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How to Use this Web Site

Welcome!

Santa Clara Superior Court
Self Service Website

This site has information and forms for people who are representing themselves in Court. The information at the Self Service Website is not legal advice. This site is also in Spanish and Vietnamese: Esta página está en español; Trang này bằng tiếng Việt.

Trying to locate a courthouse? Visit our main site for listings of  court phone numbers and courthouse locations.

Looking for a form? Refer to our Form Tips page. State forms are on the Judicial Council site and local forms are on the Court's main site.

Need help in person? For additional help after reviewing this website, you can:

• Come to the Self-Help Center office in downtown San Jose, where the Family Law Facilitator is also located (as well as a drop-off Children's Waiting Room)
   
• Come to the Restraining Order Help Center
   
• Get help at the counter from clerks at the courthouses (link to list of courthouses, on our main website)

Need to contact the Court? See our contact page for information on how to phone, visit, or email the Court

Looking for information about a particular case or hearing date? Visit our public access Case Info website. Case and calendar information is available for civil, family, probate and small claims cases. However, you will not be able to look up information on cases that are confidential, including cases involving adoptions, mental health issues and custody petitions for parents who have not married. Traffic and criminal cases are not yet online.

Need legal advice but can’t afford a lawyer? You can talk to a local legal aid group. You can get a referral to a lawyer or legal aid group from the local bar association. (See other web links at the bottom of this page.) If you do not understand something on this site, or if you have trouble filling out your court forms, talk to a lawyer. If you are representing yourself, and you fill out your own court forms, we recommend you have a lawyer look at them before you file them.

There are certain ways we can and cannot help you. Here are some.

We can:

• Give you the Santa Clara County Bar Association lawyer referral service phone number.

• Explain general Court rules, procedures and practices.

• Give you Court schedules.

• Explain how to schedule your case.

• Give you information from your case file.

• Give you samples of Court forms, if we have them.

• Answer most questions about Court deadlines and how to calculate them.

• Check your Court forms to make sure they are complete. We will check for signatures, notarization, correct county name, correct case number and if you have all the attachments you need.

We cannot:

• Tell you if you should bring your case to Court or not.

• Tell you what words to use on your Court forms.

• Change an order signed by a judge

• Tell you what to say in Court.

• Talk to the judge for you.

• Give you an opinion about what will happen if you bring your case to Court.

• Let you talk to the judge outside of Court.

You can get more help at these websites:

• Superior Court of California (County of Santa Clara) Home Page, the Court's main website.  
• Public Access Case Info Home Page, the Court's site that provides online case and calendar information (for Civil, Family, Probate, Small Claims, and Traffic cases that are not confidential)
• County of Santa Clara Home Page
• The Santa Clara County Bar Association. Choose "Legal Consumer Resource Center" for information about how to find a lawyer.
• Web Site of the Judicial Council of California. Click on the "Self Help Center".
• LawHelpCalifornia.org - helping low-income Californians solve legal problems.
• http://www.sucorte.ca.gov: informacion legal gratis ahora disponible para la comunidad de habla hispana.

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