Courtwide FAQs & Additional Resources

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 at http://www.canb.uscourts.gov . 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.

Marriage licenses are handled by the County of Santa Clara, not the Superior Court.

Click to go to the page on the county website concerning marriage licenses . At the bottom of the County web page are the linked documents and forms you will need. There are links at the bottom to forms.

The county also has a page on 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. The website is www.courts.ca.gov .

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