San Mateo Superior Court Adjournment & Extension Requirements

A stipulated short-cause continuance may be requested by phone with 24 hours’ notice or in open court; no more than one may be granted without a court order and good cause, and a case not ready on the continued date may be removed from calendar absent good cause.

2. Continuances: One stipulated continuance of a short cause trial may be granted by phone with 24 hours’ notice, or in open court. No more than one continuance shall be granted without court order and for good cause shown. If a case is not ready to proceed to hearing on the date established as a result of the continuance, the court shall, absent good cause shown, take the matter off calendar.

An oral-argument continuance may be granted only upon a showing of good cause.

Continuances will only be granted upon a showing of good cause.

A request to change the hearing date of a civil law and motion matter must be in writing.

Any request to change the hearing date of a law and motion matter already set for hearing on the Civil Law & Motion Calendar of a Civil Department must be in writing.

Failure to notify the court at least three court days before a hearing that the hearing will not proceed may result in monetary sanctions, except when the matter settles or resolves within the three-day period.

Failure to advise the Court at least three court days before the hearing of the fact that the hearing will not proceed as scheduled, for any reason other than settlement of the case or resolution of the issue within the three-day period, may be deemed by the Court to be a violation of an order of the Court, punishable by money sanctions payable to the County Clerk of the Court pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure Section 177.5.

A request to continue a judicial arbitration hearing after the jurisdictional time frame must be made using the specified local form and emailed contemporaneously to ADR staff.

Parties who wish to continue the arbitration hearing after the jurisdictional time frame must filed local form Ex Parte Motion and Stipulation for Continuance of Judicial Arbitration Hearing with the Court, with a copy contemporaneously emailed to the ADR staff at CMC@sanmateocourt.org.

A continuance request must establish adequate grounds and good cause.

Continuances without adequate grounds and good cause will not be considered.

A Mandatory Settlement Conference may not be continued without the consent of the assigned Civil Judge.

No Mandatory Settlement Conference may be continued without the consent of the assigned Civil Judge.

After a matter is set for hearing, no more than two continuances may be granted without good cause, and the court may remove an unready case from the calendar after the second continuance if good cause is absent.

Once a matter has been set for hearing, no more than two continuances shall be granted unless good cause is shown. Absent good cause, if a case is not ready to proceed to hearing on the date established as a result of the second continuance the court may take the matter off calendar.

A stipulated continuance request should be sent to the clerk’s office by facsimile, email, or in person no later than noon on the court day before the hearing.

Requests for continuances should be directed to the clerk’s office via facsimile, email or in person, no later than 12:00 Noon the court day before the scheduled hearing.

A timely stipulated continuance is granted only after proper service, unanimous agreement to a specific new date, written confirmation to the clerk, and payment of the proper fees or arrangements for payment.

If timely made, the Clerk will grant the continuance provided that: a. proper service was effected; b. the requesting party represents that all parties have agreed to a continuance; c. all parties have agreed to continue the matter to a specific date which is provided to the Clerk at the time of the request (counsel and parties are reminded that available dates may be obtained from the court’s hotline (650) 261-5018); d. the parties send written confirmation to the Clerk by letter or using local court form “Stipulation and Order Re: Continuance”; and e. the proper fees have been paid or arrangements for payment have been made.

A stipulated continuance requested after noon on the preceding court day requires an appearance; it may be obtained from the assigned courtroom clerk before calendar call or granted at calendar call using the specified local form.

An appearance is required for stipulated continuances made after 12 Noon the court day prior to the hearing. Stipulated continuances may be obtained from the courtroom clerk in the assigned department before the calendar call. The court may also grant stipulated continuances at the calendar call. Parties may submit the local court form “Stipulation and Order Re: Continuance” to request a continuance.

A contempt-related Order to Show Cause continuance must be requested in open court with the citee present or supported by a written stipulation signed by the citee and filed by the original hearing time.

Continuances of Orders to Show Cause re: Contempt must be requested in open court (with the citee present), or obtained by written stipulation including a signed consent by the citee to the continuance. The stipulation shall be filed with the court at or before the time set for the original hearing.

Each party may request one Status Conference continuance by giving at least 15 calendar days' notice before the scheduled conference date.

Each party may request one continuance from the assigned department at least 15 calendar days prior to the scheduled conference date.

Additional Status Conference continuances may be requested for good cause, which may include significant progress toward settlement or other resolution, and both counsel and the parties must agree to the continuance.

