Filing The California Divorce FL-117 Notice And Acknowledgment Of Receipt

Hi Tim Blankenship here with divorce661.com. In this video we’re talking about the notice of acknowledgment and receipt. This is form FL 117. Now this is a form that you can use to serve your divorce paperwork by mail and it’s a form that we use all the time, but I’ve seen people who are doing their own divorce miss using this form.

So number 1, the same rule applies as with personal service, you cannot be the 1 to serve, therefore you cannot be the 1 to mail the divorce paperwork you’re filing, the petition to the other party. You cannot be the 1 mailing it, therefore you cannot be the 1 filling out that form FL 117.

You can fill it out, you just can’t sign it as the person who is sending. You’ll see in the middle of the page the person serving, that cannot be you. So you have to have someone else to do that. Fill that out and sign that. Then you need to have that paperwork mailed to your spouse. When your spouse receives it they will then sign the bottom of it and date, and this form needs original signatures on both the sender’s signature and the person being served. You cannot file a faxed copy or a scanned copy of that.

That’s issue number 1, issue number 2 is we’re seeing people who have this form prepared and done correctly, but then they’re filing that form by itself as a standalone proof of service which it is not. You still have to file the proof of service, the FL 115 and then marked that you served by notice of acknowledgment and receipt.

You’ll see it on the proof of service that’s there’s both personal service on page 1, there’s also service by publication and there’s some other options, but 1 on page 2 it’s on the top I believe on the 115. You’re going to want to choice service by notice of acknowledgment of receipt. You put the date that that was mailed and then you put the date, the city and state of where it was mailed from and then the server, whoever mailed that will have to fill out that 115 as well. So don’t serve, or don’t file the 117 by itself as a standalone. It has to be attached as basically page 3 to the FL 115 proof of service of summons. Tim Blankenship, divorce661.com. Hope you’re having a great day. Talk to you soon.