Family Law Discovery and Contempt: Request for Admissions

What are Request for Admissions? 

Requests for Admissions (RFAs) are written requests used by one party requiring the other party to admit or deny, under oath, "the genuineness of specified documents, or the truth of specified matters of fact, opinion relating to fact, or application of law to fact." (CCP §2033.010).

Form/Format of RFAs

Optional Judicial Council Form DISC-020 may be used, but it is only a cover sheet, and you are still required to specifically and separately draft each RFA. Care must be taken in drafting RFAs to ensure that they are precise and on point (relevant). You can locate the cover sheet form for RFAs at https://www.courts.ca.gov/forms.htm, under Discovery. If you are using this form, the facts that you want the other party to admit need to be listed in a document entitled "Attachment 1," and a list of the documents that you want the other party to admit the genuineness of need to be listed in a document entitled "Attachment 2." The documents also need to be attached as exhibits. 

If you are not using form DISC-020, you will need to draft your own RFAs on pleading paper. See below for a SAMPLE Requests for Admission.

Service of RFAs

The following are some procedural rules to keep in mind regarding service of RFAs:

• Unlike other paperwork in your case, discovery paperwork is not normally filed with the court (California Rule of Court 3.250).
• RFAs need to be served on the opposing party (CCP §2033.070). If the opposing party has an attorney, it needs to be served on the attorney, on behalf of the other party. 
• Service of the RFAs cannot be made by the petitioner within 10 days of service of the summons without the court's permission; the respondent may serve RFAs at any time (CCP §2033.020(b)).
• You cannot serve the documents, they must be served by someone who is not a party to the action and over 18 years of age. The person performing the service must sign a proof of service form stating what they served, who it was served on, and the date of the service. Proof of personal service forms can be found here, and proof of service by mail forms can be found here. For more information about service, see San Diego Law Library's guide entitled Service of Notice and Other Papers. 
• You must retain the original of the RFAs and the proof of service; have a copy of those documents served (CCP §2033.070).
• You are generally limited to 35 RFAs that do not relate to the genuineness of documents CCP §2033.030(a), although there are circumstances under which you may propound more (CCP §2033.040, 2033.050). You can have an unlimited number of requests that relate to the genuineness of documents, but you must be reasonable. (CCP §2033.030(c)).

For a sample Request for Admissions, see California Civil Practice (call number KFC995.C3), Family Law Litigation, Vol. 2, Ch. 13:74, available at the Law Library.

Click on the image below to access the form:

Drafting a Response to Request for Admissions

A Response is either an "answer" admitting to those portions of the request that are true, denying those portions of the request that are not true, and/or an "objection" to those portions of the request that are objectionable. The remaining parts of the request must be answered. See CCP §2033.220 et seq. for more detail about the rules for responding to RFAs.

Permissible responses include:

• Admissions and/or denials
• A statement of inability to answer because of insufficient information or knowledge (supported by a showing of reasonable inquiry)
• An objection to all or part of a request or
• A motion for a protective order.

CCP §2033.210 et seq.

Generally, if you fail to timely respond, you will waive your right to object to the request or assert any privileges. A failure to respond does not result in automatic admission, and only will be treated as such if the other party moves for a "deemed admitted order." (CCP §2033.280, CCP §2033.290).

Unless your response contains only objections, you should verify your responses by signing under oath (CCP §2033.240). The modifiable sample Response above also contains a sample Verification. 

Examples & Resources

For more information and examples of a Response to a Request for Admissions, see California Forms of Pleading and Practice (call number KFC1010.A65 C3), Vol. 16, Section 196.62, available at the Law Library. Also see the CEB Database Onlaw and Westlaw, available at the Law Library and some partnership library locations. 

Service of the Response

Responses must be served within 30 days after the date the request was personally served on you, or 35 days if the request was served by mail (CCP §2033.250, CCP §1013). 

The original response needs to be served on the other party, or on their attorney if they have one. A copy of the proof of service is also served on the other party; you retain the original signed proof of service for your records (CCP §2033.270). Discovery paperwork is not normally filed with the court (Cal. Rule of Court 3.250).

You cannot serve the documents; they must be served by someone who is not a party to the action and over 18 years of age. The person performing the service must sign a proof of service form stating what they served, who it was served on, and the date of the service. Family law forms regarding personal service and service by mail can be found at the links below.

Proof of Personal Service

Proof of Service by Mail

For more information about service, see San Diego Law Library's guide entitled Service of Notice and Other Papers.