For help with Los Angeles divorce forms and procedure, start with the court’s current self-help service catalog and confirm it covers your task. For advice about a proposed agreement or the position to take, ask your own lawyer. Prepare the complete papers and a focused question before contacting either service. LA Court: self-help services.
A case already underway can bring another hearing request, financial disclosure or proposed agreement. Choose help for that next task; an inquiry or appointment does not establish that someone will represent you or handle a court deadline.
Which local help fits your question?
| What you need | Where to start and what to confirm |
|---|---|
| Understand forms or a court procedure | LA Court self-help service catalog. Check the issue, service format and current access instructions. |
| Help with child-support paperwork | The current Family Law Facilitator page describes free child-support education and paperwork help. Confirm the issue and access instructions. It is separate from hiring a lawyer to advise or represent you. |
| Advice about your position or proposed agreement | Ask a lawyer about a consultation or limited-scope engagement. Confirm the exact task, fee, deliverable and work you still handle. |
| Help paying for representation | Use the affordability comparison and inquiry sheet. Legal-aid eligibility, intake and what assistance is offered must be confirmed with the provider. |
| Organize an existing case before asking for help | Use the ongoing-case worksheet to separate pending matters, records and missing work. |
Court-based help is free for people without their own lawyer, regardless of income. Staff do not become your lawyer, choose your strategy or represent you; conversations are not attorney-client privileged. Local services vary. California Courts: court-based self-help.
Use the divorce self-help service catalog for legal-help service instructions. Check the current self-help locations and hours sheet; some centers do not provide family-law assistance. A clerk’s appointment is a different service; it does not arrange legal advice or a self-help appointment. Confirm the service and format before traveling.
Prepare an inquiry before visiting
Ask the service:
- Do you help with this divorce issue or form?
- How do I arrange help, and is the service remote or in person?
- Which papers or financial information should I have available?
- What language or accessibility assistance is available?
- What should I check if the next available service is after the date on my papers?
Keep the case number, complete connected papers and any hearing notice available. For an existing case, verify the assigned courthouse, department and hearing arrangements from the current case record. A separate filing option does not change the hearing location.
I am handling a divorce case in Los Angeles County without a lawyer. I need help with [specific paper or task]. My papers show [date and source]. Do you assist with this, how do I arrange help, and what should I have available?
An inquiry is not a confirmed appointment or a changed court schedule. Keep the source of each date visible while checking options.
Connect the help to your next task
Served with papers: Use the initial divorce-papers guide. If the packet contains a hearing request, the FL-300 guide addresses that separate response task.
Your spouse has a lawyer: Use the communication worksheet to separate the message, court papers and proposed commitments before a consultation.
You need money for your own lawyer: Use the financial-need fee-request worksheet. If someone asks you to pay their fees, use the fee-response section instead. Neither route establishes an award.
Preparing disclosures or a hearing: Use the disclosure guide or hearing checklist with your current papers and official instructions.
Court costs are the problem: A fee-waiver request is separate from money for a private lawyer; the court decides what is waived.
Prepare a small working packet
Keep the complete record available and start with these materials. This is an organization aid, not an official filing checklist or provider intake requirement.
| Have available | Question it helps you ask |
|---|---|
| Complete papers connected to the task | What step or decision do these papers involve? |
| Relevant current order and later related papers | What is already ordered, and what is only being proposed? |
| Hearing notice and any service records | Which dates and procedural facts need checking? |
| Missing records or conflicting information | What additional source is needed before the next task? |
| Your three main questions | Does this service provide procedural help, advice or an agreed part of the work? |
The consultation preparation guide and case-summary builder can help organize the conversation. A summary does not replace the source papers. Afterward, record the next task, who handles it and what remains yours. California Courts: working with a lawyer for part of a case.
Can you file at a different courthouse?
The court’s Family Law File Anywhere program gives self-represented people an additional in-person option for eligible documents filed after a case starts. It uses participating locations with a regular Family Law courtroom and clerk’s office. It does not change the assigned case or hearing location. LA Court: program and exclusions.
