Cal. Rules of Court, rule 5.60 · Article 2. Initial Pleadings
Petition or complaint; alternative relief
Text — As posted by the Judicial Council of California (read October 22, 2026)
(a) Format
A party starting a family law case must file an appropriate petition or complaint using a form approved by the Judicial Council. Where the Judicial Council has not approved a specific petition or complaint form, the party must submit the petition or complaint in an appropriate format under Trial Court Rules, rules 2.100 through 2.119.
(b) Request for alternative relief
The petitioner or respondent may request alternative relief when filing a family law action. The request for alternative relief must be indicated in the petition or response.
Notes and commentary — not rule text
History
Rule 5.60 adopted effective January 1, 2013.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As posted by the Judicial Council of California (read October 22, 2026)
- Official file
- https://courts.ca.gov/cms/rules/index/five/rule5_60
- Text hash
- sha256 af8bda461b225d6c4a2e4eedb9fb259bb7f6da3ba81f10398f65ba7cf7c12c3c
- Composed by
- compose_crc.py 2026-10-22: the Judicial Council's rule pages read paragraph by paragraph; verify_crc.py's second reading of the Council's per-title PDFs finds every paragraph
This rule cites
Provisions in this library that the text above cites, as it prints each citation. A range cited as “ss. 61.13-61.16” links its first and last provisions.
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.