San Bernardino County Superior Court — Family Law Policy FL-002… — CA · BenchPath

San Bernardino County Superior Court — Family Law Policy FL-002 - Mandatory Settlement Conferences and Voluntary Settlement Conferences

High confidence· verified October 7, 2026Divisional InstructionsFamily Law Policy FL-002 - Mandatory Settlement Conferences and Voluntary Settlement Conferences, Superior Court of California, County of San Bernardino; posted on the court's website at https://sanbernardino.courts.ca.gov/system/files/fl-002.pdf, fetched 2026-10-07.

Summary

Family Law Policy FL-002 (effective May 18, 2017, until rescinded) on mandatory and voluntary settlement conferences in family law: the court may set mandatory and voluntary settlement conferences; counsel and the parties must personally attend the Mandatory Settlement Conference (MSC) with full authority to settle; meeting and conferring before the conference (not required in domestic violence cases); and the settlement statement brief and its contents, with a current Income and Expense Declaration served and filed separately.

Applies to

California > Fourth Appellate District > San Bernardino County > Superior Court of California, County of San Bernardino

Requirement

SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA COUNTY OF SAN BERNARDINO FAMILY LAW POLICY Effective Date: May 18, 2017 Expiration Date: Until Rescinded Approved by: ______________________________________ Policy: Mandatory Settlement Conferences and Voluntary Settlement Conferences – Family Law Policy #: FL-002 Revised: Replaces: Purpose: Is to negotiate a possible settlement of the case in whole or in part. Policy and Procedures: a. On the court’s own motion or at the request of any party, the court may set one or more mandatory settlement conferences and/or voluntary settlement conferences. b. Settlement Conference Attendance: Absent a court order for good cause, counsel and the parties must personally attend the Mandatory Settlement Conference (MSC). The parties and counsel in attendance at the MSC must have full authority to settle the case. If parties agree to participate in voluntary settlement conference with the court, they are expected to attend as to not waste the courts resources. c. Preparation for Settlement Conference All parties and all attorneys are required to meet and confer in person, by telephone, or as ordered by the court, before the settlement conference. During this time, parties must discuss and make a good faith attempt to settle all issues, even if a complete settlement is not possible and only conditional agreements are made. The requirement to meet and confer does not apply to cases involving domestic violence. The court may require each party to serve and file a settlement statement brief prior to the settlement conference. In lieu of individual settlement statements or briefs, the parties may serve and file a joint settlement statement or brief. All briefs must contain: 1. Names of all parties and their respective counsel 2. Statement of procedural posture of case (i.e., motions heard to date, discovery completed and/or scheduled with dates for completion) 3. Statement of facts 4. State of Issues to be determined, including a brief, specific statement as the party’s proposal on each issue and reasons 5. Statement regarding status of settlement discussions including results of meet and confer meeting and statement of last offer made 6. Current Income and Expense Declaration (served and filed separate from brief) 7. Time estimate for trial

Source of truth

SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA COUNTY OF SAN BERNARDINO FAMILY LAW POLICY Effective Date: May 18, 2017 Expiration Date: Until Rescinded Approved by: ______________________________________ Policy: Mandatory Settlement Conferences and Voluntary Settlement Conferences – Family Law Policy #: FL-002 Revised: Replaces: Purpose: Is to negotiate a possible settlement of the case in whole or in part. Policy

Official source: Superior Court of California, County of San Bernardino — court website
Source health: Healthy · checked September 28, 2026
Effective date: May 18, 2017
Last verified: October 7, 2026benchpath-ca-t4-san-bernardino-2026-10-07

Reviewer note: Composed 2026-10-07 (California T4 San Bernardino build 2026-10-07) from BenchPath custody ca/t4/ca-san-bernardino/docs/fl-002.pdf (208369 bytes, sha256 f0b70051a375b6b0f611c606ec6a5b6b0f56b2a659bcf5be07632942a3e651d9; 1 page) with the shared verbatim composer (v2 reflow): page marks and running headers removed as chrome; lines reflowed into the document's paragraphs; proof 1 (whitespace-only) and proof 2 (same character multiset as the text layer minus chrome) pass. Documented settings (whitespace-only or same-character changes; the proofs hold): ruled tables read cell by cell; 3 whitespace-only fixes read on the page. Local Rule 1519 (Chapter 15) provides that status conferences and mandatory settlement conferences in family law cases shall be governed by the family law policy; the court posts this policy on its Local Court Policies page (captured 2026-10-07).