Summons is the first pleading filed in any Civil Case. It is in essence calling or “summoning” the other parties to a case to court, usually with the opening line “You have been sued…” Since divorce is a civil case, this is regularly the top page of your initial divorce pleadings.
Originally only one Summons per defendant was issued in a case. The original Summons had the court’s seal which was an embossed portion of the Summons. The filing party (Plaintiff or Petitioner) would retain the original Summons and had to return the original Summons to the Court with a Proof of Services Summons. This is no longer required in California, but I do miss the original embossed seals, the embossing although old fashioned for authentication purposes, but nevertheless denoted the importance of the initial divorce pleadings.
While it is no longer necessary to return an original Summons to the court, a Summons alone is insufficient for the court. In order to have your divorce started, you must return a Proof of Service Summons to the court showing that you spouse has been served with the initial divorce pleadings.