A new case or a request needing a hearing is different. The program excludes case-initiating documents and motions, Requests for Order and other papers requiring a hearing; the announcement directs hearing-requiring filings to the assigned courthouse. It also lists special exclusions for vexatious-litigant filings and peremptory challenges. Check the exact document against the current instructions rather than assuming that every family-law paper can be filed anywhere.
Use the court’s linked participating-location list for eligible File Anywhere documents. The list is different from the full courthouse directory and the self-help locations sheet. Electronic filing remains a separate option for eligible documents.
Free action finder
What are you trying to do?
This chooser runs in your browser and does not ask for names, case numbers, dates or documents. Separate Sentry diagnostics, session replay and feedback can include information displayed or entered on this page. See our Privacy Policy for details.
Check the court location for your task.
Use the filing court locator for a possible filing location and the current directory for court services. For an existing case or hearing, check the actual case record. File Anywhere participating counters are a separate list for eligible filings.
A directory or locator result does not establish your case assignment or hearing location.
Local tasks
All six task explanations are available here without using the chooser.
Find the right courthouse
Check the court location for your task.
Use the filing court locator for a possible filing location and the current directory for court services. For an existing case or hearing, check the actual case record. File Anywhere participating counters are a separate list for eligible filings.
A directory or locator result does not establish your case assignment or hearing location.
Check a case or hearing
Use the court’s case-access and calendar systems.
Look up publicly available case information or a future family-law calendar on the court’s own systems. Keep the case number and courthouse from your papers nearby.
The online calendar says it is not the official court record and may contain errors or omissions. A listed date is not a substitute for the filed notice or clerk confirmation.
Get free form help
Choose a current LA self-help service.
Use the court’s self-help service catalog to check the issue, service format and access instructions. A self-help inquiry is different from a clerk appointment for court business.
Self-help staff do not become your lawyer, choose a strategy or represent you. Conversations are not attorney-client privileged.
File family-law papers
Check the filing route for your document.
Self-represented people may efile eligible family-law documents. File Anywhere adds an in-person route for eligible subsequent papers at participating counters. Case-starting papers and requests requiring a hearing, including FL-300 Requests for Order, are excluded from that program; check all exclusions.
An upload, provider receipt or payment does not by itself establish court acceptance. A permitted filing counter does not change the hearing location.
Request an interpreter
Request a court interpreter for a family-law matter.
The court provides interpreters at no cost for family-law matters. Check the current request instructions for the language, hearing date and location, and confirm the arrangements with the court.
A submitted request does not guarantee immediate availability or establish that the hearing arrangements are confirmed.
Prepare for custody mediation
Check the child-custody mediation instructions.
Family Court Services provides child-custody mediation. Its current page explains intake, orientation and session preparation. Check the appointment and format with Family Court Services.
An intake submission or public webpage does not establish that mediation is scheduled, completed or excused.
The status ladder
Use each source for the fact it can actually support.
The court’s directories help identify locations and services. For an existing case or hearing, confirm the assignment from the current case record and court instructions.
See how CourtAhead separates sources and statuses →- 01Possible locationFiling court locator
A starting point based on court criteria—not proof of assignment.
- 02Case identityFiled case caption
The court name and case number printed on an accepted case record.
- 03Scheduled eventHearing notice and record
Check the exact date, time, courthouse, department and appearance method.
- 04Highest confidenceCourt confirmation
The current official record, accepted copy, signed order or clerk confirmation.
Court locations and services
Check the right directory for your task
Check the address and services before visiting. A courthouse listing, a self-help center and a participating filing location answer different questions.
For a hearing, verify the current notice, courthouse, department and appearance method against your case record. A service inquiry or use of another permitted filing counter does not relocate the hearing.
Official sources
Go straight to the court.
This page is a route map, not a substitute for the Los Angeles Superior Court, your filed case record or advice from a qualified lawyer.
Service and court-resource sources checked October 14, 2026 with AI-assisted research; no attorney review. Read our editorial standards or report a correction.
After getting help
Record the next task, responsible person and any unanswered question. Use the ongoing-case worksheet to keep that work connected to the relevant papers, orders and events.
CourtAhead provides legal information, not legal advice, and is not a law firm. These resources do not arrange representation or establish an individual case result.