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The summons directs the defendant to file a written response to the complaint within 30 days after service, warns that default may be entered on the plaintiff's application otherwise, and carries the statutory notices in English and Spanish; a summons in a Judicial Council-approved form complies. As amended effective January 1, 2026, the section also directs the Judicial Council to create, by January 1, 2027, a mandatory multilingual summons form for residential unlawful detainer actions.
California > Superior courts (civil actions)
(a) Except as otherwise required by statute, a summons shall be directed to the defendant, signed by the clerk and issued under the seal of the court in which the action is pending, and it shall contain: (1) The title of the court in which the action is pending. (2) The names of the parties to the action. (3) A direction that the defendant file with the court a written pleading in response to the complaint within 30 days after summons is served on the defendant. (4) A notice that, unless the defendant so responds, their default will be entered upon application by the plaintiff, and the plaintiff may apply to the court for the relief demanded in the complaint, which could result in garnishment of wages, taking of money or property, or other relief. (5) The following statement in boldface type: “You may seek the advice of an attorney in any matter connected with the complaint or this summons. Such attorney should be consulted promptly so that your pleading may be filed or entered within the time required by this summons.” (6) The following introductory legend at the top of the summons above all other matter, in boldface type, in English and Spanish: “Notice! You have been sued. The court may decide against you without your being heard unless you respond within 30 days. Read information below.” (b) Each county may, by ordinance, require that the legend contained in paragraph (6) of subdivision (a) be set forth in every summons issued out of the courts of that county in any additional foreign language, if the legend in the additional foreign language is set forth in the summons in the same manner as required in that paragraph. (c) A summons in a form approved by the Judicial Council is deemed to comply with this section. (d) For actions regarding residential property brought pursuant to Section 1161, the Judicial Council shall, by January 1, 2027, create for mandatory use a single summons form that includes the information described in paragraphs (3) to (6), inclusive, of subdivision (a) in English, Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, and Korean. The Judicial Council shall publish this form on its internet website.
30 calendar days after
Response to the complaint: within 30 days after the summons is served
Trigger: Summons served
Code Civ. Proc., § 412.20(a)(3)
Computed periods follow Code Civ. Proc. §§ 12–12c — a period in court days skips weekends and judicial holidays, a period before a hearing counts backward from it (§ 12c), and a day a court is closed counts as a holiday (§ 12b); always confirm holiday calendars for the specific court.
Reviewer note: Held dark at the California go-live (owner ruling 2026-10-13, gate item A.13): this card rests on a section page read on 2026-09-28 from leginfo.legislature.ca.gov, whose robots.txt disallows every agent ("User-agent: * / Disallow: /", read 2026-10-03; a Cloudflare challenge page on 2026-10-14). It is re-published only after its text is re-verified, verbatim, from a channel robots.txt permits. Re-sourced 2026-10-22 (California parity Phase 4; the owner's ruling of 2026-10-13 on gate item A.13: re-publish once re-verified, verbatim, from a channel robots.txt permits): every paragraph of this card's text appears verbatim in Code Civ. Proc., § 412.20 as the Legislative Counsel publishes it in the official weekly code archive (downloads.leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/pubinfo_2025.zip, extract of 2026-10-18; LAW_SECTION_TBL row CCP412.20.20253441, version id_ac25f0a8-c40a-11f0-975c-e301db986e9c; the host serves no robots.txt). The link stays the section's page on the official site, which robots.txt closes to automated reads; the archive is the verification receipt.
1 verbatim requirement on continuances in JEREMY I. FRANKER's division.
1 verbatim requirement on continuances.
Judge Weiss: case law and memos to chambers five business days before the hearing, and every exhibit a party intends to use listed on a notice of discovery and provided to the other side five business days out.