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Sixth Appellate District (Circuit 6) · official circuit site ✓
Preview of 25 instruments. All 42 county-scoped rules → search all three layers.
Guidelines and protocols of the court's Complex Civil Litigation Departments: contact information, courtroom demeanor, general matters, ex parte applications, discovery and informal discovery conferences, law and motion and tentative rulings, case management conferences and orders, mandatory settlement conferences, mini-trials, pre-trial conferences, trials and trial exhibits; the plaintiff must serve the guidelines with the summons and complaint.
Rescinds the court's General Order of November 14, 2024 on operating electronic recording equipment for specified proceedings involving fundamental liberty interests when no court reporter is available; the court will follow Family Violence Appellate Project v. Superior Court of Contra Costa County (S288176), issued August 10, 2026.
The court's Probate Rules (effective July 1, 2026; rules 1–20): administration and general policies, pretrial motions and ex parte proceedings, ADR, appointment of executors and administrators, bonds, independent administration, sales, petitions for instructions, accounts, fees and distribution, spousal property petitions, conservatorships, guardianships, guardians ad litem and compromises, referees, emancipation, trusts, LPS accounts, quarantine habeas petitions, attorney fee disputes and privately retained court reporters.
The court's Juvenile Rules (effective July 1, 2026; rules 1–4): general provisions of the juvenile court, rules for juvenile dependency proceedings, rules for juvenile justice proceedings, and the relationships among the divisions of the superior court.
The court's General Court and Administration Rules (effective July 1, 2026; rules 1–11): juror lists for trials away from the county seat, recording devices in courthouse facilities, access, fairness and prevention of bias, temporary judges and settlement attorneys, food in court, electronic filing, privately retained court reporters, court security video recordings, remote proceedings, artificial intelligence (including disclosure of AI-produced ex parte material), and applications by vexatious litigants to file new litigation.
The court's Family Rules (effective July 1, 2026; rules 1–9): general information, custody and visitation, child, spousal and partner support, attorney's fees and costs, law and motion, case status conferences, settlement and trial, the family law facilitator, default or uncontested judgments, and counsel for minor children.
The court's Criminal Rules (effective July 1, 2026; rules 1–18): general provisions, appearances, courthouses and calendars, pleadings and filing, use of juvenile records, interpreters, calendar setting, proposed orders, writs, sound recordings, traffic trial by declaration, ancillary defense expenses, sealing of records, Proposition 47 requests and property bonds.
The court's Civil Rules (effective July 1, 2026; rules 1–20): the differential civil case management system, alternative dispute resolution and the judges' ADR and civil early settlement conference programs, remote proceedings, format of documents, ex parte applications, pretrial motions, trial calendar and assignment and mandatory settlement conferences, non-CEQA writ petitions, sanctions, unlawful detainers, the schedule of reasonable attorney's fees, payment-of-money orders, interpreters, small claims, and court communication regarding restraining orders.
The court's Appellate Rules (effective July 1, 2026; rules 1–3): applicability, rules for the Appellate Division, and rules in the superior court for appeals to the Court of Appeal.
No civil assessment is imposed in criminal cases where payments became delinquent between January 1 and May 31, 2026 (any imposed are commuted) or in traffic cases unadjudicated on June 15, 2026; from June 1, 2026 the imposition of civil assessments in criminal and traffic matters is suspended until further order.
The court's policy for privately retained court reporters in any courtroom without an official reporter: the case types in which the court endeavors to provide reporters, arranging and paying for a private reporter, appointment as official reporter pro tempore (form CV-5100), and the reporter's obligations.
No photographs, video or audio recordings may be taken in any courtroom, courthouse facility or courthouse entrance or exit, or of court proceedings over any audio or video platform, without a court order (except copying court records under Government Code section 68150); violations may be referred for prosecution (Penal Code § 632). Supersedes every prior order on recording devices in courthouse facilities.
Unless a judicial officer directs otherwise, custody matters set on Department 72's Thursday 11:00 a.m. calendar may be conducted remotely without prior court approval, on the Uniform Digital Courtroom (UDC) platform.
The Family Division's procedures for long cause hearings and trials: meet-and-confer duties, time estimates, in-person appearance, pre-trial submissions (trial briefs, exhibit and witness lists), exhibits, witnesses and experts, and trial conduct.
