Sacramento Ex Parte Deadlines: Reserve by 10:00 a.m., File by 4:00 p.m.
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 standing orders are NOT included. Verify every date against the operative code sections and your court’s rules before relying on it. Using this site creates no attorney-client relationship.
Four in the afternoon reads like a comfortable deadline. Under Local Rule 2.35 the moving papers are served and filed by 4:00 p.m. the date before the hearing, and every civil home court department says the same thing. The deadline that actually decides the application sits six hours earlier. The hearing date has to be reserved through the Court Reservation System on the Public Portal before the moving documents are submitted, and it has to be reserved no later than 10:00 AM on the court day before the selected reservation date. Any motion submitted without a reserved hearing date is subject to rejection. A lawyer working to the 4:00 p.m. hour has already lost the day at ten.
Two other things carry in wrong from elsewhere. E-filing is not mandatory in Sacramento. The court affirmatively delayed mandatory e-filing past July 1, 2024 to an unspecified future date, so do not assume it is required. And the only briefing schedule Rule 2.35 publishes is not the ex parte one. Rule 2.35(B) governs what happens after an order shortening time: opposition five court days and reply two court days before the hearing, and in no event a paper filed later than 9:00 a.m. two court days before. Read that as an ex parte opposition deadline and you are counting toward the wrong hearing.
Your dates
The rule, before you enter anything
Notify all parties no later than 10:00 a.m. on the court day before the ex parte appearance. CRC 3.1203(a). That is a clock deadline, not a date deadline. It is not extended by mail or electronic service, and if the day before the hearing is not a court day the deadline moves to the preceding court day, never the following one.
Then there is the county filing deadline, which is usually the one that bites. Enter a date and pick your county.
The Sacramento rule, in full
- Filing
- Moving papers must be served AND filed by 4:00 p.m. the date before the hearing, per Local Rule 2.35. Every civil home court department states this.
- Reservation
- Required through the Court Reservation System on the Public Portal BEFORE submitting moving documents, and it must be reserved "no later than 10:00 AM on the court day before the selected reservation date." A reservation cannot be made without an assigned case number. "Any motion submitted without a reserved hearing date will be subject to rejection."
- Notice
- Stated affirmatively by the court: notify the parties no later than 10:00 a.m. on the court day before the ex parte appearance, absent exceptional circumstances.
- Opposition
- For an order shortening time: opposition 5 court days and reply 2 court days before the hearing, and in no event may the last paper be filed later than 9:00 a.m. two court days before the hearing (Rule 2.35(B)).
- When heard
- By department: 9:00 a.m. or 1:30 p.m. Writ departments differ materially, and at least one will not reserve a date at all, instead reviewing the pleadings and advising the moving party only if a hearing is necessary. One writ department prefers at least 48 hours notice.
- E-filing
- NOT mandatory. The court affirmatively delayed mandatory e-filing past Jul 1 2024 to an unspecified future date. Do not assume e-filing is required here.
- Department variation
- Strong department variation. Uncontested applications are usually ruled on without a hearing; contested ones may be set for hearing or ruled on the papers depending on the department.
- Rules relied on
- SSC Local Rule 2.35 (Civil, adopted Jul 1 2026) and Rule 1.07 (General), which it reproduces verbatim
- Edition read
- Local rules eff. Jul 1 2026; Rule 2.35 adopted Jul 1 2026. Court source
FAQ
What is the Sacramento ex parte filing deadline?
4:00 p.m. the date before the hearing. Local Rule 2.35 requires the moving papers to be served and filed by then, and every civil home court department states this. Rule 2.35 is the civil rule, adopted July 1, 2026, and it reproduces General Rule 1.07 verbatim, so the two do not pull against each other.
Do you have to reserve a Sacramento ex parte hearing, and by when?
Yes, and the reservation is the earlier of the two deadlines. It goes through the Court Reservation System on the Public Portal, it has to happen before the moving documents are submitted, and it must be made no later than 10:00 AM on the court day before the selected reservation date. A reservation cannot be made without an assigned case number. Any motion submitted without a reserved hearing date is subject to rejection.
When is ex parte notice due in Sacramento?
No later than 10:00 a.m. on the court day before the ex parte appearance, absent exceptional circumstances. The court states that affirmatively in its own materials, restating the statewide hour rather than changing it. It lands at the same hour as the reservation cutoff, so the two things that must happen by 10:00 a.m. are telling the other side and holding the date, while the papers themselves have until 4:00 p.m.
Is e-filing required for a Sacramento ex parte?
No. E-filing is not mandatory in Sacramento. The court affirmatively delayed mandatory e-filing past July 1, 2024 to an unspecified future date. If you are arriving from a county where represented parties must e-file, do not carry that assumption in.
Does Sacramento publish an ex parte opposition deadline?
Not for the application itself. The schedule in Rule 2.35(B) applies to an order shortening time: opposition five court days before the hearing, reply two court days before, and in no event may the last paper be filed later than 9:00 a.m. two court days before the hearing. That is the schedule for the shortened motion, not for the ex parte that produced it.
When are Sacramento ex parte applications heard?
By department, at either 9:00 a.m. or 1:30 p.m. Department variation is strong. Uncontested applications are usually ruled on without a hearing, and a contested application may be set for hearing or ruled on the papers depending on the department.
Do the Sacramento writ departments follow the same procedure?
Not reliably, and this is where the county-wide reservation rule stops being county-wide. Writ departments differ materially. At least one will not reserve a date at all, and instead reviews the pleadings and advises the moving party only if a hearing is necessary. One writ department prefers at least 48 hours notice. Check the assigned writ department before working to a portal reservation.
Related: Ex parte deadlines, all counties · County ex parte rule sheet · California court holidays
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