California Continuance - General

Continuances Based on Inadequate Time. Perhaps the most common reason for a continuance is when one side did not have enough time to investigate the case and analyze the evidence. Continuances Based on Changing the Indictment or Attorney. Continuances Based on Surprises.

Orders (form FL-306) (b) Either party may request a continuance of the hearing, which the court shall grant on a showing of good cause. The request may be made in writing before or at the hearing or orally at the hearing. The court may also grant a continuance on its own motion.

If you want to change your court date, you must ask for a postponement (also called a "continuance"). In your Form SC-150 or letter, give the judge a good reason why you are filing your request late.

The rule of reason applies to postponing a court date. If the justification is reasonable, related to trial preparation, your health or that of a family member, or a matter of some importance scheduled before the court date was set, the judge will likely have no problem with a request for postponement.

Introduction. A stipulated order of continuance (SOC) in a criminal case is essentially a pre-trial contract between you and the prosecutor. This is typically done for cases in which there are weaknesses in the case or the person just deserves a chance to prove that that they are not a "bad" person.

If you strongly object to the continuance and have unique reasons for objecting (i.e., the school example above or you allege a continuance would endanger your children for a specific reason), you can file a written Objection to the Motion to Continue, and file it with the court.

Greet the judge with a formal salutation such as "Dear Judge So-and-So" or "Your Honorable Judge So-and-So." Identify yourself and your reason for writing to the judge in the first line of the letter's body. For example, "My name is Jim Jimerson and I am writing to reschedule our evidentiary hearing."