Santa Cruz County trial document templates

Not legal advice. Rules attested September 29, 2026; last full pass August 17, 2026. Verify every date yourself. Read the full disclaimer

Each verified rule carries its own date on the methodology page, all of them September 29, 2026: the date the maintaining attorney last attested it. The last full pass, signed off on August 17, 2026, checked the rules against their official sources (the code, the California Rules of Court, or for court holidays the Judicial Council calendar), with the exceptions listed on the about page. Rules still awaiting sign-off are listed on the methodology page as not yet verified. County local rules are paraphrased summaries. Individual department and judge standing orders are included only where the court publishes them and we have read the document, so assume your own department has requirements beyond what you see here. Verify every date against the operative code sections, your court's rules and your department's own order before relying on it. Using this site creates no attorney-client relationship.

14 documents, 6 required sections, taken from Superior Court of California, County of Santa Cruz's own published rules and read September 14, 2026. Each one downloads as California pleading paper with this court's required sections already placed, so the document cannot silently omit one.

A blank template is easy to find anywhere. What is hard to find is which sections this court requires inside the document, because that lives in a local rule nobody indexes. Every heading below is cited to the subdivision it came from, and the rule's own sentence prints beside it in the reference sheet so you can check your work.

Download these as templates

Every document below comes out on California pleading paper, 28 numbered lines down the left, with this court's own required sections already placed as headings. Take the Word version to draft in and the PDF to print. Fill in your details once and they carry across every template on the site.

Your details optional, blanks print as ruled lines

These stay in this browser. They are not sent anywhere, and the file is built on this machine, so a case name never reaches our server.

CourthouseDepartmentJudgeCase nameCase numberClientClient is theOpposing partyTrial dateConference dateFirmAttorneyState Bar numberEmailPhone

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Confidential Mediation BriefEach party, 1 required section. At least 5 court days before the mediation date.
Administrative RecordPreparer not stated. Not stated in the local rule, which governs the form of the record rather than its date.
Trial NotebookPlaintiff. 21 days before the date of the hearing, or when the Reply Brief is filed, whichever is later.
Excerpts of the Key Administrative RecordPrepared jointly. 21 days before the date of the hearing, or when the Reply Brief is filed, whichever is later.
Proposed Jury InstructionsEach party. No later than 12 noon on the day of the Calendar Call, which is the Thursday two weeks before the trial date.
Motions in LimineEach party, 2 required sections. No later than 12 noon on the day of the Calendar Call, which is the Thursday two weeks before the trial date.
Witness ListEach party. No later than 12 noon on the day of the Calendar Call, which is the Thursday two weeks before the trial date.
Exhibit ListEach party, 1 required section. No later than 12 noon on the day of the Calendar Call, which is the Thursday two weeks before the trial date.
Trial BriefEach party, 1 required section. No later than 12 noon on the day of the Calendar Call in a long cause trial, and at least 5 court days before the trial date in a short cause trial.
Proposed Jury Voir Dire and QuestionnairesEach party. No later than 12 noon on the day of the Calendar Call, which is the Thursday two weeks before the trial date.
Proposed Statement of the CaseEach party. No later than 12 noon on the day of the Calendar Call, which is the Thursday two weeks before the trial date.
Proposed Special Verdict FormsEach party. No later than 12 noon on the day of the Calendar Call, which is the Thursday two weeks before the trial date.
Evidence Submission for Parties Appearing RemotelyEach party, 1 required section. 7 court days before a civil short cause trial; in a long cause trial the assigned trial judge sets the date once a courtroom is assigned.
Written Transcription of an Audio RecordingPreparer not stated. Whenever the audio recording is offered for admission into evidence.

Everything this court requires in one editable document, with each rule quoted and cited.

What each document has to carry

Confidential Mediation Brief

Prepared by each party. Lodged, at least 5 court days before the mediation date. Applies to civil cases in which the parties stipulate into the court's Judicial Mediation Program. Santa Cruz Superior Court Local Rule 7.1.03(a)

Face page statement of who attends and how
- whether counsel will participate in the mediation in person or remotely
- whether the person with authority to settle the matter will participate in person or remotely

Administrative Record

The rule does not say who prepares it. Lodged, not stated in the local rule, which governs the form of the record rather than its date. Applies to CEQA petitions only. Santa Cruz Superior Court Local Rule 2.11.02

The rule cited above requires this document and does not say what goes in it. That is the rule's silence, not a gap here. Your department's order is where the contents will be.

