California Divorce Judgment Rejected | FL-180 Issues & Corrections
This article and video will discuss the issues with submitting your divorce judgment to the court and specifically issues and reasons your FL-180, also known as the Judgment form can be rejected. The FL-180 Judgment form is essentially the first form or cover sheet if you will that is used when you submit your judgment package to the court.
So let’s talk about a few issues that you need to be aware of when preparing your divorce judgment package to avoid having it rejected, or if you are reading and watching this video because your divorce judgment package was rejected, this will help straighten things out for you.
Also, remember, if you are tired of dealing with your own divorce case, we are a full service divorce firm that can help wrap up your case regardless of where you are in the process. Please watch the video below. Further written instructions are below this video.
Reason # 1 Your FL-180 Divorce Judgment Will Be Rejected
FL-180 Must Be Used As The First Page
The FL-180 is the cover sheet to your judgment package. So if you are using an MSA or Marital Settlement Agreement, you will use the FL-180 as the cover sheet or top sheet and then place your MSA below it. The FL-180 is there for you to mark off the appropriate information. If using an MSA you will simply mark those boxes on page 2 of the FL-180 that are appropriate.
Reason # 2 Your FL-180 Divorce Judgment Will Be Rejected
FL-180 Must include an Original and 3 Copies
When you submit the FL-180 along with your judgment package, you need to have an original and 3 full copies. If you don’t have three copies, the court will reject your entire judgment just for this reason alone.
Reason # 3 Your FL-180 Divorce Judgment Will Be Rejected
FL-180 Must have the same names of the parties listed on the judgment and must be the same as listed on the Petition
It is critical the the names you use on the Petition and Summons are the same on the FL-180. In fact, the names that you use on the Summons and Petition need to be the same names you use on ALL of your court forms. For instance, if I use Tim S. Blankenship on my Petition, my name would need to appear exactly like this throughout all the divorce forms. If I then used Timothy S. Blankenship or Tim Blankenship or any other variation, the FL-180 will be rejected.
Reason # 4 Your FL-180 Divorce Judgment Will Be Rejected
Enter The Correct Jurisdiction Date Either That Respondent Was Served Or Appeared
This is the number 1 reason why the FL-180 gets rejected. I am talking about page 1 of the FL-180, #3. Here you need to enter the date that either the Respondent was served the Petition or that the Respondent Appeared, which means they filed their Response. If using the date of service, make sure to check your proof of service for the date it was actually served.
Ok, that about does it for the main reasons your FL-180 divorce judgment could be rejected. There are several more reasons, however these were the main 4 issues I see people having trouble with.
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