The 10 Best Online Divorce Services in California: Reviewed and Ranked

Divorce is a mixture of grief, disappointment, rage, and anxiety all rolled into one heartbreak experience that no one wants to go through. 

So that you can file for divorce and move forward with your life, despite whatever you feel right now, without the added hassle of a costly and drawn-out divorce, I’ve compiled a list of the 10 best online divorce services in California.  

Here is a list of the top services in California so that you can get an uncontested divorce with the support you deserve.

My Top Pick: 3 Step Divorce – 9.45/10 (Best California Online Divorce Service) 

3 Step Divorce is my #1 choice for getting an online divorce in California. Even though their website isn’t as pretty as some of the other online divorce service websites, they give you the best bang for your buck and guarantee your divorce papers get accepted by the courts. 

Pros

3 Step Divorce meets all your needs to get your divorce finalized quickly.

First things first, the entire divorce process is very user-friendly. You can customize your divorce forms by answering a few simple questions. You just sign up, work through their questionnaire and wham bam, thank you, ma’am, your divorce forms are complete in less than an hour, ready for court filing. 

3 Step Divorce has an online negotiation tool to work through any disagreements with your partner in pretty much every area of the divorce process, say with child custody or spousal support. 

They give you really detailed instructions on how, when, and where to file your completed divorce papers as well as an online account where your forms are saved so you can come back and edit them if you need to.

They work with military divorces and they provide additional resources like online parenting classes and divorce support. Thankfully, there are no pesky hidden fees – you know exactly how much you are going to pay for this service.

3 Step Divorce gives you options for how you’d like to pay their $299 filing fee, including an option to pay as little as $84/month and if you channel your inner superhuman and finish all the divorce paperwork in one day, you get a bonus of $50 back. You could be in line for a gold star for not procrastinating.

Cons

3 Step Divorce isn’t perfect. 

3 Step Divorce’s website is about as attractive as a hoarder’s house. Sure, it’s still easy to get through your questionnaire and complete the forms, but why do they have to hurt your eyeballs in the process?

For a (sometimes very hefty) price, many other divorce services offer things like serving your partner and will file for divorce on your behalf. 3 Step Divorce doesn’t do these extra things because they are too busy figuring out ways to not look like they live in 2021- okok! I’m done. 

They make it relatively easy to use their services because they offer a lot in California, but they aren’t omnipotent, so they don’t offer everything. 

Overall

3 Step Divorce gets my vote for the best online divorce service in California because they are affordable and they offer everything you need to legally end your marriage.

It’s true they could offer even more services and their website won’t end up on awwwards.com (Ok, I lied I wasn’t done), but neither of these facts has changed my mind. 

Because what I keep reminding myself is, they keep their word: they guarantee that all forms will be accepted by the courts meaning you use 3 Step Divorce and you can quickly move forward with your life with a bit more cash in your pocket.

If you’re ready to fully embrace that freedom you deserve, check out 3 Step Divorce.

Runner Up: It’s Over Easy – 7.85/10 (Expensive, but comprehensive)

It’s Over Easy is in the #2 spot because they offer a huge range of additional services, but charge an arm and a leg. 

Pros

Let’s face it, in this life, you get what you pay for. With It’s Over Easy, this is the case. For a lot of money, you will get a seamless experience divorcing online, it will just cost you a pretty penny. 

Their basic package offers pretty much the same thing as all the other California divorce services, including easy-to-customise divorce forms, online storage, and unlimited revisions, but it’s the upgraded package where you really get the full experience.

Unlike any other service listed in this review, with a premium package you really get a hands-off experience. They process your divorce papers on your behalf and serve them to your partner, give you a dedicated case manager, file your divorce packet with the district court, cover the court filing fees, allow you to electronically sign your forms, create a custom parenting plan, negotiate child support and child custody, do all the dirty spousal support calculations, and ultimately get a divorce in California. 

It’s like when you use a bidet. No fuss, no muss. Everything is done on your behalf so you can just sit back and relax, and eat sushi (not in the bathroom, of course, unless that’s your thing, then go for it). 

Cons

It’s Over Easy is expensive, and this is why it takes the second spot, behind 3 Step Divorce. 

