1. The demand arrives
A request for production can reach documents, tangible things, land and electronically stored information in the responding party's possession, custody or control (§ 2031.010). Each item must be described specifically, or each category reasonably particularized (§ 2031.030(c)(1)). Unlike specially prepared interrogatories, which are capped at 35 (§ 2030.030(a)(1)), there is no numeric cap on requests for production, which is why a family-law set routinely runs to 30 or 40 requests.
Two facts set every clock that follows: the date the requests were served, and how. Responses are due 30 days after service (§ 2031.260(a)), extended by the method: 5 calendar days for mail within California, 10 for mail elsewhere in the United States, 20 for mail outside the United States (§ 1013(a)), and 2 court days for overnight delivery, fax or electronic service (§§ 1013(c), (e); 1010.6(a)(3)(B)). A deadline that falls on a weekend or court holiday moves to the next court day (§ 12a). The parties can agree to a later date, but the agreement has to be confirmed in writing (§ 2031.270); get it before the original date passes.
| How the requests were served | Time to respond | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Personal delivery | 30 days | CCP § 2031.260(a) |
| Mail, within California | 30 days + 5 calendar days | CCP § 1013(a) |
| Mail, elsewhere in the U.S. | 30 days + 10 calendar days | CCP § 1013(a) |
| Overnight delivery or fax | 30 days + 2 court days | CCP § 1013(c), (e) |
| Electronic service | 30 days + 2 court days | CCP § 1010.6(a)(3)(B) |
Practice note. Read the proof of service, not the cover letter. The method on the proof of service is what sets the extension, and a wrong method is the most common way a response ends up a day late.
2. Break the demand into requests
A demand is a numbered list, and every one of those numbers needs its own answer (§ 2031.210(a)). Before anything is collected, turn the PDF into a ledger with one row per request: the number, what it asks for, and the period it covers. Read the definitions and instructions section first; it usually redefines "you", "documents" and "the relevant period" in ways that apply to every request below it.
Watch for requests that ask for the same thing twice in different words. A request for "all bank statements" and a later request for "all records of deposits" are satisfied by the same documents, and a duplicative objection is proper when the overlap is real. Note each overlap as you go; it decides both the objection and how the production will be indexed.
3. Map the requirements
Each request implies a set of accounts, custodians and date ranges, and the ledger is only useful once those are written down. "All statements for every checking and savings account in your name from January 2025 to present" is one request, but it means every account the client holds, every month from January 2025 forward, and "present" keeps moving until the response is served.
Different documents arrive at different rhythms: bank and card statements monthly, retirement and brokerage statements quarterly, tax returns and W-2s yearly, pay stubs by pay period. A request for "any business you own" is counted business by business. Mapping the requirement this way is what makes "complete" a fact you can prove rather than an impression.
The same statements, returns and pay stubs feed the preliminary declaration of disclosure, which each party must serve within 60 days of filing the petition or the response (Fam. Code § 2104(f)). Collect once, for both.
4. Collect the documents
The response will swear that a diligent search and a reasonable inquiry were made (§ 2031.230), so the collection has to be one. From the client, that means every account named in the mapping, for every period in the window, and a recorded reason wherever a document doesn't exist: the account was opened later, closed earlier, or the bank no longer provides the statement.
From third parties, a deposition subpoena for business records reaches banks, employers and plan administrators directly (§ 2020.410), with the custodian's affidavit standing in for a witness (Evid. Code §§ 1560–1561). In family cases this is how the missing months usually arrive when the client can't find them.
Practice note. Ask the client for documents in the client's words: "your Chase checking statement for April 2026", not "Request No. 12". The request number is for the ledger, not for the person who has to find the document.
5. Resolve each request
Each request gets one of three responses, or a combination (§ 2031.210(a)):
- A statement of compliance: the party will comply, in whole or in part, and will produce what's in their possession, custody or control (§ 2031.220).
- A representation of inability to comply: after a diligent search and reasonable inquiry, the party can't produce the item, and the statement says whether it never existed, has been destroyed, has been lost, misplaced or stolen, or has never been, or is no longer, in the party's possession, custody or control, and names anyone believed to have it (§ 2031.230).
- An objection: the specific ground, and for privilege or work product, enough facts for the other side to evaluate the claim, with a privilege log where one is needed (§ 2031.240).
A party can object to part of a request and comply with the rest. The party signs the responses under oath unless they contain only objections (§ 2031.250(a)). A party who doesn't serve a timely response waives every objection, including privilege and work product, unless the court grants relief from the waiver (§ 2031.300(a)).
Practice note. An inability-to-comply statement is a factual representation the client is swearing to. Record the reason for each gap when it is learned, in the client's words, and let the statement be built from the record rather than written from memory on the due date.
6. Draft and produce
The written responses follow the numbered order of the demand. Since January 1, 2020, documents produced in response to a request must be identified with the specific request number they respond to (§ 2031.280(a)); producing them "as kept in the usual course of business" no longer satisfies the rule on its own. A Bates-numbered production with an index by request number is the cleanest way to comply, and it is what the other side's deficiency letter will be measured against.
Stamp each document once, even when it answers several requests, and cite it under every request it answers. Keep the numbering continuous across every production in the matter, and serve the responses, the verification and the production with a proof of service that records the date and method, because those two facts start the other side's clocks.
7. What happens next
Review their production the same way you built yours: request by request, account by account, month by month. An objection with no position stated, a "will comply" with months missing, and a production that never arrived are three different deficiencies, and each gets a different paragraph in the letter.
If the responses are incomplete or evasive, the requesting party can move to compel further responses. The motion must be noticed within 45 days of service of the verified response, unless the parties agree in writing to a later date, or the right to compel further responses is waived (§ 2031.310(c)). It must include a declaration showing a good-faith attempt to meet and confer (§§ 2031.310(b), 2016.040). Since January 1, 2026, that attempt has to happen in person, by telephone or by videoconference; a letter alone no longer counts, though a deficiency letter is still the right way to set the agenda (§ 2016.040, as amended by AB 1521).
Two situations sit outside that 45-day clock. When no response is served at all, the motion is to compel a response, and the waiver of objections is already in effect (§ 2031.300(b)). When they said they would comply and the documents never came, the motion is to compel compliance with that statement (§ 2031.320(a)). Supplemental responses can cure a deficiency at any point before the hearing, and the court can impose a monetary sanction on a party who unsuccessfully makes or opposes any of these motions (§§ 2031.300(c), 2031.310(h), 2031.320(b)).
Sources
- California Code of Civil Procedure §§ 1010.6, 1013, 2016.010, 2016.040, 2020.410, 2030.030, 2031.010–2031.320 (California Legislative Information, leginfo.legislature.ca.gov)
- California Evidence Code §§ 1560–1561
- California Family Code § 2104
- Assembly Bill 1521 (2025), amending Code of Civil Procedure § 2016.040, effective January 1, 2026
This playbook is general information about California law, not legal advice. Check the current statutes and your court's local rules before relying on it.