The Washington Divorce Kit
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Washington gives you the forms for free. What it doesn’t give you is the order, the 90-day math, the traps that get filings sent back, or anyone to tell you which path you’re actually on. That’s this.
Put in the day you filed and this page works out every deadline in your case, then hands you a calendar file that reminds you a week before each one and again the day before. It opens in the calendar you already use. Free, no account, nothing stored.
1 · The three service routes, and what the rule requires
Washington does not have a separate “simplified divorce” statute the way some states do — every dissolution runs through the same superior court process and the same 90-day floor. What changes is how much paperwork a case needs and whether the other spouse has to be formally served. Reading that wrong is what costs people a process-server fee or a rejected filing, so all three routes are set out below.
Residency comes first. RCW 26.09.030 requires one spouse to currently be a Washington resident, a member of the armed forces stationed here, or married to someone who is. Washington has no minimum duration for that residency — the moment one spouse meets it, the case can be filed.
Minor children, unsettled property and a maintenance request do not change which of the forms below are mandatory. What they change is how much weight the Petition’s property and maintenance sections carry, which is a reason to read those sections rather than skim them.
Filing together
RCW 26.09.030
Both spouses on the same Petition, or the second spouse signing a Joinder. There is no summons, no process server, and no risk of a default.
This is the route where either of these is true:
- Both spouses sign the same Petition.
- The second spouse signs an Agreement to Join Petition (Joinder).
The 90-day wait still applies in full — RCW 26.09.030 sets the same floor for every case, agreed or not. Because a joint filing often has no separate service step, most courts count the 90 days from the filing date; what a particular county clerk counts from is worth confirming at the counter.
Cooperative service
RCW 26.09.030; Service Accepted (FL All Family 117)
The route where the spouses are not co-filing but the other spouse will acknowledge the papers. The Summons and Petition still have to be formally given to them — but a sheriff or process server does not have to do it.
This is the route where both of these are true:
- The spouses are not filing on the same Petition and no Joinder is signed.
- The other spouse will sign a Service Accepted form acknowledging that they received the papers.
Signing Service Accepted does not waive the right to respond — it just proves service happened, for free.
Formal service
RCW 26.09.030; response deadlines of 20 days in-state, 60 days out of state or in custody
The route where the other spouse has to be personally served — by the sheriff, or by any adult who is not a party to the case. Section 3 has the typical cost.
This is the route where either of these is true:
- The other spouse will not co-file and will not sign a Service Accepted form.
- The other spouse may not respond at all.
The response clock — 20 days if served in Washington, 60 days if served out of state or in custody — starts on the date of service, whether or not the served spouse cooperates. Where the deadline passes with nothing filed, a motion for default becomes available.
2 · Every form Washington publishes for a divorce
The complete list for all three routes, not a shortlist — because which forms a case needs depends on facts only you and, if you need one, your lawyer can weigh. Each row says which route it belongs to and carries the revision date clerks check. Every form here is free from the Washington State Courts. Washington’s own forms use plain-language names (like “FL Divorce 201” instead of an old WPF number), which is what is printed in the footer of every page.
The Cusp is not a law firm and cannot tell you which forms are right for your case. Everything here is general information about how Washington handles divorce, and every form below is published free by Washington itself — you do not have to buy anything from anyone to get them. If your situation is not straightforward, a consultation with a Washington family lawyer costs far less than fixing a filing that went wrong.
