In court documents, “SP” is a shorthand with no single fixed meaning. What it stands for depends on the court, the type of case, and the jurisdiction where the filing was made. The three meanings you’re most likely to encounter are summary proceedings (common in eviction and housing matters), summons and petition (civil and family cases), and specific performance (contract disputes, especially over real estate). It can also mean a special plea in some criminal courts, or the Latin sine prole in probate and genealogical records.
Summary Proceedings
Summary proceedings is the most widespread meaning of SP in court filings. A summary proceeding is a fast-tracked legal process meant to resolve straightforward disputes in days or weeks instead of months, used when the facts are simple enough that a drawn-out trial would waste time and money.
Landlord-tenant cases are the classic setting. When a landlord files for eviction, most jurisdictions route the case through a summary process that moves far faster than ordinary civil litigation. The landlord usually has to deliver a written notice to quit first, with the exact timing and form set by local law. Once the notice period expires, the landlord can file a summary proceeding, which limits pretrial discovery and simplifies how evidence is presented. The point is speed.
Summary proceedings also appear in small claims courts and in some regulatory-agency disputes. If you see SP on a filing tied to an eviction, a housing dispute, or a small-dollar claim, summary proceedings is almost certainly what it stands for.
Summons and Petition
In civil and family courts, SP often means summons and petition, the two documents that open a lawsuit. The summons is the formal notice telling the defendant they’re being sued. The petition (called a complaint in some courts) lays out what the plaintiff claims and what they want the court to do. You’ll see this pairing frequently in divorce, child custody, and guardianship cases, where the two documents are commonly filed and labeled together.
Once a defendant is served, they have a limited window to file a written response. Deadlines vary by jurisdiction and by whether service happened in-state or out-of-state, but typical windows run from 20 to 60 days. If the defendant does nothing, the plaintiff can ask the court to enter a default, treating the silence as an admission of liability, and then move for a default judgment granting the relief the petition requested. Ignoring a summons and petition is one of the most expensive mistakes a person can make in court.
Specific Performance
In contract disputes, SP sometimes stands for specific performance, an equitable remedy where the court orders a party to actually do what they promised rather than simply pay damages for breaking the contract. Courts treat this as a last resort. You won’t get specific performance unless you can show that money alone can’t make you whole.
Real estate is where this remedy comes up most often. Because every parcel of land is considered unique, cash can’t truly compensate a buyer whose seller backs out, so ordering the sale to go through is the only way to deliver what was bargained for. Filing a specific performance action in a real estate case also has a strong practical effect: it typically clouds the property’s title, which keeps the seller from quietly selling to someone else while the case is pending.
To win, a plaintiff generally has to show the contract is fair and enforceable, that monetary damages would be inadequate, and that they’ve performed their own side of the deal or can prove they will. Defenses available in a specific performance case include arguing the price was unreasonably low, that supervising the court’s order would be impractical, or that the defendant made a genuine unilateral mistake about the contract terms.
Special Plea
In some criminal cases, SP refers to a special plea, a narrow objection that challenges whether the prosecution should be happening at all rather than contesting the facts. The best-known examples are a plea of former jeopardy (arguing the defendant has already been tried for the same offense) and a plea of insanity.
One important boundary: special pleas have been largely abolished in federal court. Under 18 U.S.C. ยง 3439 and Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 12, the old system of demurrers and special pleas in bar was replaced by modern pretrial motions to dismiss. A federal defendant raising double jeopardy or a similar threshold objection files a motion, not a special plea. Some state courts still use the special plea framework, so the term hasn’t vanished, but SP in a federal criminal case almost certainly means something else.
Sine Prole
In probate records, wills, and genealogical documents, SP (sometimes written “s.p.”) is the Latin abbreviation for sine prole, meaning “without offspring” or “without children.” When a record notes that someone died s.p., the person had no surviving children, which matters for inheritance: if a beneficiary named in a will dies sine prole before the testator, their share typically passes to alternate beneficiaries or falls into the residuary estate rather than going to descendants who don’t exist. A related form, “d.s.p.” (decessit sine prole), means “died without issue.”
This meaning shows up far less often in modern filings than it once did, since most courts write everything in English today. It still appears in older records and some formal probate documents, so it’s worth recognizing if you’re reviewing estate paperwork or historical files.
SP as a Case-Number Prefix
If you spotted SP as part of a case number, you’re looking at a case-type prefix. Courts assign letter codes to the beginning of case numbers so clerks, judges, and attorneys can identify the kind of case at a glance. A case numbered something like “SP-2026-00412” tells the court the filing falls into whatever category that court assigns to the letters SP.
No national standard governs these prefixes. Each state court system, and sometimes each county within a state, sets its own codes. In some jurisdictions, SP designates land contract summary proceedings in district court. In others, it marks civil equity cases or even seized-property matters.
How to Confirm What SP Means on Your Document
Because courts define their own abbreviations, the only reliable way to know what SP means on your specific filing is to check with the court that issued it.
- Check the court’s website. Many courts publish a list of case-type codes and abbreviations, often as a PDF in a help or forms section. Searching the court’s name together with “case type codes” or “abbreviation list” usually finds it.
- Call the clerk’s office. The clerk can tell you exactly what SP means in their system. Have your case number ready.
- Read the document itself. Court forms often spell out the abbreviation on first use or in a header. If the paperwork says “SP – Summary Proceeding” at the top, you have your answer.
- Look at the subject matter. Context narrows things fast. SP on a housing court filing almost certainly means summary proceeding. SP on a divorce filing likely means summons and petition. SP in a contract dispute probably means specific performance.
Don’t guess. A misunderstanding about what kind of case you’re in can lead to missed deadlines, and missed deadlines in court can mean losing by default before you ever get to make your argument.