Additional continuances may be requested for good cause. Good cause may consist of, but is not limited to, a showing that significant progress has been made toward a resolution of the case through settlement, mediation, collaborative law, and/or reconciliation. Both counsel and parties must agree that the status conference should be continued.

Counsel must call the assigned department clerk at least five court days before the MSC to confirm the conference or request a continuance.

Counsel shall call the clerk of the assigned department at least 5 court days in advance of the MSC to confirm that the MSC will go forward or to request a continuance.

An MSC continuance requires good cause and cannot be granted on the scheduled conference day.

An MSC will only be continued for good cause. No continuances shall be granted on the day of the scheduled conference.

Juvenile dependency hearing time waivers and continuances are permitted only when exceptional circumstances are shown.

Time waivers will be accepted and continuances granted only on a showing of exceptional circumstances.

A later hearing date for a misdemeanor pretrial motion is permitted only if a written declaration showing good cause is filed and approved; the declaration should be filed before the pretrial conference and served on the opposing party.

When such motions cannot be so calendared, a later hearing date will be permitted only when a written declaration setting forth good cause for the late hearing has been filed and approved. Such declarations should be filed prior to the date of the pretrial conference and served on the opposing party.

An extension request for filing appellate briefs must be submitted to the Appellate Division under LCR rule 1.8.

Applications for extensions of time to file briefs shall be filed in the Appellate Division in accordance with LCR rule 1.8.

If a continuance is granted, the court imposes a new deadline for completing judicial arbitration.

If the request is granted, the Court will impose a new deadline by which the judicial arbitration must be completed.

The ADR process must be completed within 90 days unless a continuance is requested through the court's online extension-request process.

The ADR process shall be completed within ninety (90) days, unless a request for continuance is made by submitting an extension request online at www.sanmateo.courts.ca.gov/divisions/appropriate-dispute-resolution-programs/civil-adr-program/request-extension-time-adr.

Conservatorship and guardianship continuance requests should be made as early as possible for an investigator-approved date; attorney or pro se requests may be granted for good cause, stipulations require probate judge approval, and repeated continuances require an appearance subject to hearing-specific limits.

C. Continuances in Conservatorship and Guardianship Matters: A request for continuance should be made at the earliest possible time prior to the hearing and must be to a date approved by the Probate Court Investigator. Continuances requested by the attorney of record, or petitioner in pro per, may be granted upon a showing of good cause. Continuances by stipulation are subject to the approval of the Probate Judge. An appearance will be required by the attorney or the self- represented conservator or guardian, before the Court will consider granting a continuance more than once for a General Plan and/or Inventory and Appraisement hearing, or more than twice for any other conservatorship or guardianship matter. Nothing herein shall prevent the Probate Court Investigator from continuing a matter as necessary to complete their investigation or review.

A probate continuance should be requested by email as early as possible and no later than five court days before the hearing, with the case number, hearing date, agreement status, and preferred dates or unavailability within six months.

A continuance may be requested by email to probate@sanmateocourt.org. Such requests should be made at the earliest possible time prior to the hearing (but no later than 5 court days prior to the hearing) and must include the following: 1) The case number; 2) The date of the hearing; 3) a statement that all parties agree to the continuance (and are cc’d on the email) or that the requesting party is the Petitioner in the matter and no hearing has yet taken place; and 4) preferred dates for the continued hearing and/or any unavailability with six months of the hearing date.

Continuance requests should be made as early as possible before the hearing, and a moving party’s request made at the hearing may be denied absent good cause.

A request for a continuance should be made at the earliest possible time prior to the hearing, except as otherwise noted in rule 5.113(f) of the California Rules of Court. A request by the moving party for continuance at the time of the hearing may be looked upon with disfavor and in the absence of good cause, may be denied.

Counsel should notify the assigned department of an approved continuance as early as possible before the hearing.

Once approved, counsel should advise the assigned department of the continuance at the earliest possible date prior to the hearing.

Only the supervising or assigned trial judge may continue a long-cause trial, ordinarily only in extraordinary circumstances, with a change of counsel excluded as extraordinary.

3. Continuances: Trials may only be continued by the supervising judge or assigned trial judge. Normally continuances are only granted in extraordinary circumstances (which do not include a change of counsel).

Written notice of an unopposed motion to continue may be waived when the proffered good cause is uncontested.

Written notice of a motion to continue as required by Penal Code Section 1050 may be waived if the motion is known to be unopposed, and the proffered good cause is not contested.