(a) At the election of the deponent or the deposing party, the deposition officer may attend the deposition at a different location than the deponent via remote means. A deponent is not required to be physically present with the deposition officer when being sworn in at the time of the deposition.
§ 2025.310.Attendance via remote means; election to be physically present
Title 4. Civil Discovery Act · Chapter 9. Oral Deposition Inside California · Article 3. Conduct of Deposition · Last amended 2023 · Last verified July 29, 2026
In one sentenceSection 2025.310 lets the deposition officer attend remotely at the deponent's or deposing party's election, frees the deponent from being physically present with the officer when sworn, and lets any party or attorney choose to be physically present at the deponent's location subject to protective-order limits and local health rules.
Full Text of § 2025.310
(b) Subject to Section 2025.420, any party or attorney of record may, but is not required to, be physically present at the deposition at the location of the deponent. If a party or attorney of record elects to be physically present at the location of the deponent, all physically present participants in the deposition shall comply with local health and safety ordinances, rules, and orders.
(c) The procedures to implement this section shall be established by court order in the specific action or proceeding or by the California Rules of Court.
(d) An exercise of the authority granted by subdivision (a) or (b) does not waive any other provision of this title, including, but not limited to, provisions regarding the time, place, or manner in which a deposition shall be conducted.
Plain-English Summary
Remote depositions used to sit in a gray area of California practice, and this section puts them on firm statutory footing. Either the deponent or the party taking the deposition can elect to have the deposition officer join from a different location than the deponent, using remote means, and the deponent no longer has to be in the same room as the officer at the moment of being sworn.
Nothing here forces anyone into a remote format, though. Subject to a court's power to issue a protective order under Section 2025.420, any party or attorney of record can choose to be physically present at the deponent's own location, and anyone who makes that choice has to follow whatever local health and safety rules apply where the deposition happens.
The section leaves the details to be worked out elsewhere: the specific procedures for remote depositions come from a court order in the particular case or from the California Rules of Court. Exercising the remote-attendance option under this section does not waive any other rule governing the deposition's time, place, or manner, nor does it change who is legally authorized to serve as a deposition officer or administer the oath.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a deposition officer attend remotely?
Yes, at the election of the deponent or the deposing party.
Must the deponent be in the same room as the officer when sworn?
No, this section removes that requirement.
Can a party still insist on being physically present?
Yes, subject to the court's power under Section 2025.420 and to whatever local health and safety rules apply.
Where do the actual remote-deposition procedures come from?
A court order in the specific case or the California Rules of Court.
Amendment History
(Added by Stats.2004, c. 182 (A.B.3081), § 23, operative July 1, 2005. Amended by Stats.2020, c. 112 (S.B.1146), § 3, eff. Sept. 18, 2020; Stats.2022, c. 92 (S.B.1037), § 1, eff. Jan. 1, 2023.)
Source & verification. Section text is reproduced verbatim from
the West's Annotated California Codes / Thomson Reuters. Enacted by the California Legislature.
Last verified July 29, 2026.
· Official source
Also known as: remote deposition california rulesvideo deposition attendance california civil procedure