Setting aside a California default: four different routes, four different deadlines

"Motion to set aside a default judgment" describes at least four different motions in California, and picking the wrong one usually means picking the wrong deadline. The routes live in CCP 473 and 473.5, and they don't overlap neatly.

Before anything else, note what was entered. A default is the clerk's entry that the defendant didn't respond. A default judgment is the judgment that follows. CCP 473(b) and 473.5 both reach either one, but the dates they run from differ, so the distinction matters for the count.

Route 1 — discretionary relief for mistake, inadvertence, surprise or excusable neglect

CCP 473(b), first sentence: the court may, on any terms as may be just, relieve a party or their legal representative "from a judgment, dismissal, order, or other proceeding taken against the party through the party's mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect."

Two requirements sit in the same sentence, and both are hard:

A proposed pleading must be attached. "Application for this relief shall be accompanied by a copy of the answer or other pleading proposed to be filed therein, otherwise the application shall not be granted." A motion without the proposed answer fails on the text of the statute.

Six months, outside. The application "shall be made within a reasonable time, in no case exceeding six months, after the judgment, dismissal, order, or proceeding was taken."

Six months is a ceiling, not an entitlement — the motion must also be made within a reasonable time. A motion filed on day 175 with no explanation for the delay is timely under the outer limit and still vulnerable under the inner one.

The 90-day shortener. For a judgment, dismissal or order determining ownership or right to possession of real or personal property, the six-month period can be cut short. If a written notice is personally served within California on both the party and their attorney of record, stating that the proceeding was taken and that rights to apply for relief under Section 473 will expire 90 days after service of the notice, then the application must be made within 90 days after that service — whichever service is later. The statute is explicit that this does not extend the six months; it only shortens it.

No affidavit or declaration of merits is required of the moving party.

Route 2 — mandatory relief on an attorney's affidavit of fault

The same subdivision contains a provision that reads very differently, because the verb changes from may to shall:

Notwithstanding any other requirements of this section, the court shall, whenever an application for relief is made no more than six months after entry of judgment, is in proper form, and is accompanied by an attorney's sworn affidavit attesting to the attorney's mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or neglect, vacate any (1) resulting default entered by the clerk against the attorney's client, and which will result in entry of a default judgment, or (2) resulting default judgment or dismissal entered against the attorney's client, unless the court finds that the default or dismissal was not in fact caused by the attorney's mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or neglect.

Three differences from Route 1 are worth holding onto.

The neglect does not have to be excusable. The word "excusable" appears in the discretionary sentence and is absent here.

Relief is mandatory if the conditions are met, subject only to the court finding that the attorney's conduct wasn't in fact the cause.

The six months runs from entry of judgment, not from the earlier proceeding.

There is a price. Where relief is granted on an attorney's affidavit of fault, the court "shall … direct the attorney to pay reasonable compensatory legal fees and costs to opposing counsel or parties." But CCP 473(c)(2) provides that relief granted on such an affidavit "shall not be made conditional upon the attorney's payment" of those fees, costs or penalties — the client gets the relief regardless of whether the attorney pays.

This route is unavailable to a self-represented party, since it requires an attorney's affidavit.

CCP 473(c)(1) lets the court, whenever it grants relief under the section, impose a penalty of up to $1,000 on an offending attorney or party, direct an offending attorney to pay up to $1,000 to the State Bar Client Security Fund, or grant other appropriate relief.

Route 3 — service that never reached you

CCP 473.5 is for the case where service was made but never produced actual notice.

473.5(a): "When service of a summons has not resulted in actual notice to a party in time to defend the action and a default or default judgment has been entered against the party," that party may move to set it aside and for leave to defend.

The deadline is a two-part outer limit — "within a reasonable time, but in no event exceeding the earlier of":

• two years after entry of a default judgment against the party; or
• 180 days after service on the party of a written notice that the default or default judgment has been entered.

Whichever comes first. A plaintiff who serves written notice of entry starts a 180-day clock that can close long before the two years.

473.5(b) sets the requirements: the notice of motion designates a hearing date under CCP 1005(b), and must be accompanied by an affidavit showing under oath that the lack of actual notice in time to defend "was not caused by the party's avoidance of service or inexcusable neglect." A copy of the proposed answer, motion or other pleading must be served and filed with the notice.

473.5(c): on finding the motion timely and the lack of notice not caused by avoidance of service or inexcusable neglect, the court may set aside the default or judgment on just terms and allow the party to defend.

Note the shape of the showing. It is not "I have a good defense." It is "I didn't get notice, and that wasn't my doing."

Route 4 — the judgment is void

CCP 473(d): the court may, on motion of the injured party or its own motion, correct clerical mistakes in its judgments or orders to conform to the judgment directed — and "may, on motion of either party after notice to the other party, set aside any void judgment or order."

Subdivision (d) contains no six-month limit and no 180-day limit. Where a judgment is genuinely void — the classic example being a judgment entered without valid service — this is the route that doesn't depend on how long ago it happened.

Whether a particular judgment is void, as opposed to merely erroneous, is a legal question decided under California case law, which this site doesn't cover.

What changes on January 1, 2027

CCP 473 and 473.5 each currently exist in two versions on the books: one "Effective Until 1/1/2027" and one "Operative 1/1/2027." Section 473(e) states that the current version "shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2027, and as of that date is repealed."

The substantive addition in the 2027 version of Section 473 is a new provision:

Notwithstanding any other requirements of this section, a party to an action may bring a motion to vacate a default judgment that is void for lack of proper service at any time after entry of the judgment.

That puts into the statute, in express terms, what subdivision (d) has carried by implication — an unlimited window to attack a default judgment void for lack of proper service.

The 2027 version of Section 473.5 makes a narrowing change to its opening words, applying the section where "service of a summons was lawfully effected but has not resulted in actual notice." The current version says only "has not resulted in actual notice." The deadlines in 473.5(a) are unchanged.

Anything read about these sections that predates 2026 should be checked against which version applies on the relevant date.

Choosing among them

The routes are distinguished less by what happened to you than by what the record shows:

Nothing stops a motion from being made in the alternative, and the routes are not mutually exclusive on their face.

While the motion is pending

CCP 473 does not itself stay enforcement. A default judgment remains enforceable — including by wage garnishment and bank levy — unless and until it is set aside or enforcement is stayed. That is a separate application, and the enforcement-of-judgments provisions govern it.

Where these rules live

• CCP 473 — Mistake, Inadvertence, Surprise or Excusable Neglect
• CCP 473.5 — Motion to Set Aside Default; Leave to Defend
• CCP 585 — Judgment on Failure to Answer
• CCP 586 — Proceedings as on Failure to Answer
• CCP 1005 — Notice of Motion
• CCP 1013 — Service by Mail; Extension of Time

The California courts run a free self-help site at selfhelp.courts.ca.gov, including forms for asking a court to set aside a default. This page explains what the statutes say. It isn't legal advice, and which route fits a particular judgment is exactly the kind of question that turns on facts and case law.