California Learn
Summary dissolution: twelve gates, one joint petition
California's shortest dissolution path is a joint petition available only when ALL twelve statutory conditions exist — short marriage (five years or less to separation), no children or pregnancy, no real property (narrow lease exception), limited debts and assets under the adjusted dollar limits, an executed division agreement, mutual spousal-support waiver, appeal waivers, and the official brochure. Either spouse can revoke before judgment and convert nothing — the case simply ends.
The honesty note
The dollar limits are CPI-adjusted every odd year and the Judicial Council publishes the current amounts — verify them in the official booklet before relying on either limit; the six-month clock still applies.
Authority locked — retrieved from the hash-pinned corpus
Do it with the tools
Legal information, not legal advice. Statements about county practice defer to your superior court's local rules (CRC rule 5.4 territory) and the official self-help center — where this platform has no verified county data, it says so instead of guessing.