Trial Notebook

Prepared by plaintiff. Lodged, 21 days before the date of the hearing, or when the Reply Brief is filed, whichever is later. Applies to CEQA petitions only. Santa Cruz Superior Court Local Rule 2.11.04

The rule cited above requires this document and does not say what goes in it. That is the rule's silence, not a gap here. Your department's order is where the contents will be.

Excerpts of the Key Administrative Record

Prepared jointly. Lodged, 21 days before the date of the hearing, or when the Reply Brief is filed, whichever is later. Applies to CEQA petitions only. Santa Cruz Superior Court Local Rule 2.11.05

The rule cited above requires this document and does not say what goes in it. That is the rule's silence, not a gap here. Your department's order is where the contents will be.

Proposed Jury Instructions

Prepared by each party. Filed, no later than 12 noon on the day of the Calendar Call, which is the Thursday two weeks before the trial date. Applies to long cause civil jury trials. Santa Cruz Superior Court Local Rule 2.2.02(c)

The rule cited above requires this document and does not say what goes in it. That is the rule's silence, not a gap here. Your department's order is where the contents will be.

Motions in Limine

Prepared by each party. Filed, no later than 12 noon on the day of the Calendar Call, which is the Thursday two weeks before the trial date. Applies to long cause civil trials. Santa Cruz Superior Court Local Rule 2.2.02(c)

Form of each in limine motion
- the motion is in writing
- the motion is limited to a single subject
- the motions are numbered consecutively
- the motions may be electronically filed as one document
Response to an opposing party's motions in limine
- filed at least 2 court days before the scheduled date for the hearing on motions in limine, or as the assigned trial judge orders
- addresses only the subject of the motion it answers
- carries the same number as the motion it answers

Witness List

The rule cited above requires this document and does not say what goes in it. That is the rule's silence, not a gap here. Your department's order is where the contents will be.

Exhibit List

Exhibit list accompanying evidence stored on a removable storage device
- each exhibit on the device
- the exhibits stated in the order in which they appear on the device

Trial Brief

Prepared by each party. Filed, no later than 12 noon on the day of the Calendar Call in a long cause trial, and at least 5 court days before the trial date in a short cause trial. Applies to all civil trials, court trials and jury trials alike. Santa Cruz Superior Court Local Rule 2.2.02(c), cross-referenced by Rule 2.2.06

Summary of the facts and the issues
- the facts expected to be presented
- the issues to be tried

Proposed Jury Voir Dire and Questionnaires

The rule cited above requires this document and does not say what goes in it. That is the rule's silence, not a gap here. Your department's order is where the contents will be.

Proposed Statement of the Case

The rule cited above requires this document and does not say what goes in it. That is the rule's silence, not a gap here. Your department's order is where the contents will be.

Proposed Special Verdict Forms

The rule cited above requires this document and does not say what goes in it. That is the rule's silence, not a gap here. Your department's order is where the contents will be.

Evidence Submission for Parties Appearing Remotely

Prepared by each party. Filed and served, 7 court days before a civil short cause trial; in a long cause trial the assigned trial judge sets the date once a courtroom is assigned. Applies to non-criminal trials and evidentiary hearings where a party appears remotely or has received notice of an opposing party's intent to appear remotely. Superior Court of Santa Cruz County, Evidence Submission for Non-Criminal Trials and Evidentiary Hearings for Parties Appearing Remotely (2/04/2022), case-type deadline table

Form of the electronic submission
- all exhibits converted to electronic means where feasible
- a single PDF document
- a cover sheet
- an index identifying the items
- proof of service, attached or submitted as a separate document

Written Transcription of an Audio Recording

The rule does not say who prepares it. Whenever the audio recording is offered for admission into evidence. Applies to any trial or hearing at which an audio recording is offered into evidence. Santa Cruz Superior Court Local Rule 9.1.01

The rule cited above requires this document and does not say what goes in it. That is the rule's silence, not a gap here. Your department's order is where the contents will be.

Start with the joint documents

One of these is prepared jointly: Excerpts of the Key Administrative Record. A joint document needs a meet and confer before it can be filed, so it sets the real deadline even though the filing date is the same as everything else.

When each one is due

Most of these do not run off the trial date. They run off the civil long cause master calendar call, which the county rule times from the trial date. Work out that date first, because counting back from the wrong date is the commonest way one gets missed. The full rule list for Santa Cruz County carries every rule with its quoted text, and the trial countdown calculator computes the statewide CCP chain.

How these were built

Every rule was researched from the court's own published text, then checked a second time by a reader told to assume a rule had been invented. Grouping those rules into the documents a court actually wants was a further pass, and an adversarial check corrected it: the commonest error was a document whose contents the first pass left empty while the rule enumerated them. Templates are generated in your browser, so nothing you type is sent anywhere. See methodology.

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