Legal Question in Family Law in California

You may not have a choice. There are no papers to sign in the initial stages. ( maybe if you cone to an agreement) If he files and serves you properly, the clock starts ticking. If you don't file a response, you lose by default. California has a mandatory six month waiting period other than that stalling tactics may cost you more money than its worth.

There are all sorts of things you can do to stall the inevitable and most will cost you money. But in the end your husband will get the divorce. You should sit down with a family law attorney and discuss the matter before you do anything else.

You can't prevent a divorce from taking place in California, and the only papers that you sign to get divorced is a settlement agreement, which is not required (but a good idea.)

All the previous answers are correct, particularly the one about you losing by default if you don't respond once he serves you with a petition for dissolution of marriage. The idea out there that you can stop a divorce if you don't "sign the papers" is completely false. If you reach a marital settlement agreement and then refuse to sign it and the related papers to turn it into a final divorce, you can slow things down because the other side will keep waiting for you to sign it. Eventually, however, they will get tired of waiting and will ask for a trial setting. At that point the court will simply set a trial date, hold a trial to determine the distribution of assets and debts, set child custody and support if there are children, and enter a judgment of divorce, without you signing a thing. The right to a divorce is absolute if either party wants it.