Give copies of your forms to the jail, prison, or CDCR
If you are in jail or prison, or are on parole under the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), you must deliver a copy of your name change or gender recognition forms to the designated department.
Deliver copies of all your forms
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Find out who to give your copies to
If you are in county jail, you must give copies of your filed forms to the sheriff’s department. Ask them how to do this.
If you are in prison, you must give copies to the warden. Ask the warden’s office how to do this.
If you are on parole, you must give copies to the regional parole administrator at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Ask the regional administrator how to do this.
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Deliver the papers as soon as you file them
You must deliver copies of your papers soon after you file them. The sooner you are able to do it, the better the chances your case will not get delayed.
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Fill out form to prove you delivered copies
You need proof that you delivered copies of your papers. You can do this by writing out what you did and filing your written statement in court.
You can use a Declaration (form MC-030).
Write your case number, name and address, and explain to whom you gave copies of your papers, when, where, and how. Sign the form under penalty of perjury.
If the agency you had to give a copy to asked for proper legal service (which is done by someone, not you, at least 18 years old), the person who serves the papers for you has to fill out a Proof of Service (form POS-040). Then, file a copy of the completed Proof of Service (form POS-040) with the court. If you were allowed to give the proper agency the copy yourself, write a Declaration (form MC-030) explaining when, how, and to whom you gave a copy of your papers to. Then file it with the court. -
File proof you delivered forms
Make one copy of your filled out Declaration form.
File the original and copy at least 5 court days before the court hearing. A court day is a day the court is open, Monday through Friday except any court holidays. If you don’t have a court hearing scheduled, file it within 5 days of the date the judge will be making a decision on your request.
The court clerk will keep the original and stamp and return the copy to you. Keep the copy for your records.
If you’re incarcerated and having to mail in your Declaration form, you will need to send it in earlier to make sure it gets to the court by the deadline.
Once you've filed your proof, you're done notifying the jail, prison, or CDCR.