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Custody Shouldn't Be a Daily Negotiation.
We'll Help You Tell the Judge Exactly What You Want.
✓We fill out every form — you just review and sign.✓Your forms are ready to file the same day.✓Flexible payment plans, no retainer.
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Custody & Visitation Orders
What you can ask the court to order
When parents can't agree, the court can step in and make it official. Here's what parents most often request:
Legal custody
Who makes the big decisions — school, medical care, religion. Ask for joint or sole legal custody, with your reasons laid out clearly.
Physical custody
Where the children live day to day. Ask for the arrangement you believe serves your kids best, from primary to fully shared.
A parenting schedule
Exact days, times, and overnights — a written schedule everyone can plan around, and that the court can enforce.
Holidays & vacations
Alternating Thanksgivings, summer breaks, birthdays — ask for a holiday plan that ends the annual argument before it starts.
Supervised visitation
When safety is a concern, ask that visits happen with a professional monitor or a trusted adult present.
Pick-up & drop-off rules
Where exchanges happen, who drives, what happens when someone is late — the details that keep handoffs calm.
Travel restrictions
Ask that the children not be taken out of the county, state, or country without written consent or a court order.
School & medical decisions
Which school district, which doctor, whether a child starts therapy — ask the court to settle the decisions you can't agree on.
Custody requests often call for more than one form — our wizard selects and completes everything automatically, so nothing is missing when you file.
We meet you where you are
Wherever you are with custody, start here.
Custody worries don't keep office hours. Some of these fears are everyday frustrations; some are the kind that keep you checking the driveway at 2 a.m. Whichever sentence below is yours — that's exactly where we'll start.
We split up and nothing about the kids is in writing.
Without a court order, there's usually no schedule anyone has to follow and nothing a school or police officer can enforce. A first custody order turns "the arrangement" into actual rules. We prepare the Request for Order and custody attachments that ask the court to set them.
My ex treats the schedule like a suggestion.
Late pickups, canceled weekends, plans that change the night before. A court-ordered parenting schedule sets the days, times, and holidays — and once it's an order, following it isn't a favor anymore. You can also ask for make-up time rules and consequences for no-shows.
I'm terrified my ex will just take the kids and go.
This fear keeps more parents awake than any other — and courts take it seriously. You can ask for travel restrictions, passport controls, and abduction-prevention orders. The paperwork is how that fear becomes protection.
There's someone around my kids I don't trust.
You can ask the court for safeguards: no unapproved adults during parenting time, supervised visits, safe exchange locations. Judges act on clear, specific facts — which is exactly what our wizard helps you lay out, calmly and in the right place.
My ex is talking about moving away with the children.
Move-aways are among the most consequential custody situations there are, and the orders that exist before a move matter enormously. Many parents ask the court for orders while it's still a conversation — not after the boxes are packed.
I only see my kids when my ex feels like allowing it.
Without a visitation order, your time with your children depends on someone else's mood. You can ask for defined parenting time — regular days, overnights, video calls, holidays — so being their parent doesn't require permission.
Our order made sense years ago. It doesn't anymore.
Kids grow, jobs change, people move. Custody and visitation orders can be modified when circumstances genuinely change — and the request is the same process, showing the court what's different now and what schedule fits today.
You shouldn't have to fight for clarity. Ask the court for it.
Answer plain questions about your kids and your situation — we turn them into a court-ready Request for Order with every custody attachment filled in. Nothing is filed until you say so, it's free to start, and every form carries our 100% court-acceptance guarantee.
Before you go it alone
The court doesn't grade on effort. The paperwork has to be right.
Custody paperwork carries the highest stakes of all: vague requests produce vague orders, and a missed attachment can mean the judge legally can't grant what you actually needed.
Pitfall 01
The forms that travel together
An FL-300 rarely files alone — one missing companion form and the clerk can bounce the whole packet.
Pitfall 02
One wrong checkbox
Those boxes decide what the judge is asked to order. The wrong one gets your request misread — or denied.
Pitfall 03
Declarations judges actually read
Judges read hundreds of pages a day. A declaration that vents instead of explains buries your ask.
Pitfall 04
Service rules & deadlines
Served the wrong way, or a day late, and your hearing slips while the problem keeps going.
This is exactly why people hand us the paperwork: every form picked, filled, and consistent — for one flat price, with our 100% court-acceptance guarantee.
Why we exist
Spend it on your kids,
not on lawyers.
We built Legalfina because you shouldn't have to spend $4,000 on a lawyer to fill out a form. Attorneys are worth every dollar for the hard stuff — standing up for you in court, fighting a truly contested case. But filing your initial divorce, custody, or restraining-order paperwork isn't that. It's the same court-accepted result, without the bill.
