The Judicial Council's duty under Code of Civil Procedure section 391.7 is to maintain the Vexatious Litigant List. The council has delegated the responsibility of maintaining the list to its staff agency, the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC). The AOC compiles and disseminates a list of persons against whom prefiling orders have been entered [or issued]. Publication of this list began in 1991. Only orders filed from 1991 to the present are included on this list.

Under Code of Civil Procedure section 391.7(f), the clerk of the court provides to the Judicial Council a copy of any statewide vexatious litigant prefiling orders.

The Judicial Council form to be used, Prefiling Order - Vexatious Litigant form MC-700 is available here.

Please note that if a person has been declared a vexatious litigant, but there is no prefiling order, or if there is an order requiring posting of security but no prefiling order, the name will not appear on the list and the information will be returned to the issuing judge.

The MC-701, Request to File New Litigation by Vexatious Litigant. This optional form may be used by an individual that has been determined to be a vexatious litigant and who must obtain prior court approval to file any new litigation in which the vexatious litigant is not represented by an attorney. Filing new litigation means (1) commencing any civil action or proceeding, or (2) filing any petition, application, or motion (except a discovery motion) under the Family or Probate Code in the courts of California.

The MC-702, Order to File New Litigation by a Vexatious Litigant. This new optional form is the order portion of Request to File New Litigation by Vexatious Litigant (form MC-701).

The MC-703, Application for Order to Vacate Prefiling Order and Remove Plaintiff/Petitioner from Judicial Council Vexatious Litigant List.This new optional form may be used by a vexatious litigant to ask to be removed from the list of vexatious litigants who must obtain prefiling approval.

The MC-704, Order on Application to Vacate Prefiling Order and Remove Plaintiff/Petitioner from Judicial Council Vexatious Litigant List. This new optional form is an order to be used to grant or deny the vexatious litigant’s request to be removed from the list.

If you have any questions about this list, please contact pubinfo@jud.ca.gov.

Vexatious Litigant List in PDF format (updated monthly)   

Vexatious Litigants Fact Sheet