| Form | What it is | Route | Rev. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FL All Family 001 | Confidential Information — filed separately, not public | All | 01/26 | Download |
| FL Divorce 201 | Petition for Divorce (Dissolution) | All | 01/23 | Download |
| FL All Family 119 | Agreement to Join Petition (Joinder) — the other spouse signs this to co-file | Filing together | 05/16 | Download |
| FL Divorce 200 | Summons: Notice about a Marriage or Domestic Partnership | Not co-filed — both service routes | 09/25 | Download |
| FL All Family 117 | Service Accepted — signed instead of formal service | Cooperative service | 07/17 | Download |
| FL All Family 101 | Proof of Personal Service | Formal service | 06/20 | Download |
| FL Divorce 211 | Response to Petition about a Marriage — the responding spouse may file this | Formal service | 10/23 | Download |
| FL All Family 140 | Parenting Plan | Minor children | 07/25 | Download |
| FL All Family 139 | Information for Temporary Parenting Plan, if needed before final orders | Minor children | 07/25 | Download |
| FL All Family 130 | Child Support Order | Minor children | 01/26 | Download |
| WSCSS-Worksheets | Washington State Child Support Schedule Worksheets | Minor children | 06/26 | Download |
| WSCSS-Schedule | Washington State Child Support Schedule (reference table) | Minor children | 06/26 | Download |
| FL Divorce 243 | Residential Time Summary Report | Minor children | 07/25 | Download |
| FL All Family 131 | Financial Declaration — sworn, filed with the court | All | 06/26 | Download |
| FL All Family 011 | Sealed Financial Source Documents cover sheet, for tax returns and pay stubs | All | 06/26 | Download |
| SCOMIS | Domestic and Other Case Types cover sheet | All | 06/25 | Download |
| FL Divorce 231 | Findings and Conclusions About a Marriage | All | 07/23 | Download |
| FL Divorce 241 | Final Divorce Order (Dissolution Decree) | All | 06/24 | Download |
| DOH 422-027 | Certificate of Dissolution — filed with the state, not a court form | All | 07/23 | Download |
| FL All Family 161 | Motion for Default, where the other spouse never responds | Not co-filed | — | see clerk |
| FL All Family 162 | Order on Motion for Default, where the other spouse never responds | Not co-filed | — | see clerk |
| GR 34_0100 | Motion and Declaration for Waiver of Filing Fees, where the $364 fee cannot be afforded | All | 07/19 | Download |
Every one of these is free. Download fresh each time — clerks reject superseded revisions, and saved copies go stale. Full catalog: courts.wa.gov/forms.
3 · Getting the forms and filling them in
Nobody explains this part, so here it is. Every Washington family law form is free, most are fillable on screen, and — unlike a lot of states — Washington built its process around people representing themselves without a lawyer.
You may e-file, but you do not have to Your choice
- Portal
- County-specific: King County eFiling / KC Script Portal; Pierce County LINX; Snohomish County eFile & Serve (EFS)
- Paper
- Still accepted — you can file over the counter.
- What it costs
- King County: 'E-filing via the KC Script Portal is free for most documents; however, some documents require a fee to file by law.' Snohomish County: no fee for using eFile & Serve itself; statutory filing fees apply. Card surcharge: King County: '$2.49 processing fee for credit card transactions.' Snohomish County: 'an eCommerce transaction fee… (2.89% of total fees for credit and debit
- Worth knowing
- Washington settles this at the state level in your favor. GR 30 only lets a county make e-filing mandatory for attorneys, and it requires that e-filing not become a barrier to access. King, Pierce and Snohomish all follow that: attorneys must, you may. Pierce puts it most plainly — self-represented parties are not required to e-file but can ask the Clerk for an account. Watch the card fees rather than the filing method: King charges a flat $2.49 to pay by card, Snohomish charges 2.89% of the total, which on a filing fee of a few hundred dollars is the more expensive of the two.
LGR 30 — 'Non-attorneys are not required to e-file but may do so.' Attorneys who paper-file without a waiver are charged a fee under King County Code 4A.630.060. source
PCLGR 30 — 'Self-represented parties are not required to e-file documents but may contact the Clerk's Office to obtain a LINX account.' Attorney paper filings without a waiver may be rejected and returned. source
'Attorneys must electronically file (e-file) court documents using the Clerk's online eFile & Serve (EFS) e-filing system'; non-attorneys are encouraged to e-file but are not required to do so. source
Step one — download them free
All Washington State Courts family law forms live here, at no cost:
courts.wa.gov/forms — Dissolution (Divorce) forms
Don’t reuse a saved copy or a form a friend sent you. Several of the forms in your list were revised as recently as January and June 2026 — the revision date is printed in the footer of every form, and clerks can reject a superseded version.
