Santa Cruz County trial document templates

Not legal advice. Rules checked against the code on August 20, 2026. Verify every date yourself. Read the full disclaimer

Core CCP rules were checked against Westlaw (via CoCounsel legal research) on August 20, 2026. 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 2026-09-14. 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

The reference sheet below carries everything this court requires, each rule quoted from its own text and cited to the subdivision. The pleading paper templates are temporarily down while the line numbering is rebuilt, because the rail did not line up with the body text and a pleading whose lines cannot be cited is worse than no template at all.

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

Confidential Mediation Briefeach party, 1 required sections. at least 5 court days before the mediation date
Pleading paper is being corrected
Administrative Recordnot stated. not stated in the local rule, which governs the form of the record rather than its date
Pleading paper is being corrected
Trial Notebookplaintiff. 21 days before the date of the hearing, or when the Reply Brief is filed, whichever is later
Pleading paper is being corrected
Excerpts of the Key Administrative Recordjointly. 21 days before the date of the hearing, or when the Reply Brief is filed, whichever is later
Pleading paper is being corrected
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
Pleading paper is being corrected
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
Pleading paper is being corrected
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
Pleading paper is being corrected
Exhibit Listeach party, 1 required sections. no later than 12 noon on the day of the Calendar Call, which is the Thursday two weeks before the trial date
Pleading paper is being corrected
Trial Briefeach party, 1 required sections. 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
Pleading paper is being corrected
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
Pleading paper is being corrected
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
Pleading paper is being corrected
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
Pleading paper is being corrected
Evidence Submission for Parties Appearing Remotelyeach party, 1 required sections. 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
Pleading paper is being corrected
Written Transcription of an Audio Recordingnot stated. whenever the audio recording is offered for admission into evidence
Pleading paper is being corrected

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

Prepared by not stated. 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 county rule 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 county rule 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 county rule 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 county rule 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 county rule 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 county rule 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 county rule 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 county rule 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

Prepared by not stated. Not stated, 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 county rule 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

Count each deadline back from the date the rule is actually keyed to rather than from trial. 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.