Why pay $99 when the forms are free?
They really are free. Every California DVRO form is a free download, filing costs nothing, the sheriff serves papers at no charge, and trained people will help you fill everything out at the courthouse — also free. Here is that whole path, with links. Then the honest case for paying us anyway. If the free path fits your life, use it.
The free path, in full
The forms are a free download
Every form in a DVRO request — DV-100, DV-109, DV-110, CLETS-001 — is published free by the California Courts. The DV-100 PDF is the same form everyone files, whether they paid someone or not.
Filing is free, and no lawyer is required
The California Courts' own guide says it plainly: “There is no court fee to file to ask for a domestic violence restraining order, and you do not have to have a lawyer.” — California Courts Self-Help Guide
The sheriff serves your papers for free
In domestic violence cases the sheriff or marshal can deliver (serve) your papers to the other person at no charge — the DV-100 form's own instructions say so.
Free human help, inside the courthouse
At the Stanley Mosk Courthouse (111 N. Hill Street, Los Angeles), the Counsel for Justice Domestic Violence Project runs a free walk-in clinic in Room 235 — Monday to Thursday 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 to 3:30 p.m., Friday 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., first come, first served. In 2025, 1,692 survivors received assistance there. Four floors up, the court's own Self-Help Center in Room 426F is open Monday to Thursday 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 to 4:00 p.m., Friday 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., with a phone line (213-830-0845) Monday to Friday 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Every California superior court runs a free self-help center.
Free 24/7 help by phone
The National Domestic Violence Hotline is 1-800-799-7233 (or text START to 88788), free, confidential, around the clock. LA County's 24/7 hotline is 1-800-978-3600.
All of that is real, staffed, and free. Nothing we sell replaces it, and nothing below argues otherwise.
Who should not pay us $99
You can get to the clinic during its hours
A trained person across the table, the same official forms, no charge. If Room 235 on a weekday morning is something your life allows, go. It is a good service, and choosing it over us is the right call.
The $99 is money you need
Do not choose between this and rent. A self-attested fee waiver unlocks the exact same packet at no cost — no proof, no documents, no separate review. It is on the payment screen, not hidden behind support.
You want advice about your case
We fill forms with your own answers. We never advise what to ask for, which orders fit your situation, or what a judge will decide — no software should. For those questions, the Self-Help Center or a lawyer is the right place.
What $99 actually buys
Any hour, from your own phone
The clinic and the Self-Help Center keep courthouse hours. This works at 2 a.m., from your own phone, without a trip that shows up in anyone’s day. A Quick Exit button sits on every page and clears the screen instantly.
Without saying it out loud
At a counter, you tell the story to a stranger, out loud, sometimes in a line. Here you type it, reread it, and change it at your own pace. Your answers sit behind row-level security, are never sold, and never train AI models.
The paperwork is genuinely heavy
The starting packet is 27 pages across four forms — 396 fields across all four forms combined. The interview fills them from your answers, you approve every field before anything is generated, and the PDFs are print-ready.
On the printed page, what you get is the official form itself: each page is rendered at 300 dpi from a pinned copy of the Judicial Council original with your reviewed answers placed on it — the format rule 1.44 of the California Rules of Court permits for computer-generated duplicates. Mandatory Judicial Council forms “must be accepted for filing by all courts” under rule 1.31(a), and rule 1.42 limits the reasons a clerk may reject a paper filing. Those are statements of what the rules say — not a promise about your case, your courthouse, or what any court will do. Our terms do not make one.
The price, next to everything else
The courthouse path
$0
The Room 235 clinic, the Self-Help Center, free forms, free filing, free sheriff service — everything in the list above.
Other DIY software
$49–$149
U Do It Legal sells DVRO packages starting at $49; its package for requesting a new DVRO is $149 one-time.
JusticeOS
$99
One time, per case, nothing else to buy. Free preview of your filled first page before paying, and a self-attested fee waiver at $0 if you cannot afford it — full pricing.
Human document preparation
$250–$500
SOS Consulting prepares a DVRO for $250 plus filing fees; Perfectly Filed charges $399 including process service and proof-of-service filing; Stearns & Ryan's attorney-run clinic is a $500 flat rate.
These are different services, not one market: $399 includes a human who also arranges service of process, and $500 buys attorney review. $99 buys software. That is the honest way to read this list — we will not tell you it is “a $500 value,” because it is not the same thing. And nobody in this list, including us, is a lawyer representing you in court.
What you will never see here
No countdown timers. No “only 3 spots left.” No fake discounts against an invented original price. People usually read this page at a hard moment, and pressure tactics work best on people in crisis — which is exactly why using them would be disqualifying. The price does not expire at midnight or depend on how many other people are looking at it. If you close this tab and come back next month, everything here will still be true or we will have corrected it.
And if you pay and change your mind: full refund, no questions asked, within 14 days of purchase, as long as your documents haven't been generated — and nothing is generated until you approve every field, so that moment is yours to choose. After generation the refund is staged; the refund policy states all three stages plainly.
Both doors, side by side
The free clinic is in Room 235 at Stanley Mosk, weekday mornings. This is here the rest of the time.
In immediate danger, call 911. The National Domestic Violence Hotline is 1-800-799-7233, or text START to 88788. LA County's 24/7 hotline is 1-800-978-3600.