not others. Simple Divorce Mediation works with couples in San Diego County and, online, anywhere in California.

To talk with the practice about collaborative divorce and mediation, call Simple Divorce Mediation at 858-330-1378 for a joint mediation consultation.

About this article. Reviewed by Amy J. Lass, CA Bar No. 246779. Last updated 2026-10-08.