California Proposed Judgment: Forms, Service, and Objections

A California proposed judgment is the draft final order that one party writes for the judge to sign at the end of a civil case. It carries no legal force until the judge signs it and the clerk enters it into the record.¹ The document has to track the court’s actual ruling precisely, follow the format rules, use the right Judicial Council form when one is required, and reach the court within the deadlines set by the California Rules of Court. Get any of those pieces wrong and the judgment comes back for revision, or the other side files objections that stall the case.

When You Have to Prepare One

Three situations regularly trigger the job of drafting a proposed judgment.

The first is after a court trial. The judge announces a tentative decision, and the prevailing party is usually ordered to prepare both a proposed statement of decision and a proposed judgment that turn the court’s findings into a final order.²

The second is a stipulated settlement. When both sides agree to end the case, they can ask the court to enter judgment on the agreed terms if their agreement is in a signed writing or stated on the record.³ The proposed judgment has to mirror the settlement exactly.

The third is a default. When a defendant never answers, the plaintiff first asks the clerk to enter default and then submits a proposed default judgment. That path has its own forms and rules, covered further down.

The Deadlines After a Bench Trial

The tentative decision starts several overlapping clocks under California Rules of Court, rule 3.1590. Miss any of them and you can lose control over how the judgment reads.

If you appeared at trial and want the court to address specific disputed issues the tentative decision left out, you have 10 days from its announcement or service to request a statement of decision on those issues.²

The party ordered to draft has 30 days from the announcement or service of the tentative decision to serve and submit both the proposed statement of decision and the proposed judgment.² If that party misses the 30-day mark, any other party who appeared at trial gets a 10-day window to step in and prepare the documents, or to move to have the statement of decision deemed waived. Cases stall here in practice: the drafting party takes too long and the other side either doesn’t realize it can take over or waits.

After the proposed judgment is served and any objections are resolved, the court must sign and file the judgment within 50 days of the tentative decision announcement, or within 10 days after a hearing on objections if one is held.²

What Goes Inside the Document

The first page has to include the court name, full case title, and case number in the layout specified by rule 2.111.⁴ Pages are consecutively numbered, and if you’re filing on paper, they attach at the top so the judge can turn them.⁵

Substance matters more than formatting. The core of the document is the decretal language: the section stating exactly what the court is ordering. For a money judgment, that means the precise dollar amount, prejudgment interest if it applies, and which party pays costs. For an injunction, it means describing the conduct being ordered or prohibited in enough detail that the losing party knows exactly what to do or stop doing. Vague wording here breeds post-judgment fights.

The proposed judgment also has to identify every party affected and reference the underlying ruling, settlement agreement, or default it rests on. Judges routinely reject drafts that overreach by adding relief the court didn’t grant, or that soften provisions the drafting party didn’t like. Track the ruling.

Judicial Council Forms by Case Type

California uses standardized Judicial Council forms for most case types. Whether the form is mandatory or optional depends on the case.

General civil cases use form JUD-100, which is approved for optional use. You aren’t required to use it, but many attorneys and self-represented litigants do because judges expect the format.⁶
Family law cases require form FL-180. It’s mandatory in dissolutions, legal separations, and annulments — no custom document substitutes.⁷
Unlawful detainer (eviction) cases use form UD-110, with specific attachments for habitable-premises issues (UD-110H) and partial evictions (UD-110P).⁸

Skipping a mandatory form or using the wrong one is one of the fastest ways to get bounced by the clerk’s office.

Default Judgments Follow a Separate Path

When a defendant never files a response, the plaintiff runs a two-step process: request entry of default, then seek the judgment. The first step uses form CIV-100 (Request for Entry of Default), which is mandatory.⁹

What kind of default judgment you can get depends on the claim. In a straightforward breach-of-contract or debt case seeking only money, the clerk can enter the judgment directly once the default is on file, as long as the amount matches what the complaint demanded.¹⁰ Every other kind of case — personal injury, property disputes, injunctions — needs a court judgment, which requires a hearing with evidence supporting the relief you want.

One rule catches plaintiffs off guard: you can’t recover more in a default judgment than what the complaint originally demanded. If the complaint asked for $25,000 and your actual damages are $40,000, the default judgment is capped at $25,000.¹¹ Court default judgments also require a declaration covering the facts, evidence, and interest calculations, along with a declaration of the defendant’s non-military status and a memorandum of costs.

Serving and Filing the Proposed Judgment

Before you submit the proposed judgment to the court, serve a copy on every other party. California law requires proof the document went out, usually by mail, with a completed proof of service attached to the filing.¹² That step establishes the other side had a chance to review the draft and object before the judge sees it.

How you get the document to the court depends on the county. Many California superior courts now accept or require electronic filing through approved e-filing portals. Some also ask for an editable word-processing version alongside the PDF so the judge can revise directly instead of sending the whole document back. Check local rules. Filing practice varies significantly by county, and what works in Los Angeles may not be accepted in Sacramento.

Once the judge signs, the clerk enters the judgment into the court record. The entry date matters: under Code of Civil Procedure section 664, a judgment has no legal effect until it is entered.¹

Objecting to the Other Side’s Proposed Judgment

If the opposing party’s draft doesn’t match the court’s ruling, you have 10 days after service to file written objections.² The window is short, and silence can be read as agreement.

Effective objections say exactly what’s wrong: a dollar amount that doesn’t match the announced figure, a misspelled party name, an injunctive term that reaches further than what the judge ordered, a missing provision that should have been included. Vague complaints go nowhere. Some practitioners submit their own alternative proposed judgment alongside the objection, giving the judge a ready-made version reflecting a different reading of the ruling. The court can hold a hearing or resolve the dispute on the papers.

After Entry: Notice and the Appeal Clock

Once the clerk enters the judgment, the prevailing party should promptly serve a Notice of Entry of Judgment using form CIV-130.¹³ A party to the case cannot personally serve the notice. Someone who is not a party has to handle the service and complete the proof of service on the form.¹⁴

Serving the Notice of Entry starts the appeal clock. Under California Rules of Court, rule 8.104, a party generally has 60 days from service of the Notice of Entry to file a notice of appeal. If no one serves a Notice of Entry, the outer deadline is 180 days from the date the judgment was entered. Miss either deadline and the right to appeal is usually gone. Winning parties often serve the notice quickly for exactly that reason — it forces the losing side to decide fast whether to appeal instead of leaving things open for up to six months.

1
California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure Section 664
2
Judicial Branch of California. California Rules of Court 3.1590 – Announcement of Tentative Decision, Statement of Decision, and Judgment
3
California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure Section 664.6
4
Judicial Branch of California. California Rules of Court 2.111 – Format of First Page
5
Judicial Branch of California. California Rules of Court Rule 3.1110 – General Format
6
Judicial Branch of California. JUD-100 Judgment
7
Judicial Branch of California. FL-180 Judgment (Family Law)
8
Judicial Branch of California. UD-110 Judgment — Unlawful Detainer
9
Judicial Branch of California. CIV-100 Request for Entry of Default
10
California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure Section 585
11
California Courts. How to Ask for a Default and a Default Judgment
12
California Legislative Information. California Code CCP 1013
13
California Courts Self Help Guide. Notice of Entry of Judgment or Order (CIV-130)
14
Judicial Council of California. Form CIV-130 Notice of Entry of Judgment or Order