On June 6, 2016, public phone hours for all clerk’s offices will change to 8 a.m. – 1 p.m. Walk in hours will remain 8 a.m. – 3 p.m. Restraining Order Filings: Beginning July 5, 2016, all restraining orders will now be filed and heard at the Watsonville Courthouse. Any type of civil restraining order that was previously filed at the Santa Cruz Courthouse will now be filed and heard at the Watsonville Courthouse (this change will be included in new local rules published on July 1, 2016). For emergency situations, restraining orders may be filed at the Santa Cruz Courthouse. These will be scanned to Watsonville. This will only be allowed for the initial filing. Any subsequent filings must be filed at the Watsonville Courthouse. Civil restraining orders will be heard Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. and domestic violence/elder abuse Thursday at 8:30 a.m., both in Department D. Civil restraining orders filed in June will most likely receive a July court date in Watsonville. Electronic Filing: On August 29, 2016, electronic filing will be mandatory for all noncriminal and family law filings. Permissive electronic filing started in March and is going well. Each week we are seeing an increase in electronic filing users. On August 29, the court will no longer accept attorney filings at the court window. Please let me know if you have any questions. Sasha Morgan Santa Cruz Superior Court Director of Operations 1 Second Street Watsonville, CA 95076 (831) 786-7335 sasha.morgan@santacruzcourt.org
Restraining Order Filings: Beginning July 5, 2016, all restraining orders will now be filed and heard at the Watsonville Courthouse. Civil restraining orders will be heard Tuesdays at 8:30 a.m. in Department B. Domestic violence/elder abuse orders will be heard Thursdays at 8:30 a.m. in Department D. Civil restraining orders filed in June will most likely receive a July court date in Watsonville. Please let me know if you have any questions. Sasha Morgan Santa Cruz Superior Court Director of Operations 1 Second Street Watsonville, CA 95076 (831) 786-7335 sasha.morgan@santacruzcourt.org
Local court rules require that mediation briefs be filed 5 days prior to the mediation date. Effective immediately, if no mediation briefs are filed 5 days prior to the designated mediation date, the court will vacate the mediation date and set the case for an Order to Show Cause Regarding Sanctions for Failure to File Mediation Briefs. If one side files a brief, the mediation date will remain on calendar and the judge will determine if sanctions will be imposed on the other party for failure to file their brief. Please let me know if you have any questions. Florence Patten, Supervisor Santa Cruz Civil/Probate Unit 831-420-2359 Florence.Patten@SantaCruzCourt.org
April 26, 2016 – At hearings at the Monterey Court, you may be required to show proof that you posted jury fees. If you cannot prove this, you may be sanctioned. The Clerk’s Office should have this information on record, but for some reason it is not available in the courtrooms. The clerks do not always produce a receipt at the time the jury fees were paid for various reasons. And sometimes you are not provided a receipt from the court at a later date either. If you find yourself in this situation, it is advised you do not show up in court empty handed. Solution: Request a receipt from the clerk’s office as proof of payment prior to your trial date. If Sayler Legal Service advanced this fee on your behalf, you may also request a copy of our invoice with the fee advance denoted as Jury Fees (fee advance). Our invoices do reflect case caption information, substantiating the proof that the jury fees were posted for the case in question.
March 25, 2016 -Superior Court – County of Santa Cruz Dear Legal Community – Over the last 24 hours the court experienced an unforeseen issue with the processing of electronic filing payments that resulted in documents being rejected. This issue is now resolved. Tyler Technologies and the court apologize for this and appreciate your patience. If you submitted a document over the last 24 hours and you received an error stating “internal payment issue” please try resubmitting.
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