7 Best Divorce Lawyers in San Jose: Santa Clara County Firms for 2026
Certified specialists, trial benches and an online option, compared on equity, disclosure and cost
Since January 1, 2026, California couples who agree or expect to agree on all issues can open a divorce with a single joint petition instead of one spouse serving the other. The filing costs $870, and it changes less than it seems: the six-month waiting period still runs, both spouses still swear to full financial disclosures under penalty of perjury, and the questions that make a San Jose case hard, unvested stock, a startup stake, a house bought with one spouse’s savings, still need answers before a judge will sign.
That is why San Jose couples keep looking for the best divorce lawyer they can afford. The seven firms below give a Santa Clara County reader a real choice: two certified-specialist boutiques, two large firms with family law groups, a young two-partner practice, a solo specialist and an online firm that prices the case one step at a time.
Why San Jose couples still hire divorce lawyers in 2026
A San Jose divorce lawyer does four jobs. The first is disclosure: each spouse must serve a preliminary declaration of disclosure listing every asset, debt and income source, signed under penalty of perjury under Family Code section 2104, and a judgment can be set aside later if that list was false. The second is characterization: deciding what is community property, which the court divides in equal halves under sections 760 and 2550, and what is separate property under section 770, meaning what a spouse owned before the wedding or later received as a gift or inheritance, along with the income those assets produce. The third is support, both child and spousal, and the fourth is custody.
Equity compensation is where San Jose cases diverge from the rest of the state. Restricted stock units granted during the marriage but vesting after separation don’t sit on one side of the line, and the firms below that publish material on this subject describe time-based formulas for splitting them. Business interests need a valuation, which in most cases means a CPA or a certified valuation analyst. A lawyer who has handled those files before is the difference between a settlement built on real numbers and one built on guesses.
How the seven San Jose firms compare
| Firm | Practice strengths | Things to know |
|---|---|---|
| Marble Law | Fixed price per step; online case workspace; attorneys averaging 15+ years | Attorney assigned through matching, with a re-match guarantee in the first 30 days |
| Erickson Family Law LLP | Two certified specialists; founder’s stock, options and RSUs; business valuation | Site refers to both San Jose and Campbell |
| Law Offices of Tracy Duell-Cazes | Certified specialist since the early 2000s; RSU division; private judging and budget options | Office by appointment only; also practices in Oregon |
| Hoge Fenton | Certified specialists in a multi-practice firm; VC, options, foreign assets | Family law is one of many practice groups |
| McManis Faulkner | Trial firm with a certified-specialist family law group; contested property and custody | Litigation-focused firm |
| Feak & Revelo, LLP | Family-only two-partner firm; reimbursement claims; collaborative and litigated cases | 15+ years of combined experience |
| Law Office of John H. Perrott, APC | Certified specialist; 500+ cases; English and Chinese appointments | Solo attorney practice |
Seven San Jose divorce law firms, ranked
The entries share one layout: a short introduction, then four sections covering what the firm does, where it stands apart, what a reader should know before calling, and its consultation terms. Every fact comes from the firm’s own site.
1) Marble Law
Marble Law is the online option in this group, with a pricing model built around fixed steps. Each stage of the case carries one price, shown to the client and approved before the attorney touches it, so there’s no retainer and no meter.
Practice highlights
Divorce, custody, support and the division of property throughout Santa Clara County, handled by attorneys who hold California licenses and average 15-plus years of practice. Michael Gower, the firm’s California managing attorney, has 16 years of experience and has worked with more than 1,000 clients. A phone call, a text or an email to the legal team costs nothing extra. Disclosures, filings and status notes sit in one online workspace the client can open between meetings or at midnight.
Where it stands out
The Marble Legal Engine gives the attorney patterns from more than 130,000 completed cases, which helps flag risks in a disclosure-heavy file and decide the next filing; the client asks questions and reads updates in a single chat. The tool serves the attorney, and a lawyer still makes every call. For a six-month case with several distinct phases, knowing the price of each before it starts is the practical advantage.
Things to know
Marble assigns an attorney through its matching process rather than letting the client pick a named partner at the outset. The Attorney Match Guarantee covers a re-match within the first 30 days at no extra cost, subject to availability. Further details can be found on Marble’s downtown San Jose office page.
Fees and consults
The intake call is free. After it, the associated attorney consultation costs less than $50 and every step carries its own approved price, and there is no rate card because nothing is billed by the hour.
2) Erickson Family Law LLP
Erickson Family Law is a father-and-son partnership formed in 2020 by two State Bar certified family law specialists. Mark A. Erickson has practiced family law in San Jose and Campbell since 1979 and has held his certification since 1987; Matt A. Erickson began practicing in 2011 and was certified in 2019.
