REQUEST FOR JUDICIAL
ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS
Under California Rules of Court, rule 10.500
INSTRUCTIONS & GUIDANCE
Please complete the fields on the request form to the best of your ability. Be as specific as
possible. Feel free to attach additional sheets of paper or information as necessary. If you require
assistance in completing the form, please feel free to contact us using the contact information
provided on the request form.
Some helpful tips in formulating a focused and effective request that reasonably describes an
identifiable judicial administrative record or records and properly clarifies the nature of your
request, pursuant to California Rules of Court (CRC), rule 10.500(e)(4)(D) and 10.500(e)(9):
1. Read CRC rule 10.500 and the information on our website at
http://www.courts.ca.gov/home.htm.
2. Whether the requested records will be used for your or someone else's trade, profit, or
commercial interest.
3. Avoiding an overly broad request.
4. Specifying the types of records you are seeking and/or describing the underlying reason
for your request?
5. What time-frame you are interested in for the records you are seeking? For example,
records of X and Y, for January 1, 2015 to Present.
6. What specific types of records you are seeking (e.g. electronic, paper, emails, faxes, etc.;
or vendor contracts, nonconfidential employee records, Judicial Council program fact-
sheets, legislative reports, etc.).
While you are not required to complete the “name”, “organization”, “address”, “zip code”,
“telephone number”, or “email address” fields, we strongly recommend that you do so. Failure to
do so could result in delay processing your request. Additionally, doing so will allow us to
contact you if we require clarification of your request. If we require clarification but are unable
to contact you, your request may be closed for lack of a response.
DO NOT USE THIS FORM IF YOU ARE SEEKING:
Divorce records
Court case records (e.g. opinions, briefs, complaints, filings)
Criminal background information or history
Traffic ticket and other traffic violations, or assistance with a traffic issue
Jury service information or assistance
Probate-related records, wills, estates, as well as birth and death certificates
Name change records
Legal advice or assistance
Complaints against a judicial officer or court employee
Instead, please refer to our website at http://www.courts.ca.gov/publicrecords.htm,
http://www.courts.ca.gov/requestforms.htm, http://www.courts.ca.gov/jc-index.htm, and
http://www.courts.ca.gov/selfhelp.htm. Additionally, information on numerous topics can be
found by using the “search” function on our website in the upper-right corner.