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Cal. Rules of Court, rule 3.51 · Division 2. Waiver of Fees and Costs

Method of application

Verbatim from the official edition

Text — As posted by the Judicial Council of California (read October 22, 2026)

(a) An application for initial fee waiver under rule 3.55 must be made on Request to Waive Court Fees (form FW-001). An application for initial fee waiver under rule 3.56 must be made on Request to Waive Additional Court Fees (Superior Court) (form FW-002). The clerk must provide the forms and the Information Sheet on Waiver of Superior Court Fees and Costs (form FW-001-INFO) without charge to any person who requests any fee waiver application or indicates that he or she is unable to pay any court fee or cost.

(b) Applications involving (proposed) wards and conservatees

An application for initial fee waiver under rules 3.55 and 7.5 by a probate guardian or probate conservator or a petitioner for the appointment of a probate guardian or probate conservator for the benefit of a (proposed) ward or conservatee, in the guardianship or conservatorship proceeding or in a civil action or proceeding in which the guardian or conservator is a party on behalf of the ward or conservatee, must be made on Request to Waive Court Fees (Ward or Conservatee) (form FW-001-GC). An application for initial fee waiver under rule 3.56 by a guardian or conservator or a petitioner for the appointment of a guardian or conservator for the benefit of a (proposed) ward or conservatee must be made on Request to Waive Additional Court Fees (Superior Court) (Ward or Conservatee) (form FW-002-GC).

Notes and commentary — not rule text

History

(Subd (a) lettered effective September 1, 2015; adopted as unlettered subd. effective January 1, 2007.)

(Subd (b) adopted effective September 1, 2015.)

Rule 3.51 amended effective September 1, 2015; adopted effective January 1, 2007; previously amended effective January 1, 2007 and July 1, 2009.

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_51
Text hash
sha256 d4b1daa9af011a5639558307a29a274779a05cc4cd4cfe0de93a22de71aeb87a
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

This rule cites

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Cited by 1 provision

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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.