Step two — fill them in, and sign under penalty of perjury (no notary needed for most of it)
This is the part that surprises people coming from another state’s process. Almost every Washington family law form — the Petition, the Financial Declaration, the Confidential Information form, the Findings and Final Order — is signed with a plain statement: “I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of Washington that the facts I have provided on this form are true.” You sign it yourself. No notary, no witness, no trip to a UPS Store.
There is one real exception: if your Proof of Personal Service was completed by someone who served your spouse outside Washington State, that server’s signature does need to be notarized or sworn before a court clerk. Personal service completed inside Washington does not.
Type directly into the PDF (these are fillable forms), or print and use black ink. Leave nothing blank — write “N/A” where something doesn’t apply. Incomplete forms are the most common reason a filing gets sent back.
Step three — keep your Confidential Information form separate
Form FL All Family 001 carries your Social Security number, address, and (if you have kids) your children’s information. It is not a public record — clerks are instructed not to file it in the public case file, and your spouse and their lawyer generally can’t see it without a court order. File it as its own document, not stapled inside your petition.
Under GR 22(c)(2), supporting financial records (tax returns, pay stubs) that go with your Financial Declaration are filed separately using the Sealed Financial Source Documents cover sheet (FL All Family 011) — not attached to the Financial Declaration itself, and not left sitting in the open case file.
Step four — file, and understand who serves whom
You file at the superior court clerk’s office in the county where you or your spouse lives. Washington’s e-filing systems vary by county (many use the statewide portal at courts.wa.gov or a county-specific e-filing site), but walking paper into the clerk’s office is always allowed for self-represented filers.
Washington’s “service” rules genuinely branch three ways, and this is where the quiz above matters: your spouse can (a) sign the Petition or a Joinder with you as a true joint filing, (b) sign a Service Accepted form — acknowledging they received the papers without agreeing to anything in them, which skips the process-server fee, or (c) be formally served by the sheriff or any adult who isn’t a party to the case, which starts their clock whether they cooperate or not.
Washington allows service by publication when personal service isn’t possible, but that path has its own rules and can limit what the court can award without further steps — this is a genuine case for talking to a lawyer or your county’s family law facilitator before you proceed.
4 · Your deadlines, calculated
Nearly everything in a Washington dissolution counts from two dates — when you filed, and when your spouse was served or joined the case. Put them in and we’ll turn Washington’s rules into actual dates on your calendar — then add the whole thing to Google Calendar, Apple Calendar or Outlook in one click.
5 · The order it actually happens in
6 · Washington’s trap
This is the one that catches people who’ve read one paragraph about “community property” and think they already know how their case will go.
Washington is a community property state, and people often assume that means two simple buckets: community property gets split evenly, and separate property (what you owned before the marriage, or inherited) is untouchable. That’s not what the statute says. RCW 26.09.080 requires the court to divide the property and liabilities of the parties — “either community or separate” — in whatever way is “just and equitable” after weighing factors like the length of the marriage and each spouse’s economic circumstances. A judge can reach into separate property, and the outcome is not guaranteed to be an even split of anything. If your case involves inherited assets, a big gap in earning power, or property owned before the marriage, this is exactly the kind of thing worth a paid consultation before you sign a settlement — not after.
7 · The rejection-proofing checklist
These are the specific things that get Washington filings sent back or slow a case down. None of them are hard — they’re just easy to miss once.