The basic package costs $750 and all you get is a measly email sent to your partner on your behalf. This is double the price of what 3 Step Divorce charges which gives you a lot more services than It’s Over Easy offers at this price. 

If you want the three-course, fine-dining experience where they use fancy french words and reroll your napkin every time you powder your nose, you’re looking at $2,500. 

Overall

It’s Over Easy offers all the things you to legally ditch your partner and then sweetens the deal with a bunch of fancy extras, but, like premium gelato, this service comes at a price. 

If you’re looking for a convenient experience and have the spare cash to throw at problems to make them go away quickly and quietly, this would be the best option for you when filing for divorce. 

If you’re interested in learning more about their online divorce in California, check out It’s Over Easy. 

#3: Rocket Lawyer – 7.3/10 (Best Budget Option)

There are things to appreciate about Rocket Lawyer and one nagging issue that will make you want to run for the hills. 

Pros

What’s sweet about Rocket Lawyer is that for $39 a month, you have access to their customizable divorce forms and other legal forms, as well as a 30-minute consultation with an actual lawyer to discuss any challenges specific to you. 

Rocket Lawyer is the only one that offers a free-of-charge lawyer consultation and their entire service is the least expensive compared with all the other online divorce services. 

Cons

Ok, so now it’s time to talk about the less desirable aspects of Rocket Lawyer. 

Just like that insanely large burger that’s free if you finish the whole thing in record time, Rocket Lawyer’s benefit is also its downfall. They offer legal advice but they’re not divorce specialists but only an online legal advice company. 

However, they provide you with the forms you need to file for your divorce but they don’t have an easy question and answer format that will customize your forms for you which means you’ll have to make all the adjustments yourself,  run the risk of getting it wrong, and not have your papers approved by the courts. It’s like when you go bowling and use a super heavy bowling ball only to drop it 10 feet before the starting line of the alley. 

Compared with 3 Step Divorce, which guarantees that your papers will be accepted, you’re assuming a bigger, more costly, time-consuming risk by going with Rocket Lawyer. 

I’ll give them some credit for charging a relatively cheap membership fee but I don’t think it outweighs the real potential of not having your forms accepted by the courts thus adding to the stress of redoing them with your partner. 

Let’s be real and I know assuming makes an ass out of you and me, but I’m gonna be a donkey anyway and assume you don’t want to talk with your soon-to-be partner any more than you have to. 

Overall

There are many things to think about when considering Rocket Lawyer as your choice. 

You get a free consultation with an actual lawyer and their membership fee is $39/month but there is no guarantee you’ll get your divorce papers approved by the courts.

You’re an adult, do whatever you want, even if that means spending your precious time stressing about Rocket Lawyer papers getting approved. If that’s not what you want, go with 3 Step Divorce. 

#4: Divorce Writer 

Divorce Writer comes in at #4 because while they meet your needs, they lack a very important component in their service offering.

You get the minimum services required to fill out divorce papers and serve your partner, they have a lowest price guarantee, and you can revise your online forms for up to two years. 

Settling a divorce requires a lot of knowledge about fancy law words that will confuse the heck out of anyone, especially people who are already under a lot of emotional stress. This is why customer support is so crucial so that you can settle the divorce as pain-free as possible. 

Unlike 3 Step Divorce, It’s Over Easy and Rocket Lawyer, you don’t get this with Divorce Writer. 

Email is the only way to reach them. If you have any questions or concerns, you have to employ Zen master level patience awaiting their response. 

They are cheap, but with Divorce Writer you get what you pay for and, in this instance, it’s nothing to sneeze at, unlike 3 Step Divorce. 

#5: LegalZoom

Introducing LegalZoom, yet another online legal company trying to edge its way into more specialized law services. 

With them, you get the online divorce forms with the added ability to customize them.

They also give you the facility to talk to a human in real-time. This is the only service where a lawyer reviews your papers and makes sure they are all spick and span. 

Don’t get me wrong, having a lawyer review your forms is great, but it comes at a price, literally. 

Like mechanics, lawyers are expensive. Legal Zoom charges a steep fee of $499 for their online divorce service (including the lawyer review). Also, the lawyer review takes at least 48 hours so you’ll have to wait for them to be returned to you with their stamp of approval. 

