Custodian · Civil practice · New Jersey
Docket The life of a New Jersey court case, step by step: plenary and summary actions, probate, appeal, criminal, family, foreclosure and municipal court, the deadlines, and the rule behind each one
Every case is a piece of paper riding a line of stations, each with a clock. 16 lines. Find the paper you are holding; its line opens as its own page.
Which case is yours?
Money and civil disputes
- PThe plenary action · 11 stopsYou are suing, or being sued, in the Law Division of the Superior Court.
- SCA Special Civil or small claims case · 9 stopsYou are suing, or being sued, in the Special Civil Part, small claims included.
- SThe summary action · 4 stopsYour paper is an order to show cause, or a matter the rules hear without full discovery.
Home and property
Family
- FA divorce or family case · 10 stopsYou are divorcing, or asking for custody or support.
- DVA domestic violence matter · 4 stopsYou need a restraining order, or one has been filed against you.
- NA name change · 5 stopsYou want to change your name, or your child’s.
- AdAn adoption · 6 stopsYou are adopting a child.
Criminal, tickets and juvenile
- CrA criminal case · 10 stopsYou are charged with an indictable offense in the Superior Court.
- MA municipal court case · 8 stopsYou got a traffic ticket, an ordinance summons or a disorderly persons charge.
- JA juvenile delinquency case · 7 stopsYour child is charged with an offense in the Family Part.
Estates and guardianship
How to read a line
Each line is one journey a case can make, first at a glance, then drawn as a rail map, then stop by stop. A branch is a side rail: it leaves the main line at one stop and rejoins at another. A side note is something some people file at that stop. Each stop says in our words what happens and who has to do what, then quotes the rule or the Judiciary’s own page, verbatim, with a link. The quotation is the law; our sentence is only the signpost.
- Clocks
- Court days are counted under R. 1:3-1; a deadline that falls on a weekend or holiday moves to the next court day. When a number here and the rule disagree, the rule wins.
Custodian is legal information, not legal advice. The rule excerpts are verbatim from the Judiciary’s Rules of Court publication, harvested 2026-09-02; the quoted NJ Courts self-help pages were read 2026-09-02. Excerpts are excerpts: read the whole rule before you rely on it. Free legal help: Legal Services of New Jersey.
Cross-reference. Cannot pay a filing fee? See the notice of motion to proceed in forma pauperis (the New Jersey court fee waiver). Every court form: in.formapauperis.com. A problem with your lawyer along the way: the Lawyers page.