A lawyer wants$4,000–$10,000per filing
We ask forLess than your coffee habit
12,000+
Californians helped since 2016
100%
Court-acceptance guarantee on your paperwork
< 2 hrs
Average time to finish your paperwork
The process
Three simple steps. One hour, maybe two.
2
We explain everything
Every form and every question, answered in plain English you actually understand.
3
Get your paperwork instantly
Plain English. Change anything. Ask us anything.
A few plain questions to get started.
Built for California
We know your county,
your courthouse, your clerk.
Family law is local. A filing that flies in San Francisco gets kicked back in San Bernardino. We know the quirks of all 58 California counties — because we've walked into all of them.
Sacramento
San Francisco
Los Angeles
One flat price
The cost of peace
shouldn't bankrupt you into it.
One honest number for the whole case. Tell us what you're doing — we'll show you exactly what it costs, whether you're filing first or answering your ex's paperwork.
What are you dealing with?
Request for Order (FL-300)
Asking the court for orders
$399
or 6 payments of $73
Court filing fees not included
✓We help you fill out all your court paperwork in a stress free manner
✓Do you have child custody, child support or other high conflict issues? Not a problem, it is all included!
✓We guarantee the court will accept your paperwork
Your ex filed first
Responding to their request
$199
or 6 payments of $36.33
Court filing fees not included
✓We help you respond to your ex's paperwork in a stress free manner
✓Do you have child custody, child support or other high conflict issues? Not a problem, it is all included!
✓We guarantee the court will accept your paperwork
No subscriptions, no surprise fees. Change your mind anytime, free — you only pay when you're ready to file.
Questions, honestly answered
The custody questions
people ask at 2 a.m.
If yours isn't here, write us. A human will answer, usually the same day.
What's the difference between legal and physical custody?
Legal custody is decision-making power — school, medical care, religion. Physical custody is where the children actually live. Each can be joint (shared) or sole, in any combination: parents can share legal custody while one has primary physical custody, and every other mix in between. Your request tells the court which arrangement you're asking for, and why.
Can I get a custody order if we were never married?
Yes. Custody and visitation orders are made in parentage (paternity) cases just like in divorces. If no case exists yet, our wizard helps you open one and request custody orders inside it.
What forms do I need to request custody or visitation?
The request is made on form FL-300, almost always with the FL-311 (Child Custody and Visitation Application Attachment), and sometimes additional attachments for holiday schedules, supervised visitation, or abduction prevention. Missing an attachment is the classic DIY mistake — our wizard picks and fills every one your request needs.
Do California courts favor mothers?
No. California law requires custody decisions to be based on the children's best interest — not on the parent's gender. What moves a judge is a clear, specific, child-focused request. That's true for mothers and fathers alike, and it's exactly what your paperwork is for.
What does 'best interest of the child' actually mean?
It's the standard California judges must apply. It centers on the children's health, safety, and welfare, the amount and quality of contact with both parents, and factors like any history of abuse or substance use. Your declaration is where you connect what you're asking for to these factors — clearly, not angrily.
Can my ex take the kids out of state before we have any order?
Before any order exists, both legal parents generally have equal rights to the children — which is precisely why parents who worry about this ask the court for orders early. You can request travel restrictions and, where the risk is real, abduction-prevention orders. If you believe your children are in immediate danger, call 911 first; paperwork comes second.
How fast can I get a court date?
A regular Request for Order is typically heard within several weeks, depending on the county. When there's an immediate risk of harm or abduction, California courts have an emergency (ex parte) process that can put temporary orders in place much faster, until the full hearing.
Will my children have to testify in court?
Usually not in the way people picture it. California courts have gentler ways of considering children's input — custody mediation, court services interviews, and judges' discretion about hearing from older children. Most custody hearings are decided on the parents' paperwork and statements.
Can custody orders be changed later?
Yes. As children grow and circumstances change, either parent can ask the court to modify custody or visitation. Courts generally look for a genuine change in circumstances — our wizard helps you lay out what's different and what schedule fits now.
Is Legalfina a law firm?
No — we're a licensed and bonded Legal Document Assistant service. We prepare your paperwork, and every step of our wizard is reviewed and approved by attorneys licensed in your state. For one-on-one legal advice — which high-conflict custody cases sometimes genuinely need — you can add an attorney consultation anytime.
What if my ex ignores the custody order?
An order is enforceable in ways a verbal agreement never is: you can document violations and ask the court to enforce or tighten the order, and repeated violations carry real consequences. That's the whole point of getting it in writing — it gives you something to stand on.
Clarity for your kids
Take the First Step Toward a Schedule Everyone Can Live With
Parenting week to week on someone else's whims is no way to live — and no way for kids to grow up.
Let Legalfina prepare your custody paperwork quickly, affordably, and on your terms.
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