A lawyer review by LegalZoom is great, but it’s not necessary because 3 Step Divorce guarantees your papers will be accepted by the courts on the first submission. 

#6: One Stop Divorce

You’ll find One Stop Divorce at #6 offers the minimum services one needs to file divorce documents, with some interesting drawbacks. 

They are priced at $299 for what they offer which is the standard: filing papers, saving and printing them off, and they give you simple filing instructions. 

What doesn’t make a lot of sense about One Stop Divorce is you can view the online documents a limited number of times. It’s like having an ice cream store right next to your house and being told you can only go there three times a year.

On top of that, they charge a monthly subscription of $19/month to store your online papers which doesn’t seem very fair given what you get for that price. 

One Stop Divorce lands a spot at #6 because they are a total document tease and compared with the other online divorce services, kind of a rip-off. 

And, now, the rest…

My therapist would advise against black and white thinking, but I find that in the online divorce service world, two categories seem to exist.

On one hand, you find service providers, offering similar services at various price points, depending on the level of service. On the other hand, you find what can only be described as highly unfortunate service providers offering little more than a headache (and they don’t even give you a Tylenol for it).

You’ll learn about four companies that are like those sleazy car salespeople who focus too much on the frills without actually providing any real substance to the service YOU are paying for. 

Yes, all of these companies are just downright cruel when it comes to how they treat their “valued” customers. This might seem like an insanely harsh judgment and I don’t blame you for thinking that. 

#7: Complete Case

At first glance, I thought Complete Case would be the top dog of online divorce services. I thought very, very wrong. 

They appealed to my vanity because of their sleek website coupled with a lot of big talk. They sadly didn’t walk the walk when compared with other online divorce services. 

Firstly, while their website is aesthetically pleasing, it doesn’t even work on all browsers! Like, what? I have no idea how, why or who approved this ridiculously archaic solution for a service that is digitally based. 

Another frustrating thing is that you have to rely on snail mail to get your divorce forms. Yup, despite it being an online service they still rely on one of the slowest methods of communication! 

Once your forms are mailed to you, that means if you’ve made what Bob Ross calls a “happy accident” you have to redo the forms and wait a second time for them to arrive in your inbox. 

Lastly, their customer support is like an unseasoned soup, edible but definitely leaves something to be desired. 

Usually, I take reviews with a large Himalayan-sized grain of salt because well, most of the time they are written by people who are missing a few screws and leave lots of Karen- approved reviews. 

Take a look at this review which does a good job of describing Complete Case’s service. 

If you want an easy, stress-free online divorce service, don’t choose Complete Case – it’s just that simple. 

#8: MyDivorcePapers.com 

Unfortunately, it gets worse with My Divorce Papers.

You get exactly what you pay for with this online divorce service. What I mean is that the actual product you receive from My Divorce Papers is super outdated.

It’s like traveling back in time, only you don’t get a cool, time-traveling machine or zesty plotline. No, what you get with this online divorce service is an entirely useless product. 

You spend your precious time filling in the documents, getting them organized with your partner, only to have them thrown out by the judge because the required forms have been updated at least 11 times since MyDivorcePapers last updated theirs. 

Please, don’t use this service because you’ll be as old as the documentation by the time your divorce is finalized. 

#9: OnlineDivorce.com

Online Divorce.com leaves even more to be desired – nearly everything in fact. They go the extra, terrible mile by proving they do not care about the customer experience. 

More than a third (35% to be exact) of all their reviews gave them one star. And even saying they are terrible doesn’t really fully explain how awful they are. 

They failed almost as badly at providing legitimate and reliable online divorce documents as Britney Spears did when she gave herself a haircut. 

Do yourself a favor and steer clear of Online Divorce. 

#10: GetDivorcePapers

So after all this, you might be asking yourself, “What the heck did GetDivorcePapers manage to do (or not do) to end up at the bottom of the barrel?”

Well, I’ll tell you: they just plain suck. 

Somehow, they managed to get even more terrible reviews than Online Divorce, nearly double in fact at 64% one-star reviews.