Signing and filing correctly
Forms people forget
Timing
The 90-day wait runs from both your filing date and your spouse’s service/join date — whichever is later controls. Filing early doesn’t buy you anything if service happens late. And your spouse’s response window is 20 days if they were served inside Washington, 60 days if served out of state or in a jail or detention facility — mixing those two numbers up is one of the most common self-represented mistakes.
8 · The Financial Declaration — what FL All Family 131 requires
Mandatory under RCW 26.18.220(1) any time finances are at issue — which is almost every case. It’s filed with the court, not just exchanged, and it’s a sworn statement, not a draft.
Don’t staple your tax returns or pay stubs to the Financial Declaration itself. File them under the Sealed Financial Source Documents cover sheet (FL All Family 011) so they’re sealed from the general public record under GR 22(c)(2), even though the other party, their lawyer, and the court can still see them.
9 · What this costs
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Filing fee — verified identical at $364 in King, Pierce, and Spokane county superior courts | $364 |
| Personal service by sheriff or a licensed process server, per person (member-reported, illustrative) | ~$50–120 |
| Parenting seminar, per parent, if your county requires one and you have children (set by local court rule — check with your county clerk) | check w/ county |
| DOH Certificate of Dissolution recording, vital records copy fee | ~$5–20 |
| Service by publication, if you can’t locate your spouse | $100+ |
| Typical all-in, doing it yourselves, no attorney | $400–500 |
| Typical range with a family law attorney (member-reported, illustrative demo data — varies enormously by county and complexity) | $3,500–12,000+ |
File Form GR 34, the Motion and Declaration for Waiver of Filing Fees. You qualify if your household income is at or below 125% of the federal poverty guideline, you’re already receiving need-based assistance like TANF or SSI, or you can show recurring expenses that leave you unable to pay. There’s no local fee to apply, and the court must review it in a timely manner.
Most Washington counties have a Family Court Facilitator, funded in part by a small statutory surcharge (up to $20, RCW 26.12.240) built into your filing fee. They can’t give legal advice, but they review paperwork, answer procedural questions, and in King County specifically, run a no-fee Simple Dissolution Program for agreed cases with no children and no substantial property. That program is local to King County — it isn’t a statewide track, so check whether your own county runs something similar.
What this is. A guide to Washington’s own process, built from the Revised Code of Washington (chapters 26.09, 26.12, 26.18, and 36.18), General Rule 34, and the official mandatory family law forms and instructions published by the Washington State Courts at courts.wa.gov/forms. Every form referenced here was confirmed to download successfully directly from courts.wa.gov at the time this kit was built. The forms themselves are free and this kit links you to them rather than reselling them.
What this is not. The Cusp is not a law firm and does not practice law. Nothing here is legal advice, and nothing here tells you which choice is right for your particular situation — only what Washington requires of each path. If your case involves contested custody, a business, significant separate or inherited property, domestic violence, or a spouse with a lawyer, talk to an attorney. Many offer free consultations, and one hour of advice is cheaper than a property division you can’t undo. Court staff — including family court facilitators — are not permitted to give legal advice.
Confirm current numbers with your county. Filing fees were independently verified at $364 in King, Pierce, and Spokane counties; other counties are very likely the same but were not individually checked. Process-server costs, parenting-seminar requirements and fees, and attorney cost ranges are illustrative, member-reported figures, not official rates — where this kit could not verify an exact figure with confidence, it says “check with your county superior court clerk” rather than guessing.
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Everything we have written about Washington specifically. Every figure on these pages is quoted from Washington’s own statute or its courts’ own published schedule, and carries the date we last checked it.
The most expensive mistakes in a divorce are made in the year after it, by people who thought the case was over. After the divorce is the checklist for that year — the health-coverage clock, the retirement order a decree cannot replace, and the beneficiary form that outranks your will.
Filing is one household becoming two, and the second one starts empty. The two-household list is what to send the people who keep asking how they can help — the second of everything, and the half of it that costs nothing. Some people call it a divorce registry.