Rule 5.504.Judicial Council forms

The general rules on Judicial Council legal forms apply to juvenile forms too. What this rule adds is production and timing.

Juvenile forms may be produced entirely by computer, word-processor printer or similar process, or by the state department’s child welfare case management system — which matters because most juvenile filings are generated from agency systems rather than typed on a printed form.

New and revised mandatory forms produced that way must be implemented within one year of the form’s effective date, and during that year the court may authorize a legally accurate alternative — a local form, or the immediately prior version of the Judicial Council form.

A court may also produce orders in any form or format, subject to four conditions: the document must be substantively identical to the mandatory form it modifies; any electronically generated form must be identical in language and in every legally mandated element, including all notices and advisements; the order must otherwise be legally sufficient; and the court must notify the Family and Juvenile Law Advisory Committee in writing of its election and submit any further reports the committee requests.