Sample Motion to Vacate Judgment in California: Grounds and Deadlines

A motion to vacate a judgment in California asks the court to erase a prior ruling, usually a default judgment, and reopen the case so you can defend it. You have four possible legal grounds, each with its own deadline, and your motion must arrive as a package: a notice of motion, a sworn declaration, a memorandum of points and authorities, and a proposed answer. The filing fee is $60. Get the ground right, file before the clock runs out, and include every document the statute requires, and a single hearing can undo the judgment against you.

Pick the Right Ground for Relief

California’s Code of Civil Procedure gives you four separate doors into court. The one you choose determines what you must prove, how long you have to file, and whether the judge has any room to say no.

Discretionary Relief Under CCP 473(b)

If the judgment was entered because of your own mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect, CCP 473(b) lets the court set it aside.¹ The word doing the work is “excusable.” A sudden hospitalization, a death in the family, or a genuine misunderstanding about a response deadline can qualify. Forgetting or being too busy generally does not. The judge weighs your facts and decides.

The statute says no separate declaration of merits is required for this relief.¹ You still must attach a proposed answer, but you don’t need to lay out your full defense in a sworn statement. Judges are more willing to grant relief when they can see a real defense waiting, so even where the statute is silent, showing your hand helps.

Mandatory Relief for Attorney Fault

CCP 473(b) also has a mandatory arm. If your attorney files a sworn affidavit taking personal responsibility for the missed deadline, the court must vacate the default or default judgment.¹ The judge loses discretion. The only escape hatch is a finding that the attorney’s mistake didn’t actually cause the default.

The consequence for the attorney is real. When the court grants mandatory relief, it must order the attorney to pay reasonable compensatory legal fees and costs to the other side.¹ The court may also impose a penalty of up to $1,000 on the attorney or direct the attorney to pay up to $1,000 to the State Bar Client Security Fund. Your relief does not depend on whether the attorney actually pays. Your case gets reopened either way.

Lack of Actual Notice Under CCP 473.5

If you never actually learned about the lawsuit in time to respond, CCP 473.5 is your route. This is the ground for defendants who were “served” in a way that technically complied with the rules, papers left with someone at an old address, or documents handed to a household member who never passed them along.²

You must file an affidavit swearing that your lack of notice wasn’t caused by deliberately avoiding service or by your own inexcusable neglect.² A proposed answer must also accompany the motion.

Void Judgments Under CCP 473(d)

A judgment entered without proper jurisdiction over you is void, and CCP 473(d) lets the court set aside any void judgment or order. This usually comes up when service was fundamentally defective: papers left at an address you never lived at, a forged proof of service, or delivery to someone with no authority to accept for you.

A void judgment challenge has one big advantage over the other grounds. It is not tied to the six-month or two-year windows below, because a void judgment is treated as a legal nullity from the start. If you have just discovered a years-old default that was entered without the court ever having jurisdiction over you, CCP 473(d) may be your only remaining option.

Filing Deadlines

Missing the deadline is the most common reason these motions fail, and no legal argument fixes a late filing. Each ground has its own clock.

CCP 473(b), discretionary or mandatory: File within a reasonable time, and no later than six months after entry of the judgment. “Reasonable time” has teeth. A motion filed at five months can still be denied if you sat on the judgment for four of them. In certain cases involving ownership or possession of property, a special notice can shorten the window to 90 days.¹
CCP 473.5, lack of actual notice: File within a reasonable time, but no later than the earlier of two years after entry of the default judgment or 180 days after you receive written notice that the default or default judgment was entered. Whichever comes first controls.²
CCP 473(d), void judgments: No fixed statutory deadline applies in the same way. Courts have recognized that a judgment entered without fundamental jurisdiction can be challenged at any time.

Every one of these deadlines runs from the date the judgment was entered on the court’s records, not the date you found out about it. If you just learned of a judgment against you, pull the court file or check the case online, find the exact entry date, and count from there.

What Your Motion Package Must Include

A motion to vacate is not a single document. It is a package. Missing any piece can get the motion denied on procedural grounds before the judge ever reaches the merits.

Notice of Motion

The notice tells every party in the case when and where the hearing will be held and identifies the relief you want. It must cite the specific statute you rely on, whether CCP 473(b), CCP 473.5, CCP 473(d), or a combination. The hearing date comes from the clerk’s office or the court’s online reservation system when you schedule the motion.

Declaration in Support

The declaration is your sworn account of what happened, and it is the document judges read most carefully. This is where most motions are won or lost. Cover the concrete facts: when you first learned about the lawsuit, why you failed to respond in time, and what you have done since discovering the judgment. Dates matter. “I didn’t know about the case” is not enough.

