A sample California ex parte application is not a single form but a package of five documents filed together: the application itself, a supporting declaration, a declaration regarding notice, a memorandum of points and authorities, and a proposed order. California Rules of Court Rule 3.1201 lists all five, and the court can refuse to hear you if any one is missing.1Judicial Branch of California. California Rules of Court Rule 3.1201 – Required Documents There is no Judicial Council form for general civil ex parte applications; you draft each piece on standard pleading paper. Family law is the exception, and that boundary matters: temporary emergency orders in a family case use form FL-305 instead of the five-document civil package.2Judicial Branch of California. FL-305 Temporary Emergency (Ex Parte) Orders
The Application
The application is the cover document. Use your case’s standard pleading paper with line numbers down the left margin and the court name, case number, and party names in the caption. Title it to match the relief you want, for example “Ex Parte Application for Temporary Restraining Order” or “Ex Parte Application for Order Shortening Time.”
Rule 3.1202(a) requires the application to identify every attorney and self-represented party in the case along with their addresses, email addresses, and telephone numbers.3Judicial Branch of California. California Rules of Court Rule 3.1202 – Contents of Application State the relief you want in a single clear paragraph. If you’ve filed any previous ex parte applications in the same case, Rule 3.1202(b) requires you to disclose them here along with the court’s ruling on each one, even if your new request relies on new facts. Omitting a prior denial is one of the fastest ways to lose credibility with the judge hearing your new request.
The Supporting Declaration
This is the document that decides whether you win or lose. Rule 3.1202(c) requires an “affirmative factual showing in a declaration containing competent testimony based on personal knowledge of irreparable harm, immediate danger, or any other statutory basis for granting relief ex parte.”3Judicial Branch of California. California Rules of Court Rule 3.1202 – Contents of Application Calling the matter “urgent” is not enough. You need concrete facts.
Open with the standard verification: “I, [your name], declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California that the following is true and correct.” Then set out the facts in numbered paragraphs, one point per paragraph. The declaration has to explain two things:
- What the specific harm is. Property that will be destroyed or transferred, a child about to be taken from the jurisdiction, ongoing conduct that is causing injury, or any other concrete loss you can describe.
- Why a regularly noticed motion won’t work. A standard motion requires 16 court days of notice, so your declaration must explain why the harm will happen before that hearing could be held.
Everything in the declaration must be based on your personal knowledge. Speculation and hearsay don’t satisfy Rule 3.1202(c). Attach supporting documents as exhibits and reference each one by number inside the body of the declaration so the judge can follow the record.
If your situation is serious but doesn’t quite rise to irreparable harm, you can draft the application and declaration to seek an order shortening time on a regularly noticed motion rather than the final relief itself.4Judicial Branch of California. California Rules of Court Rule 3.1200 – Application The declaration still needs facts, but the standard is friendlier because you’re asking for a faster calendar, not immediate relief.
The Declaration Regarding Notice
This is a separate sworn document, filed alongside the supporting declaration, that establishes you complied with the ex parte notice rule. Rule 3.1203 requires you to notify every other party or their attorney by 10:00 a.m. the court day before the hearing, with a 2:00 p.m. deadline for unlawful detainer cases.5Judicial Branch of California. California Rules of Court Rule 3.1203 – Time of Notice to Other Parties
Rule 3.1204 sets out what the notice declaration must contain:6Judicial Branch of California. California Rules of Court Rule 3.1204 – Contents of Notice and Declaration Regarding Notice
- The date and time you gave notice.
- The method you used (telephone, email, in person).
- The name of the person you informed.
- The specific relief you told them you’d be requesting, along with the date, time, and place of the ex parte appearance.
- Any response you received, including whether the opposing party said they intend to appear and oppose.
If you gave notice after the 10:00 a.m. deadline or weren’t able to give notice at all, the declaration must explain the exceptional circumstances that justify the shortfall. Courts rarely waive the notice requirement, and a thin explanation is one of the most common reasons an application gets denied before the judge reads the merits.
The Memorandum of Points and Authorities
Organize the memorandum like any brief: state the issue, cite the controlling statute or rule, apply the law to the facts in your declaration, and explain why the court should grant the specific relief you asked for in the application. Keep it short. Judges hear ex parte matters on a crowded morning calendar and reward brevity. If you’re seeking injunctive relief, this is where you cite Code of Civil Procedure section 527 and address the bond requirement under section 529.7California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure CCP 529
The Proposed Order
Draft a standalone order that the judge can sign at the bench. It should contain:
- The full case caption.
- A short recital that the court heard the ex parte application on the appearance date.
- Numbered paragraphs setting out each piece of relief granted, written in operative language (“IT IS ORDERED that…”).
- A signature line and date line for the judge.
Write the order precisely, because the judge may sign it as submitted. Vague language in the proposed order becomes vague language in the signed order, and that can defeat the point of getting emergency relief in the first place. Some courts want the proposed order lodged as a separate document so the clerk can hand it to the judge for signature; check the local rules for your courthouse.
Serving the Package on the Other Side
Giving notice under Rule 3.1203 is not the same as serving the papers. Rule 3.1206 requires you to serve the ex parte application and every supporting document on each party who has appeared in the case at the first reasonable opportunity, and the court will not hold the hearing without that service absent exceptional circumstances.8Judicial Branch of California. California Rules of Court Title Three – Civil Rules – Section: Rule 3.1206 In practice that usually means hand-delivering or emailing the full package to opposing counsel the same day you file, and in any event before the hearing starts.
Filing the Package
File the complete set of documents with the clerk at least 24 hours before the hearing, and present them to the courtroom department at least two hours before the appearance.9Judicial Branch of California. California Rules of Court Title Three – Civil Rules – Section: Rule 3.1205 Local rules sometimes tighten these windows, so check the court’s website before you drop off papers.
The filing fee is $60 under Government Code section 70617(a).10Judicial Branch of California. Statewide Civil Fee Schedule Effective January 1, 2026 If you already have an approved fee waiver on file in the case, you don’t pay it.
Once filed and served, the package stands or falls on what’s inside the declarations. A clean application with a thin declaration gets denied; a strong declaration inside a sloppy package gives the judge reasons to send you away before reading it. Build all five documents together, cross-check that the facts in your supporting declaration match what the memorandum argues and what the proposed order asks for, and treat the notice declaration as seriously as the merits. That is what an ex parte application looks like when it works.