The complex departments' guidelines for preliminary and final approval of class action settlements: noticed motions under rule 3.769, claims-made settlements, class counsel's qualifications, reasonableness of the amount, tax allocation, releases, settlement administration, notice procedure and content, claim and exclusion forms, incentive awards, attorneys' fees, the proposed order, cy pres, court contact language for notices, and final approval.
Because traffic calendars moved to the Family Justice Center and South County courthouses when the Santa Clara traffic courthouse closed, the court waives for good cause the limitation of California Rules of Court, rule 2.818(b)(1) for temporary judges in all traffic matters.
Expressive activity at the court's courthouses and in remote proceedings: definitions (expressive activity, walkway, curtilage); prohibitions inside courthouses, on exterior court property and walkways, against obstructing or approaching people entering or waiting in line, in or near courthouses and in remote proceedings, and against amplification; exclusions; delegation; courtroom; compliance with law enforcement; posting and service; violations and penalties.
The Juvenile Justice Court's protocol implementing Welfare and Institutions Code section 709 as amended by AB 1214 (it supersedes all prior protocols): a process overview and flowchart; informal resolution; the legal standard for juvenile competence; expression of doubt and suspension of proceedings; appointment of evaluators from the Juvenile Competency Panel and separately retained experts; the method of evaluation and the report; the readiness hearing and the juvenile competency hearing (timing, judicial officer, burden of proof, capacity, trial procedure, findings, re-hearings); the competency planning hearing; placement; remediation review hearings every 30 days in custody and 45 days out; the 6- and 12-month remediation hearings; secure confinement up to 18 months; developmentally disabled minors; the minor's statements in later proceedings; and Appendix 1, a checklist for evaluators.
The Santa Clara County Bar Association's Code of Professionalism (1992, revised 2015 and 2022) serves as a guide to the court's judges when adjudicating disputes among attorneys; the order is appended to the Local Rules.
Under Welfare and Institutions Code section 208.5 as re-enacted by Senate Bill 823, a person under 25 whose case originated in juvenile court remains in a juvenile facility unless the person is 19 or older and the juvenile court, considering the section 208.5(c)(1)–(5) factors, orders adult housing — including youth transferred to criminal court, until sentenced; juvenile-court warrants mean the person is taken to Juvenile Hall unless 25 or older, absent an arrest not originating in juvenile court; a person released on an adult matter and held only on a juvenile matter is housed in Juvenile Hall; and the Sheriff's Office works with the Juvenile Probation Department on immediate return.
Defense counsel for a youthful offender parole–eligible defendant, or for an eligible inmate serving a sentence for a Santa Clara County conviction, may inspect, copy and use documents from the client's juvenile case file to prepare a Franklin mitigation packet without separately filing a Welfare and Institutions Code section 827 petition; counsel must redact identifying information of victims, siblings and co-participants who were under 18, may share the redacted documents with participating experts (who return them), must destroy the documents after the hearing, and may use the information for no other purpose.
On a party's request or the court's motion, a civil case may be sent to an early mandatory settlement conference before trial, conducted by experienced settlement attorneys (California Rules of Court, rule 2.812); the parties choose a settlement attorney from the court's list within 10 days and file a five-page statement five court days before the conference; the pre-trial MSC under Local Civil Rule 9 still proceeds.
Where the court's courtesy notices misstate the bail amount (fees due) on a traffic citation, effective March 12, 2019 the court accepts a lower stated amount as payment in full and collects only the actual amount due where the notice states more.
An order to seal made on form JV-590, JV-596 or JV-755 under Welfare and Institutions Code section 781, 786 or 793(c) after January 1, 2015 that directs the Department of Family and Children's Services to seal its records reaches the juvenile justice documents DFCS obtained through joint case work under the Dually-Involved Protocol; and under a JV-596 order DFCS may access a sealed record only to determine an appropriate court-ordered placement or service, sharing it only with the court and the parties (section 786(g)(1)(H)).
The Office of the County Counsel — attorneys, paralegals and investigators defending the County or its employees against litigation, claims or potential claims stemming from a dependency action — may inspect and copy the juvenile case file without filing a JV-570 petition; documents the court releases on a JV-570 petition relating to such a civil suit are also released to the Lead Deputy County Counsel; section 827(a)(4) privacy protection is unchanged and no party may further disseminate released documents without court approval.