Do California Divorce Papers Need To Be Notarized?
When it comes to having your California divorce papers notarized, the rules have changed a few times and for now it just makes sense to have your divorce papers notarized in every circumstance. Let me explain.
In the past, if you had an uncontested divorce case in California, where one party files the Petitioner and the other party files a Response, and you end up signing a written agreement, then you did not have to have your California divorce judgment notarized. (see more below the video)
But then we started having some of the judgment clerks requesting that the judgment be notarized, even when uncontested, when the parties wanted to terminate spousal support in long term marriages. You see, with long term marriages, anything over 10 years, the courts would normally reserve jurisdiction on spousal support.
So it seems that where the parties wanted to still waive spousal support, despite being uncontested, we were seeing the judgment clerks reject the judgment and ask that the parties have their signatures notarized. Probably to double check to make sure the spouses are in agreement.
In every California divorce case where you are filing a hybrid divorce or what is known as a default with agreement, the respondent always had to have their signature notarized, because they had not filed a response and the court wants to make sure it is really them.
So more often than not, it is best to just have both signatures notarized. With my business and my divorce clients, I am having both spouses in all situations have their signature notarized so we don’t have to worry about the divorce judgment being rejected.
