San Diego Implements "One Day Divorce" Pilot Program

The San Diego Superior Court has implemented a new pilot program that allows couples to complete a simple divorce in just one day. The program was established with the intention of helping self-represented litigants move their cases through the court system quickly and effectively. Nearly 72% of family court litigants in Sacramento Superior Court are not represented by an attorney.

"One of the biggest complaints about family court is that the process is too complicated and takes too long to complete," said San Diego Superior Court Family Supervising Judge Maureen Hallahan. "The 'One Day Divorce' program was created to help solve these problems."

There are only a few requirements for the program, including: both parties are self-represented, six months have passed since the petition for divorce was filed, and both parties agree on all the orders included in the judgment. The program is designed to foster collaboration between the parties so that the process can move swiftly toward less-adversarial resolution.

Riley Combelic is a second-year law student at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law and contributes to IAALS Online. Please direct inquiries about this post to iaals@du.edu.