Practice highlights
The firm handles every part of a divorce and post-judgment modifications in Santa Clara County. Its divorce page walks through contested and uncontested cases, the restraining orders printed on the summons, temporary orders and bifurcation, which ends the marriage before the money issues are resolved. Sub-pages cover founder’s stock, stock options and RSUs, high-asset cases and business valuation with CPA or certified valuation analyst experts.
Where it stands out
Mark Erickson has chaired the Santa Clara County Bar Association’s Family Law Section, sat as a fee arbitrator in attorney-fee disputes and served as a special master in family cases. Super Lawyers has selected him every year since 2008, and Martindale-Hubbell rates him AV Preeminent. The firm says it treats mediation and negotiation as the best routes to settlement, and its divorce page notes that cooperating spouses can submit a stipulated judgment without appearing in court.
Things to know
The site describes the firm as based in San Jose and also refers to offices in Campbell, so confirm where you’ll meet.
Fees and consults
An initial consultation by phone or online form. Fees aren’t published.
3) Law Offices of Tracy Duell-Cazes
Tracy Duell-Cazes has practiced family law since 1989 and runs a family-only firm from 1042 W. Hedding St. in San Jose. She has been a certified family law specialist since the early 2000s and a Super Lawyers selection every year since 2009.
Practice highlights
Dedicated pages cover San Jose divorce, high-asset cases, property division, same-sex divorce, move-away disputes, private judging and parenting coordination. A separate page on stock option and RSU division explains why unvested equity complicates a split and describes the time-rule formulas courts use, which the firm calls the Hug and Nelson formulas.
Where it stands out
Duell-Cazes serves as a private settlement judge, special master and mediator, and can sign judgments as a temporary judge. She chaired the Santa Clara County Bar Association’s Family Law Executive Committee in 2018. Her “Budget Minded Representation” page lays out four lower-cost routes: limited-scope representation, consulting-attorney work, drafting-attorney work and litigating on a budget, which makes her one of the few local lawyers who publishes a plan for clients with a ceiling.
Things to know
The office operates by appointment only. Duell-Cazes was admitted in Oregon in 2024 and keeps a second office in Medford, so ask how the caseload is split.
Fees and consults
Fees aren’t published; the site accepts payment through Zelle and asks clients to contact the firm for private-judge and ADR pricing.
4) Hoge Fenton
Hoge Fenton is a 60-year-old Silicon Valley firm at 55 South Market St. whose family law group works alongside corporate, employment, estates and IP practices. The firm states that its family law attorneys are State Bar certified specialists.
Practice highlights
The family law page covers dissolutions of marriage and domestic partnerships involving large real estate holdings, family businesses, foreign citizenship, foreign assets, stock and option holdings, venture capital investment and tax issues, plus prenuptial agreements, parentage, guardianship, adoption and domestic violence. Allison Dundas, who chairs the group, lists cryptocurrency, private businesses, VC funds and executive compensation among her subjects.
Where it stands out
Dundas serves as a judge pro tem in San Mateo County and a settlement officer in Santa Clara County, holds a certificate from Harvard Law School’s Program on Negotiation, and co-wrote a guide to reimbursement claims in real estate for the certified specialists’ association. The firm belongs to Mackrell International, a network of firms in 60 countries, useful when one spouse or one asset sits abroad. Its practice page also explains what certification takes: at least five years with a quarter of the practice in family law, a day-long written exam, 45 hours of family law education every three years and favorable peer and judicial reviews.
Things to know
Family law is one practice group among many, and the group’s chair also lists the San Mateo office.
Fees and consults
Fees aren’t published.
5) McManis Faulkner
McManis Faulkner is a San Jose trial firm with more than 50 years of history, based at 50 West San Fernando Street. Its Family Law Group is led by Brandon Rose, a partner and certified family law specialist.
Practice highlights
Rose handles complex family cases: property and business disputes, contested custody and support. His bio lists a reported appellate decision, In re Marriage of Whitman (2023), and results that include a trial and appeal confirming a $30 million hedge fund as community property, and a breach-of-fiduciary-duty case over more than $500,000 in concealed community funds that ended in a full forfeiture award adjusted to almost $800,000. Those are the firm’s own accounts of past cases, and no result predicts another.
Where it stands out
The bench is the point. A family law group inside a litigation firm brings trial lawyers, appellate lawyers and investigators to a divorce where one spouse is hiding money or a business valuation will be fought over. Rose’s honors include Best Lawyers in America for family law mediation, the Daily Journal’s Top Family Lawyer list from 2022 through 2026 and Northern California Super Lawyers. He also practiced business litigation before family law and worked in Tokyo, which the firm ties to its international cases.
Things to know
Litigation is the firm’s center of gravity, so a couple headed for a quick stipulated judgment may not need a trial bench.
Fees and consults
Fees aren’t published.
6) Feak & Revelo, LLP
Feak & Revelo is a family-only firm founded by Samantha Feak and Alexis Revelo at 84 W Santa Clara St. downtown. Both partners were Northern California Super Lawyers Rising Stars from 2022 through 2024, and the firm counts 15-plus years of combined experience.
