A sample ex parte application in California is not a single form but a package of five separate documents you draft on pleading paper: the application itself, a supporting declaration, a declaration regarding notice, a memorandum of points and authorities, and a proposed order. California has no Judicial Council form for general civil ex parte requests, so each document is built from scratch under the content rules in California Rules of Court 3.1200 through 3.1207. Miss one piece, or leave a required element out of any of them, and the court can refuse to hear you before ever reaching the merits.
The Five Documents in a Complete Package
Rule 3.1201 sets the list. Every ex parte filing must include all five documents; none is optional.1Judicial Branch of California. California Rules of Court Rule 3.1201 – Required Documents
- An ex parte application stating the relief requested
- A declaration based on personal knowledge supporting that relief
- A declaration regarding notice to the other parties
- A memorandum of points and authorities
- A proposed order
Family law is the one exception to the drafted-from-scratch approach. In family cases, temporary emergency orders use Judicial Council form FL-305 rather than a custom application.2Judicial Branch of California. FL-305 Temporary Emergency (Ex Parte) Orders Everything below covers civil ex parte practice.
Drafting the Application
The application is the cover document. Use standard pleading paper with line numbers. The caption carries the court name, case number, and party names. Title it for the specific relief requested, for example, “Ex Parte Application for Temporary Restraining Order” or “Ex Parte Application for Order Shortening Time.”
Under Rule 3.1202(a), the body must identify each attorney and each self-represented party by name, address, telephone number, and email address.3Judicial Branch of California. California Rules of Court Rule 3.1202 – Contents of Application State the relief requested in a single clear paragraph. If any prior ex parte application in the case has been denied in whole or in part, disclose that here, along with the court’s ruling on each earlier request. Rule 3.1202(b) requires this disclosure even when your new application relies on different facts. Judges treat an undisclosed prior denial as a credibility problem, and finding out about one on their own is a fast route to denial.
Drafting the Supporting Declaration
This is the document that decides whether you get a hearing on the merits. 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” in general terms does not satisfy the rule.
Open with the standard perjury preamble: “I, [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 establish two things:
- What specific harm you will suffer without the order
- Why that harm will occur before a regularly noticed motion could be heard on the standard 16-court-day schedule
Every factual statement must come from your personal knowledge. Speculation and secondhand information do not qualify as competent testimony. Attach documentary evidence as lettered or numbered exhibits and reference each exhibit by number in the paragraph that relies on it.
The kinds of facts that carry an ex parte declaration are concrete: property about to be sold or destroyed, a party preparing to leave the jurisdiction with a child, ongoing conduct that continues to cause damage each day, a filing deadline that will pass before a noticed motion can be heard.4Judicial Branch of California. California Rules of Court Rule 3.1200 – Application If the situation is serious but does not rise to irreparable harm, consider drafting the application to request an order shortening time on a noticed motion rather than the final relief itself.
Drafting the Notice Declaration
This is a separate sworn document, not a paragraph inside the supporting declaration. Under Rule 3.1204, it must describe the notice you gave: the date, the time, the method (phone, email, in person), the name of the person you informed, and what you told them.5Judicial Branch of California. California Rules of Court Rule 3.1204 – Contents of Notice and Declaration Regarding Notice Include any response you received and state whether the opposing party plans to appear and oppose.
The notice you gave, and that you describe in this declaration, must itself have contained the specific relief you are requesting and the date, time, and place where you will present the application.
Timing matters. Notice must reach every other party or their attorney no later than 10:00 a.m. the court day before the ex parte appearance.6Judicial Branch of California. California Rules of Court Rule 3.1203 – Time of Notice to Other Parties In unlawful detainer cases, the deadline is 2:00 p.m. instead. If you gave notice after the deadline, or claim you could not give notice at all, the declaration must explain the exceptional circumstances that justify what you did. Courts rarely waive notice entirely, and thin explanations get applications denied without reaching the substance.
Drafting the Memorandum of Points and Authorities
The memorandum is the legal brief. Structure it the standard way: state the issue, cite the controlling statute or rule (the ex parte rules themselves, plus whatever authority supports the underlying relief), apply the law to the facts laid out in your supporting declaration, and explain why the court should rule in your favor.
Keep it short. Ex parte calendars are crowded, and judges read these while working through a full morning of matters. A focused memo that ties each element of the legal standard to a specific paragraph of the declaration reads better than a long brief that buries the point.
Drafting the Proposed Order
Draft the proposed order as a freestanding document, not an attachment to the application. Include the case caption, a short recital that the court considered the ex parte application, and then numbered paragraphs setting out each specific piece of relief. Leave a signature line and a date line for the judge.
Draft precisely. If the application is granted, the judge may sign the order as submitted, so anything ambiguous in your draft becomes ambiguous in the ruling. Some courts require the proposed order to be lodged separately from the filed papers so the judge can sign it at the bench; check your local rules.
Filing and the Hearing
File the complete package with the court clerk at least 24 hours before the ex parte hearing, and present the application to the courtroom department at least two hours before the hearing time.7Judicial Branch of California. California Rules of Court Title Three – Civil Rules – Section: Rule 3.1205 Local rules sometimes require earlier delivery or specific drop-off procedures, so check the department’s practices before the day of the hearing.
The filing fee is $60 under Government Code section 70617(a).8Judicial Branch of California. Statewide Civil Fee Schedule Effective January 1, 2026 An approved fee waiver on file in the case covers it.
Filing and giving notice are not the same as serving the papers. Rule 3.1206 requires you to serve the ex parte application and all supporting documents on every other party who has appeared, at the first reasonable opportunity.9Judicial Branch of California. California Rules of Court Title Three – Civil Rules – Section: Rule 3.1206 Absent exceptional circumstances, no hearing will go forward without that service. In practice, hand delivery or email to opposing counsel on the same day of filing is standard.
You must appear at the hearing, either in person or by remote appearance under Rule 3.672.10Judicial Branch of California. California Rules of Court Rule 3.1207 – Appearance Requirements The judge’s first questions almost always focus on two things: whether the supporting declaration establishes an emergency, and whether the notice declaration shows compliance with Rule 3.1203. A weakness in either one ends the matter before you argue the underlying relief.