I know! How insane is that? It’s almost as if they are trying to get customers to write bad reviews. 

Like a spoof movie gone terribly, terribly wrong, Get Divorce Papers is just that: a colossal mistake. 

Avoid them at all costs. 

The Bottom Line

After a lot of extensive research, I’ve placed 3 Step Divorce as the best online divorce service out there in California today. 

To put it plainly, they are really simple to use, you can customize your forms quickly and they have customer service specialists available to meet your needs. 

Their online negotiation tool guarantees that your papers will be approved by the courts the first time so you can be confident that you won’t have to go through this again. 

I’m the first one to admit, their website looks like a kind old man feeding bread crumbs to birds. At the same time, it doesn’t interfere with the user experience because their forms and instructions are easy to follow. 

If you are ready to fly free like the phoenix you are, use 3 Step Divorce now. 

Methodology

I came to the above conclusions by applying seven steps to a range of online divorce services in California. 

Step 1: Initial Online Divorce Service List

I started by opening up trusty old Google and searched for “Online Divorce” and took a look at what came up in California. 

I got 14 in total but some of them didn’t provide the service in California, so I left those out. 

Step 2: Online Reviews

Then I looked at their online reviews which, of course, as you’ve read already, cover a considerable range of ratings. It’s like comparing secondhand clothes to luxury, brand-name boutiques. 

Step 3: Product Analysis

After I had made the list, I discarded any online service providers that truly didn’t make the cut in California. Those that were worthwhile investments in my and your time made it to the list. 

• Do they help with child support in California? Or do they focus more on child custody in California?
• Do they file for court approval in California? What does their version of filing for divorce look like in California?
• Does their service mean you can divorce without a lawyer in California? How do they guarantee an uncontested divorce?
• Do they specialize in family law in California? What about domestic partnerships in California?
• Can they help with spousal support in California? Do they assist if you do not know the location of your spouse?
• How does the court filing work in California? Do they deliver the divorce papers to the local court in California?
• Is there a waiting period in California? Do they offer self help services in California?
• Do they help with divorce in California? What types of California divorce forms do they have? 
• Do they help file for divorce in California? Or do they just create divorce forms for you?
• What does the divorce process look like in California with each service? 

Step 4: Interviews with Real Customers

I reached out to previous customers of online divorce services in California to see if the online reviews matched up with their personal experiences because sometimes competitors pay for “bad” reviews and I was curious to see if any of the service providers had done this. 

Turns out they hadn’t. In fact, many customers who gave 1-star reviews would’ve given 0 if they had the chance … ouch!

Step 5: Interviews with Online Divorce Services

This was definitely the fun part. I contacted the service providers that assist with the divorce process in California and asked them to confirm their services. I also asked them to comment and explain their poor reviews. 

This went two ways. Those companies who honestly accepted and spoke to the ways in which they turned negative reviews around were bumped towards the top of the class. Those that deferred or got defensive? Well, you can imagine they weren’t at the top of the pick. 

Step 6: Test Drives

Then I got busy actually putting each service provider’s software to work. 

I entered my information and pretended to go through with filing for divorce (sorry babe!)

I wanted to experience firsthand how easy (or difficult) the process of filing for divorce was in each of the above online divorce service providers in California so that all the reviews I gave were based on facts. 

Step 7: Ratings

Steps 1-6 formed the basis for the end results whereby I compiled all the data and scored them against one another. 

Best California Online Divorce Review Summary

It’s been an interesting journey in search of the best divorce process in California to get an uncontested divorce. 

I narrowed down my search from 14, down to 10 with three in-depth reviews of the most convenient and highest-rated providers and four that all leave something to be desired. At the end of the day, 3 Step Divorce is the clear winner. 

You can customize their forms to suit your unique needs, there are easy-to-use, online tools, and they have great customer service when you need it. 

For $299, they offer great value because they:

• Allow as many revisions as you need,
• Have easy-to-follow instructions,
• Have instant printing and downloading ability, and
• Have a plethora of resources.

And most importantly, guarantee your forms will get accepted by the courts the first time. 

If you want a guaranteed finalized divorce, head to 3 Step Divorce now.