Cal. Rules of Court, rule 3.1700 · Division 17. Attorney's Fees and Costs
Prejudgment costs
Text — As posted by the Judicial Council of California (read October 22, 2026)
(a) Claiming costs
(1) Trial costs
A prevailing party who claims costs must serve and file a memorandum of costs within 15 days after the date of service of the notice of entry of judgment or dismissal by the clerk under Code of Civil Procedure section 664.5 or the date of service of written notice of entry of judgment or dismissal, or within 180 days after entry of judgment, whichever is first. The memorandum of costs must be verified by a statement of the party, attorney, or agent that to the best of his or her knowledge the items of cost are correct and were necessarily incurred in the case.
(2) Costs on default
A party seeking a default judgment who claims costs must request costs on the Request for Entry of Default (Application to Enter Default) (form CIV-100) at the time of applying for the judgment.
(b) Contesting costs
(1) Striking and taxing costs
Any notice of motion to strike or to tax costs must be served and filed 15 days after service of the cost memorandum. If the cost memorandum was served by mail, the period is extended as provided in Code of Civil Procedure section 1013. If the cost memorandum was served electronically, the period is extended as provided in Code of Civil Procedure section 1010.6(a)(3)
(2) Form of motion
Unless objection is made to the entire cost memorandum, the motion to strike or tax costs must refer to each item objected to by the same number and appear in the same order as the corresponding cost item claimed on the memorandum of costs and must state why the item is objectionable.
(3) Extensions of time
The party claiming costs and the party contesting costs may agree to extend the time for serving and filing the cost memorandum and a motion to strike or tax costs. This agreement must be confirmed in writing, specify the extended date for service, and be filed with the clerk. In the absence of an agreement, the court may extend the times for serving and filing the cost memorandum or the notice of motion to strike or tax costs for a period not to exceed 30 days.
(4) Entry of costs
After the time has passed for a motion to strike or tax costs or for determination of that motion, the clerk must immediately enter the costs on the judgment.
Notes and commentary — not rule text
History
(Subd (a) amended effective January 1, 2016; previously amended effective January 1, 2007, and July 1, 2007.)
(Subd (b) amended effective July 1, 2025; previously amended effective January 1, 2007, and January 1, 2016.)
Rule 3.1700 amended effective July 1, 2025; adopted as rule 870 effective January 1, 1987; previously amended and renumbered as rule 3.1700 effective January 1, 2007; previously amended effective July 1, 2007, and January 1, 2016.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As posted by the Judicial Council of California (read October 22, 2026)
- Official file
- https://courts.ca.gov/cms/rules/index/three/rule3_1700
- Text hash
- sha256 ef7d7bf22882666835ccb58801d70e097b0aeb24a11ae4238fce239ddee9b446
- Composed by
- compose_crc.py 2026-10-22: the Judicial Council's rule pages read paragraph by paragraph; verify_crc.py's second reading of the Council's per-title PDFs finds every paragraph
BenchPath cards that rely on this text
This rule cites
Provisions in this library that the text above cites, as it prints each citation. A range cited as “ss. 61.13-61.16” links its first and last provisions.
Cited by 2 provisions
Provisions in this library whose text cites Cal. Rules of Court, rule 3.1700. Each shows the citation as that text prints it.
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.