Court-wide FAQs & Useful Links

The Superior Court does not handle bankruptcy cases. Bankruptcy Court is a federal court, completely separate from the Superior Court, which is not part of the federal system.

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Northern District of California has a website. The phone number for the San Jose division of the federal bankruptcy court is (408) 535-5118 .

Location information  for the court in San Jose is available online

You can obtain information for many types of court cases online.

For Traffic Cases, see our Traffic Case Info website .

For Civil, Small Claims, Probate, and some Family cases, see our Case Information Portal .

You can search the site by case number, party name, etc.

For more about viewing and copying court case records, see our Case Information Online page.

If your children are between 2 and 12 years old and you have Court business to conduct in the Family Justice Center Courthouse or in the South County Courthouse, you can take them to the Children's Waiting Room  located on the first floor of that building.

Marriage licenses in County of Santa Clara are handled by the County Clerk-Recorder’s Office, not the Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara.

For official information:

• Santa Clara County marriage license information
• Santa Clara County marriage ceremony options

If you are interested in being married by a Judge (a "Judicial Marriage"), click to see the list of available Judges  or contact the Court by phone at (408) 882-2739.

There is a form available online to request a court transcript.

See the transcript request information page for details on what is available, and how to obtain and submit the form.

Chaired by the Chief Justice of California, the Judicial Council establishes policies and priorities for the statewide administration of justice in the California Courts.

See additional information about the Judicial Council on our Overview of the State Court System page.

The Judicial Council website includes state-wide legal forms  used by all California trial courts. The California Rules of Court  are on their website, as well as online state-wide self-help guides .

All Court proceedings are generally open to the public, with the exceptions of Juvenile Justice Court, Juvenile Dependency Court and select closed hearings.  

Members of the public DO NOT need to schedule an appointment to observe Court and participate as an audience member. Courtroom sitting is limited and audience members are generally admitted on a first-come, first-serve basis. Courtroom proceedings for each facility are posted daily for the public to view.

For additional assistance about Courthouse calendars, contact the Court’s mainline at (408) 882-2700 .

Additional resources on this website:

• Court Event Calendar
• Courthouses
• Civil Calendar Schedule
• Court Visits (security, etc.)
• Judicial Officers
• Old Courthouse History
• Overview of the State Court System