Practice highlights
The San Jose divorce page is one of the clearest local explanations of the mechanics: community versus separate property, fights over the date of separation, the four stages of a California case, the 30-day deadline to respond (45 with a notice and acknowledgment of receipt) and preliminary disclosures. A separate page covers business-owner divorces. The firm handles collaborative divorce, arbitration and settlement conferences as well as litigation.
Where it stands out
Its worked example of reimbursement claims is the kind of detail that saves money: a spouse who moves out may hold a Watts claim for half the rental value of the home the other spouse keeps, and an Epstein claim for mortgage payments made after separation with separate earnings. Feak is a former sexual assault prosecutor from Milwaukee; Revelo has practiced family law and nothing else and has appeared in eight Bay Area counties. The firm describes an onboarding process built around the family’s history and what has and hasn’t worked before.
Things to know
A younger firm than the others here, measured by its own experience figure.
Fees and consults
Free consultation; fees aren’t published.
7) Law Office of John H. Perrott, APC
John H. Perrott has practiced since 2001, has been a certified family law specialist since April 2011 and opened his own firm in 2016 at 1625 The Alameda. His divorce page says he has handled more than 500 cases.
Practice highlights
Divorce, custody and visitation, child and spousal support, asset division and prenuptial agreements, for clients in Santa Clara, Alameda, San Mateo and Contra Costa counties. The divorce page addresses the emotional stages of a case and the errors people make in them, which is rare on a lawyer’s site.
Where it stands out
Perrott sits on the Santa Clara County Bar Association’s Family Law Executive Committee, has moderated continuing-education programs with the county’s family law judges and has taught courses on discovery and social media. Appointments run in-office or online, in English or Chinese, and the legal assistant and paralegal speak Mandarin. The firm says it settles the vast majority of its cases without trial.
Things to know
A solo attorney practice. The firm name appears in a few variants across its site; the one above is from its divorce page.
Fees and consults
A free 30-minute family law consultation; fees aren’t published.
Divorce in Santa Clara County, step by step
The joint petition, summary dissolution and the quiet divorce
People searching for a “silent divorce” in California won’t find a procedure by that name. The label describes a low-conflict split, and the state now offers three routes for one. The joint petition, available since January 1, 2026, lets both spouses file forms FL-700 and FL-710 together for an $870 fee; they can’t get temporary orders and must agree on every final term. Summary dissolution under Family Code section 2400 fits marriages of five years or less with no children, no real estate, community property under $57,000 and debts under $7,000 as of September 2026, with spousal support waived; either spouse can cancel it during the waiting period. The third route is an ordinary case that ends in a stipulated judgment, which may never require a court appearance.
Six months, and where the clock starts
No California divorce becomes final until six months after the respondent is served or first appears, whichever comes first, under section 2339. Legal separation has no waiting period. To file at all, one spouse must have lived in California for six months and in Santa Clara County for three under section 2320. The only grounds are irreconcilable differences or permanent legal incapacity, per section 2310. In Santa Clara County, the standard petition filing fee is $435, while the new joint petition costs $870 because it covers both petitioners.
What is divided and what isn’t
The court splits the community estate down the middle unless the spouses agree otherwise. Separate property stays with its owner: assets held before the marriage, gifts, inheritances and what they earn. Commingled accounts and equity granted before separation but vesting after it are where tracing and formulas come in, and the Duell-Cazes and Erickson pages are the local references on that math. A marriage of 10 years or more is generally presumed to be of long duration under section 4336, which can allow the court to retain jurisdiction over spousal support unless the parties agree otherwise or the court terminates support.
The rules that bite before a lawyer is hired
Once the summons is served, automatic restraining orders bar either spouse from moving children out of state, changing insurance beneficiaries, transferring or hiding property or altering nonprobate transfers, and require five business days’ notice before any extraordinary spending. Under-reporting on the disclosure is perjury, and a judgment can be reopened over it. San Jose cases are heard at the Family Justice Center Courthouse, 201 N. First Street, where the court’s Self-Help Center also sits.
Picking your San Jose divorce lawyer
Match the firm to the hardest question in your case. If that question is a block of unvested RSUs or a founder’s stake, Erickson, Duell-Cazes and Hoge Fenton publish the most on the subject. If it’s a spouse who won’t disclose, McManis Faulkner’s litigation bench and Feak & Revelo’s grasp of reimbursement claims matter more than any office address. If it’s language, Perrott’s Mandarin-speaking staff answers it.
If the hardest question is cost, any best divorce lawyer San Jose shortlist should include the one firm whose price you know before each step begins. Marble Law is the only firm here that works that way, with California attorneys averaging 15-plus years and a workspace that keeps a six-month case visible from start to judgment. Ask any firm you shortlist how it charges, what the disclosure phase will cost and who will handle your equity questions, and choose the one that answers all three without hedging.