Welcome to the Guide for Family Law Discovery in California. Here you will find information about the various methods for obtaining financial records and other evidence for use in your family law case.
In this guide you will find information regarding:
There are several options for finding family law forms, including forms related to discovery requests and motions:
1. Judicial Council Forms: Forms adopted by the Judicial Council of California are either mandatory or optional.
2. San Diego County Superior Court Local Forms: Check the local forms page to see if there are any local forms you must use.
3. Create your own form using pleading paper, a template created on Microsoft Word. Call or visit the law library for help accessing forms.
The modifiable sample templates contained in this guide are adapted from several library resources, including How to Manage a Contested Divorce in California (no longer in print), CEB Family Law Financial Discovery, California Civil Discovery Practice, California Forms of Pleading & Practice, and many more. Please see the Resources tab for a list of library print and electronic resources covering topics in this guide. Although we have provided basic samples, we encourage you to do your own research so you can modify the samples to fit your needs and learn more about the applicable law for each issue.
The San Diego Law Library is San Diego's access point to legal information, resources, and referrals to help you. Click here for hours and partner locations or contact us at refdesk@sdlawlibrary.org or 619-531-3900.
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The Family Law Section of the California Lawyers Association (CLA) has created a series of self-help videos for self-represented parties in divorce cases. These videos are available for free through the CLA website, and the CLA YouTube Channel. The topics that are covered include:
