#1Procedure
Serve the papers wrong, lose the case.
When you sue someone, the papers must be delivered in a very specific way — usually personal delivery, not the mail. Get the service wrong and a judge can throw out your case before anyone hears your side.
CCP §§ 415.10–415.50
#2Procedure
Miss the 30-day answer deadline, default judgment.
Get served with a lawsuit? You have 30 days to respond. Miss it and the judge can enter a default judgment against you — the plaintiff wins without you ever telling your side.
CCP § 412.20
#3Procedure
Forget to object in your first response, lose the right forever.
Sued in the wrong court? You can fight it — but only in your very first written response. Wait until your second filing and the law says you've waived the right. You are stuck in that court for the rest of the case.
CCP § 418.10; Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(h)(1)
#4Procedure
Wait too long, case thrown out.
California requires you to bring a lawsuit to trial within five years — even if you were going to win. Outside that window the case is dismissed by law.
CCP § 583.310
#5Procedure
Ignore the Request for Admissions, the case is already lost.
Get a stack of Requests for Admission in the mail? You have 30 days. Miss the deadline and every fact in them is deemed admitted — game over, even at trial.
CCP § 2033.280
#6Procedure
Miss the 60-day appeal deadline, lose your right to appeal forever.
Civil appeal in California: 60 days from notice of judgment. The deadline is jurisdictional — no judge can extend it, no excuse counts. After that, the judgment is final.
Cal. Rules of Court 8.104
#7Wills & estate
Sign your will with the wrong witnesses, your daughter loses her inheritance.
A will needs two witnesses. Here is the trap most people miss: if you ask the person you are leaving things to — your daughter, say — to also be one of those witnesses, she may lose her share. Decades of intent, undone by who held the pen.
Cal. Probate Code § 6112
#8Wills & estate
Two witnesses not present together, the will may not count.
Both witnesses must be in the room at the same time when you sign — not Tuesday and Wednesday. If they sign separately, the will can be challenged and may fail entirely.
Cal. Probate Code § 6110(c)
#9Wills & estate
Mix typed and handwritten on a holographic will, it can fail.
Holographic wills must be entirely in your own handwriting. Printed templates with fill-in blanks will not pass — courts have invalidated wills for this exact reason.
Cal. Probate Code § 6111
#10Bankruptcy
Forget to list a creditor, you still owe them.
When you file for bankruptcy, you must list every debt on your schedules. That medical bill you forgot about? Not discharged. Your bankruptcy ends, the debt remains.
11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(3)
#11Bankruptcy
Miss the meeting of creditors, the case is dismissed.
Bankruptcy requires you to attend a 341 meeting with the trustee. Miss it and the case is dismissed. You start over: pay the filing fee again, redo the paperwork, and hope you can refile — which is harder if the dismissal triggers the federal 180-day refile bar.
11 U.S.C. § 341
#12Bankruptcy
Skip credit counseling before filing, case dismissed before it starts.
You must complete a court-approved credit-counseling briefing within 180 days before you file. Skip it and the court will not accept the case at all.
11 U.S.C. § 109(h)
#13Bankruptcy
Fail the Means Test, your Chapter 7 vanishes.
If your income is above the line for your household size, the court will not let you file Chapter 7 — your case is converted to Chapter 13 (a long repayment plan) or dismissed.
11 U.S.C. § 707(b)
#14Family law
Skip the mandatory disclosures, the court rejects your judgment.
California divorce requires Preliminary and Final Declarations of Disclosure before the judge will sign your judgment. Skip them and you stay legally married — sometimes for years, until you do them right.
Cal. Fam. Code §§ 2104, 2105
#15Family law
File the divorce paperwork right but miss the six-month wait, the divorce isn't final.
California has a mandatory cooling-off period — six months from service of the petition plus a response. Try to short-cut it and the court will not finalize.
Cal. Fam. Code § 2339
#16Family law
Forget to file a QDRO, the ex-spouse can't touch the retirement money.
A divorce decree does not divide a 401(k) or pension. Only a Qualified Domestic Relations Order does. Skip it, and the retirement assets stay entirely with the original spouse.
ERISA § 206(d)(3); 29 U.S.C. § 1056(d)(3)
#17Eviction
Miss the eviction answer deadline, the sheriff is on the way.
Served with an Unlawful Detainer? You have ten court days to file an answer — not 30, like other lawsuits — and even fewer if you don't count weekends and holidays. Miss the deadline and the landlord wins by default.
CCP § 1167 (as amended by AB 2347, eff. 2025-01-01)
#18Eviction
Wrong amount on the 3-day pay-or-quit, eviction fails.
If a landlord overstates the rent owed in a 3-day notice — even by a few dollars — the whole eviction case can fail. The notice has to be precise.
CCP § 1161(2)
#19Eviction
Tenant didn't demand a jury trial, judge alone decides.
In an eviction, you must demand a jury trial at your first appearance. Skip the demand and a single judge — not a jury of your peers — decides whether you keep your home.
CCP §§ 631, 1171
#20Restraining orders
Miss the 21-day hearing, your TRO dissolves.
A Temporary Restraining Order only protects you for about three weeks. Miss the follow-up hearing and the protection lapses — police cannot enforce a dissolved order.
Cal. Fam. Code § 6300 et seq.
#21Restraining orders
Improper service of the TRO papers, the order can't be enforced.
If the restrained person was not properly served with the TRO papers, courts and police treat them as if they had no notice. The order is on paper but powerless.
Cal. Fam. Code § 6383
#22Small claims
Filed in the wrong county, case dismissed.
Small claims has strict rules about which county a case can be filed in (where the dispute happened, where the defendant lives, etc.). File in the wrong one and the case is dismissed before it is heard.
CCP § 116.370
#23Small claims
Sued for more than $12,500, case bounced.
California small claims has a $12,500 limit for individuals (raised from $10,000 in 2024). Sue for more and the case is bounced to a court that costs more, takes longer, and is harder to navigate alone.
CCP § 116.221
#24Personal injury
Sued the city, county, or state more than 6 months after the injury, claim barred.
The Government Claims Act gives you only six months to file an administrative claim against any public entity in California for personal injury. Miss it and you can never bring a lawsuit at all.
Cal. Gov. Code § 911.2
#25Personal injury
Filed your personal-injury lawsuit at year 3, too late.
California gives you two years to file a personal-injury lawsuit. After that the case is barred — even with strong evidence, even with a serious injury, even if the other side admits fault.
CCP § 335.1
#26Immigration
Missed your master calendar hearing, removal order in absentia.
Missing an immigration hearing — even by accident, even because you did not receive the notice — can result in a removal order entered in your absence. Reopening it is hard and time-limited.
8 U.S.C. § 1229a(b)(5)
#27Immigration
Asylum application more than one year after arrival, asylum barred.
Federal law bars asylum applications filed more than one year after arrival in the United States, with narrow exceptions. The clock runs whether you knew about it or not.
8 U.S.C. § 1158(a)(2)(B)
#28Contracts
Big handshake deal, no writing, unenforceable.
California's Statute of Frauds requires certain contracts to be in writing — real-estate sales, contracts that take more than a year to perform, sale of goods worth $500 or more, and several others. Without a signed writing, a court will not enforce them.
Cal. Civ. Code § 1624; Cal. Com. Code § 2201