If you are seeking mandatory relief, your attorney files a separate sworn affidavit accepting personal responsibility for the error.¹ For a CCP 473.5 motion, the affidavit must specifically swear that your lack of notice wasn’t caused by dodging service or inexcusable neglect.²

Memorandum of Points and Authorities

This is your legal argument. It ties your facts to the statute by citing the code section you rely on and the published cases that support your reading. If your declaration describes a medical emergency, the memorandum is where you explain why California courts have treated sudden illness as excusable neglect under CCP 473(b). Do not make the judge guess which standard applies.

Proposed Answer

Both CCP 473(b) and CCP 473.5 require you to attach the responsive pleading you intend to file if the court grants your motion.¹ In most cases that means an answer to the complaint. The statute is blunt: the application “shall not be granted” without it. The proposed answer proves you intend to defend the case and gives the court and the opposing party a preview of your defenses. If the judge vacates the judgment, the proposed answer is typically deemed filed as of that date, and the case proceeds as though the default never happened.

Serving and Filing the Motion

Before anything gets filed, the opposing party must receive a complete copy of the motion package. Under CCP 1005(b), moving papers must be served at least 16 court days before the hearing, with additional days added when service is by mail or by fax or overnight delivery.³ Count carefully. One day short and the opposing party can object, forcing a continuance or an outright denial of the hearing.

After service, prepare a proof of service signed by whoever delivered or mailed the documents. File it with the rest of the package: the notice, the declaration, the memorandum, and the proposed answer.

Many California superior courts require electronic filing for civil cases under California Rule of Court 2.253, though the specifics vary by county. Self-represented litigants are exempt from mandatory e-filing and can choose to e-file voluntarily. Where mandatory e-filing would cause undue hardship, a party can apply for an exemption.⁴ Check the local rules for your county before filing.

The filing fee for a motion requiring a hearing in California superior court is $60.⁵ If you can’t afford it, request a waiver on Judicial Council Form FW-001. Waivers are available for people receiving certain public benefits, those with low income, or anyone whose income doesn’t cover basic needs plus court costs.⁶

The Hearing and the Opposition You Should Expect

On the hearing date, both sides appear before the judge. You or your attorney will walk through the facts in your declaration and the argument in your memorandum. The opposing party can file an opposition at least nine court days before the hearing, and you can file a reply at least five court days before.³

What the judge focuses on depends on your ground. For discretionary relief, the question is whether your neglect was truly excusable. For mandatory relief, the judge checks whether the attorney’s affidavit is in proper form and was filed within six months. For lack of actual notice, the judge examines the service records and your affidavit. If the court grants the motion, the default and default judgment are erased, your proposed answer is deemed filed, and the case moves forward.

The plaintiff will not sit quietly. Expect an opposition arguing some combination of these: your neglect was not excusable, you waited too long even if you’re technically within the deadline, you haven’t shown a real defense to the underlying claim, or vacating the judgment would cause significant prejudice such as lost evidence or unavailable witnesses. The prejudice argument matters. If years have passed and the plaintiff can show that key documents are gone or a critical witness has died, that weighs against you. The “reasonable time” requirement built into CCP 473(b) and CCP 473.5 exists precisely to prevent stale attacks on judgments. File as soon as you discover the judgment. Delay is the other side’s best weapon.

What a Standing Judgment Costs You

If the judgment stays in place, it becomes fully enforceable, and creditors have serious tools. A judgment creditor can obtain a writ of execution and levy your bank accounts, pulling funds in a single sweep for each levy. Wage garnishment is available, subject to state and federal limits on how much of your pay can be taken.

Beyond active collection, the creditor can record an abstract of judgment with the county recorder, creating a lien on any real property you own in that county. In California, a judgment lien on real property lasts 10 years and can be renewed for another 10. The lien attaches at any sale or refinance, which usually means you cannot transfer clear title without first satisfying the judgment. The judgment can also appear on your credit report for up to seven years from the date of entry, affecting your ability to borrow, rent, or in some cases work.

Once the filing deadline passes, the judgment becomes a long-term financial anchor. If any of the grounds above fits your situation, the single most useful thing you can do is move.

1
California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure CCP 473
2
California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure CCP 473.5
3
California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure CCP 1005
4
California Courts. Rule 2.253 – Permissive Electronic Filing, Mandatory Electronic Filing
5
California Courts. Statewide Civil Fee Schedule Effective January 1, 2026
6
California Courts. Request to Waive Court Fees