To enhance efficiency, the California State judicial system performs annual updates to a variety of court forms. This year, California’s Judicial Council has updated their form requirements in a number of legal areas. New form requirements were enacted January 1, 2015. If you are a legal professional or a California resident with a legal issue, you need to be aware of the following changes.
Revisions
For family law cases, Form FL-115 for Proof of Service Summons has been revised to remove the Family Law Summons’ non-existing capacity notice. Similar forms, the POS-040 for service on opposing counsel and POS-050 for Proof of Electronic Service, have also been changed. The line “not a party to the action” was removed from these forms after a review of the statutes revealed that parties are not barred from serving these documents. Click here for a full list of revised forms.
New Rule Amendments
The Judicial Council has also posted new rule amendments that took effect at the start of the year. These amendments include new mandatory forms which were formerly option. Requirements for domestic partnership, service and filing of briefs, and forms related to extending the time of appeal, were also changed. For a full list of rule changes, click here.
New Forms
New forms were added to a variety of legal areas, including: estates, juvenile law, criminal, and appellate cases. For example, CR-126, Application for Extension of Time to File Brief was updated. The new form is the only permissible form to use in criminal cases in 2015. Similar forms were added for juvenile cases. For the full list of added forms, click here.
Filing the wrong forms will have negative consequences in court. To ensure your case can be filed and to avoid a possible dismissal or delay, you need to use the most current forms. Please review the changes above and access the updated form list to ensure your case is handled smoothly.
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