When can I apply for my California LMFT?

When you reach every one of the Board's minimums: 3,000 hours of experience over at least 104 weeks, 52 of them with individual or triadic supervision, 1,750 hours of direct counseling with 500 of them with couples, families and children, and 1,700 hours after your degree.

• At least 3,000 hours of supervised experience over at least 104 weeks; at least 1,750 hours of direct clinical counseling, 500 of them with couples, families and children; at least 1,700 hours after the degree; and no more than 40 hours in any seven consecutive days (B&P 4980.43(c)(2); the calculator counts calendar weeks).
• Supervision is counted in units: one hour of individual or triadic supervision, or two hours of group supervision with no more than eight people (B&P 4980.43.2(b)(1)). At least 52 of the weeks need individual or triadic supervision. An associate with more than 10 hours of direct counseling in a week gets at least one additional hour of supervisor contact for that setting (B&P 4980.43.2(a)(3)); like the app, the calculator doesn't count a week without it, the safer reading.
• Hours older than 6 years when the Board receives your application fall away; from January 1, 2027, 7 years (B&P 4980.43(c)(7), as amended by AB 1598). The limit is the one in force on the day the Board receives your application; before you send it, the calculator uses today, as the app does.
• It assumes the same week every week from now on, in one exempt setting, with a qualifying supervisor who signs every week's log, and your registration renewed on time each year (a lapsed registration stops the clock until it is renewed). Weeks off, a lighter stretch, a gap, or a week your supervisor hasn't signed move your date later.
• It counts your hours from your registration. Hours as a trainee, or between your degree and your registration under the 90-day rule, can count too; the calculator leaves them out, and the app counts them.
• After the hours and weeks come the Board's review of your Application for Licensure and the LMFT Clinical Exam; you pass the Law and Ethics Exam first. The Board decides every application.

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Sources

• BBS: Statutes and Regulations (January 2026) (opens in a new tab)
• BBS: FAQ for MFT trainees and AMFTs (Rev. 02/2025) (opens in a new tab)
• BBS: Handbook for Future LMFTs (opens in a new tab)
• BBS Weekly Log of Experience Hours, 37A-525 (PDF) (opens in a new tab)
• AB 1598 (Chapter 528, Statutes of 2026), chaptered text (opens in a new tab)