DV-109: the hearing notice, and the deadline for serving it

DV-109 (Rev. January 1, 2025) tells both people when and where the court will hear the restraining-order request, and whether a temporary order was granted in the meantime. Almost all of it is completed by the court, not by the person asking for protection.

California Courts assigns the person asking for protection only the limited identifying items — the name of the person asking for protection, the name of the person to be restrained, and the court address in the caption, matching what appears on DV-100. The hearing date, time, and department are entered by the court when the packet is filed. A judicial officer signs it, and the clerk returns it stamped.

Family Code § 6320.5(b) sets the hearing within 21 days of the request, or within 25 days if the court finds good cause. The date on the returned DV-109 is the operative one: everything else in the packet — service, proof of service, preparing what you want to say — works backwards from it.

The form also records whether a temporary restraining order on DV-110 was granted or denied until that hearing date. A denial of the temporary order does not end the case; the hearing still happens on the date printed on this form.

Item 4 states when the other person has to be served: personal service at least 5 days before the hearing, unless the court ordered a different time on the form itself. Read the item as returned rather than assuming the default, because the court can and does change it.

Service must be done by someone 18 or older who is not the person asking for protection. The Sheriff serves domestic-violence papers free of charge. Proof of service is filed on DV-200 before the hearing. JusticeOS does not serve papers and does not decide which method of service applies to a situation.

DV-109 is filed together with DV-100, DV-110, and CLETS-001. After the judicial officer rules, the stamped DV-109 showing the hearing date is served on the other person along with DV-100 and DV-110, plus blank response forms so they can file a DV-120 if they choose.

JusticeOS is not a law firm and does not give legal advice. It places information you confirm onto the forms you select and checks the assembled packet for common completeness problems. Which forms fit your situation is a question for a court Self-Help Center or a lawyer.

DV-109 is published by California Courts in Spanish, Chinese (Simplified), Korean and Tagalog, alongside the English version. Those are the Judicial Council’s own translations of the form itself — the document you file — rather than summaries of it. Each translation is on that form’s own page at California Courts, linked under Official sources at the foot of this guide.

These guides are written in English. California Courts also publishes a page on asking for a court interpreter, and makes a point worth repeating here: even for someone who speaks English in everyday life, the situations and language in court can be very difficult.