California Court Holidays 2026: When Courts Close and How Deadlines Move

California court holidays are the days the state's courts close: a fixed list set by statute, plus every weekend. They matter for more than knowing when the clerk's office is dark. A court holiday can move a filing deadline, and it changes the filing date of papers you e-file while the court is closed. This post lists the 2026 holidays, shows where the official schedules are posted, and walks through what a holiday does to your deadlines.

The 2026 California court holiday schedule

The Judicial Council publishes the statewide list on its Court Holidays page, which says the California courts will be closed in observance of these holidays in 2026:

• New Year's Day: Thursday, January 1
• Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day: Monday, January 19
• Lincoln's Birthday: Thursday, February 12
• Presidents' Day: Monday, February 16
• Farmworkers Day: Tuesday, March 31
• Memorial Day: Monday, May 25
• Juneteenth: Friday, June 19
• Independence Day: Friday, July 3
• Labor Day: Monday, September 7
• Native American Day: Friday, September 25
• Veterans Day: Wednesday, November 11
• Thanksgiving: Thursday, November 26
• Day After Thanksgiving: Friday, November 27
• Christmas Day: Friday, December 25

A few of those dates are worth a second look. Independence Day falls on a Saturday in 2026, so the courts observe it on Friday, July 3. Lincoln's Birthday and the day after Thanksgiving are on the list too, so do not assume a court is open on those days. The same page already lists the 2027 schedule, so check it before you plan around a date early next year.

Where the list comes from

The schedule is not a policy choice made court by court. Code of Civil Procedure section 135 makes every full day designated as a holiday by Government Code section 6700 a judicial holiday, including the Thursday in November the President declares to be Thanksgiving Day. It then carves out exceptions: Lunar New Year, Diwali, Genocide Remembrance Day (April 24), Admission Day (September 9), Columbus Day, and any other day appointed by the President but not by the Governor. Those days are state holidays under section 6700, but they are not court holidays, so the courts stay open.

Section 135 adds three more rules:

• Every Saturday is a judicial holiday. Section 6700 also lists every Sunday as a state holiday, so weekends are covered.
• The day after Thanksgiving Day is a judicial holiday.
• If a judicial holiday falls on a Saturday or a Sunday, the Judicial Council may designate another day to observe it. That is why the 2026 Independence Day holiday is on Friday, July 3.

Section 135 also says court officers and employees observe only the judicial holidays it establishes. Section 135 was last amended by AB 268, effective January 1, 2026, so older lists you find online may not match the current statute. The Judicial Council's page and the statute are the sources to trust.

Checking a specific court

Many superior courts post their own holiday calendar. The Superior Court of Los Angeles County, for example, has a Court Holidays page with a tab for each year; its 2026 list shows the same 14 dates as the statewide schedule, from New Year's Day on January 1 through Christmas Day on December 25. If you file in Los Angeles, our page on e-filing in Los Angeles covers that court's case types and fees.

A court's own page is also where you would see a local closure that is not on the statewide list. When the statewide page and a court's page seem to disagree, call or check with that court before you count on a date.

What a court holiday does to your deadline

Code of Civil Procedure section 12a is the rule most filers need. If the last day to do something required by law within a set period is a holiday, the period is extended to and including the next day that is not a holiday. For this rule, "holiday" means all day on Saturdays and all the holidays in section 135, along with certain days covered by section 12b.

Section 12a says it applies to deadlines in any code, statute, ordinance, rule or regulation, not only the Code of Civil Procedure. In practice:

• A deadline on a holiday moves forward. A fictional filer, Rosa Delgado, has a response due on Wednesday, November 11, 2026. That is Veterans Day, so her deadline moves to Thursday, November 12.
• A run of holidays moves it further. If a deadline lands on Thanksgiving, Thursday, November 26, 2026, the next three days are the day after Thanksgiving, a Saturday and a Sunday. The deadline moves to Monday, November 30.
• Counting backward works differently. Some deadlines count back from a hearing date instead of forward. The courts' guide to serving small claims forms, for example, says to keep counting back past a weekend or court holiday to the first day the court is open. Our post on small claims court in California covers that service deadline.

The holiday rule does not change how many days a period has. It only moves the last day when that day is a holiday. When in doubt about how a particular deadline is counted, read the statute or rule that sets it.

E-filing on a court holiday

Electronic filing does not stop on holidays, but the filing date does. Code of Civil Procedure section 1010.6 says a document the court receives electronically between 12:00 a.m. and 11:59:59 p.m. on a court day is deemed filed on that court day, and a document received electronically on a noncourt day is deemed filed on the next court day.

So if you submit papers on Friday, November 27, 2026, the day after Thanksgiving, they are treated as filed on Monday, November 30. That can work in your favor when section 12a has already pushed your deadline to the next court day, but it never makes a holiday submission count as filed on the holiday itself.

The same section treats electronic service the same way: a document served electronically on a noncourt day is deemed served on the next court day. If you are serving papers, our guide to how to serve someone in California covers the other methods.

Planning around holidays also means leaving room for a rejection: if you submit well before a holiday-shortened week and the filing comes back rejected, you still have court days left to fix it. Our post on why e-filings get rejected lists the common reasons.

A quick checklist

1. Find your deadline and the statute or rule that sets it.
2. Check the date against the Judicial Council's court holiday list and your court's own calendar.
3. If the last day is a Saturday, Sunday or court holiday, move it to the next day that is not a holiday under section 12a.
4. If you are e-filing, remember that a filing received on a noncourt day is deemed filed on the next court day.
5. Submit early enough to fix a rejection before the deadline.

Legal Hub Group is a certified e-filing service provider for California courts, and the courts page lists the courts and case types you can file in. California e-filing through Legal Hub Group is $14.99 per filing plus court fees, and every fee is shown before you pay. Before a holiday deadline, Lexary by Legal Hub Group is free with every filing, with no limit: it flags missing signatures, dates, addresses and case details and fixes file formats, so you can correct problems before the papers go in.

This is general information, not legal advice.

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