California’s divorce professionals, verified.
Real attorneys, mediators, CDFAs and therapists — credentials checked against California’s own official directories, not paid placement.
See a different stateCalifornia
Every professional below is currently at the Listed tier: credentials independently verified from an official California source, automatically included whether they’ve opted into The Cusp or not — the same way a bar association directory works. Nobody here has paid for placement, and none of them have published pricing or been reviewed yet.
What “verified” means on this page
Not every check is the same check, and most directories hide that. Every listing below says which kind it was, and the date we did it — because a license check is a photograph, not a guarantee. Somebody confirmed in August can be suspended in September.
- State registerChecked against the state’s own licensing, court or bar record.
- Issuing bodyChecked against the organization that grants this credential — authoritative for the credential, but it is their own list.
- Membership listingA membership directory. Joining is voluntary, and this is not a license check.
- Self-reportedTaken from this person’s own website. Nobody independent confirmed it, and we are re-checking these against an official register.
- Source linkedChecked against the source linked, which is not a state register.
Nobody paid to be listed here, and nobody can. Listings are not for sale, and no professional on this page has paid us anything to appear on it or to appear higher on it. If we are ever paid in connection with anyone listed here, it will say so on this page, next to that listing. Most of these were confirmed against a state register. A small number were not, and rather than quietly presenting those as equivalent, they are marked and we are re-checking them.
Family law & divorce attorneys
Verified active against the State Bar of California’s official Attorney Search tool.
Divorce mediators
California has no single statewide mediator certification — verified via the Academy of Professional Family Mediators’ public directory, a recognized credentialing body.
Certified Divorce Financial Analysts (CDFAs)
Pulled from the Institute for Divorce Financial Analysts’ own public directory of credentialed CDFA professionals practicing in California.
Not included yet. California licensed therapists/counselors with a divorce or co-parenting focus. The state’s official Board of Behavioral Sciences license-verification tool (search.dca.ca.gov) is gated by a bot-detection challenge that couldn’t be completed through automated or interactive tools without bypassing it — which The Cusp’s research rules don’t permit. Several real practitioners were identified from their own public practice listings, but their license status could not be independently confirmed against the official database, so none are published here. Flagged for a manual verification pass.
What these professionals typically cost in California
California falls in the West region on The Cusp’s cost model — illustrative, member-reported ranges, not an official fee survey or a quote.
| Item | Reported range |
|---|---|
| Attorney, uncontested | $1,200–$4,000 |
| Attorney, contested | $6,000–$28,000+ |
| Mediator, full case | $120–$400/hr |
See the main directory page for the full regional cost breakdown across all four professional types.
Child & adolescent therapists
For the children in this, not the adults. Every license below was confirmed against California Board of Behavioral Sciences and California Board of Psychology — never the federal NPI registry, whose license fields are supplied by providers rather than confirmed by a board. A child or adolescent focus is taken from the professional’s own public description of their practice; the license status is the independently-verified part.
Know someone in California who needs this?
Sending one person a straight answer about money is more useful than most advice. Nothing here asks for their real name, and nobody finds out they looked.
Doing your own California filing instead?
The California Divorce Kit has the exact forms, deadlines, and rejection traps for your county.
Everybody on this page charges for their time. If money is the constraint — and for most people reading this it is — these two come first, and we earn nothing from either.
- LawHelpCA.org — free civil legal help for people who qualify on income.
- Judicial Council of California — Self-Help Guide — the court’s own self-help material, free to everybody regardless of income.