OFFICIAL

2026

CONNECTICUT PRACTICE BOOK

(Revision of 1998)

OFFICIAL

2026

CONNECTICUT PRACTICE BOOK

(Revision of 1998)

CONTAINING

THE ATTORNEY’S OATH

LAWYERS’ PRINCIPLES OF PROFESSIONALISM

RULES OF PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT

CODE OF JUDICIAL CONDUCT

RULES FOR THE SUPERIOR COURT

RULES OF APPELLATE PROCEDURE

APPENDIX OF FORMS

NOTICE REGARDING OFFICIAL JUDICIAL BRANCH FORMS

Published by

The Commission on Official Legal Publications

 2026 by the Secretary of the State, State of Connecticut

EXPLANATORY NOTES

The Superior Court Rules as organized herein were first published in the Connecticut Law
Journal dated July 29, 1997. This 2026 edition of the Practice Book contains amendments to the
Rules of Professional Conduct, the Superior Court Rules and the Rules of Appellate Procedure.
The amendments were published in the Connecticut Law Journals dated June 24, 2025, and
August 12, 2025. In the 2026 edition, technical changes were made in order to conform the
rules to the style adopted by the courts. Additionally, in this 2026 edition, the Lawyers’
Principles of Professionalism was added to serve as aspirational guidelines for civility and
decorum. The Principles have been adapted here, with the permission of the Connecticut
Bar Association. They were published in the Connecticut Law Journal dated June 24, 2025.

The system used to number each section is based on the chapter in which the section is
located. Each section has a two part number. The first part of the number designates the chapter,
and the second part designates the number of the section within that chapter (Chapter
1 begins with 1-1, Chapter 2 with 2-1, etc.). The internal breakdown of individual rules follows
the style of the General Statutes. Subsections are designated by lower case letters in parentheses,
(a), (b), subdivisions are designated by numbers in parentheses, (1), (2), and subparagraphs
are designated by upper case letters in parentheses, (A), (B).

Origin of the rules. A parenthetical notation about the origin of each rule is found at the
end of every section in this volume. The notation (P.B. 1978-1997, Sec. ) indicates the
number of the section in the 1978-1997 Practice Book corresponding to the current section.
Current numbers of any sections corresponding to the sections in the 1978-1997 Practice
Book appear in the Reference Tables following the text of the rules. The notation (1998)
indicates that the section was new in the 1998 Practice Book, taking effect October 1, 1997.
The notation (See P.B. 1978-1997, Sec. ) (1998) indicates that the section was modeled
on a rule in the 1978-1997 Practice Book but was actually adopted for the first time to take
effect October 1, 1997. There may be significant differences between the rules in this volume
and those in the 1978-1997 Practice Book on which they were modeled. The temporary numbers
assigned to those rules in the July 29, 1997 Connecticut Law Journal, where they were
originally published, appear in the Reference Tables following the text of the rules.

When a section was adopted or amended after 1997, a parenthetical notation to that effect
appears either immediately following the text of the section or following the parenthetical notation
concerning the derivation of the section. When the title to a section has been amended,
a parenthetical notation appears immediately following the title.

Histories and commentaries. Histories describing the nature of amendments and Commentaries
indicating the intended purpose of new rules or amendments to existing rules are
printed following the text of new or amended rules. Histories and Commentaries are included
for only those rules that were adopted or amended to take effect in the year corresponding
to the current edition of the Practice Book, with the following exceptions: (1) the Histories
and Commentaries to the rules on sealing of files and closure of the courtroom will be retained
on a cumulative basis; (2) the 2010 Commentary following the list of section titles for Chapter
25a, the 2014 and 2021 Commentaries to Section 1-10B, the 2021 Commentary to Section
1-11C, the 2017 Commentary to Section 2-27A, the 2026 Commentary to Section 10-35, the
2022 Commentary to Section 25-6A and the 2022 Commentary to Section 37-1 have been
retained; and (3) Commentaries to certain sections of the Rules of Appellate Procedure
have been retained. Users wanting to access the Histories documenting rule changes and
Commentaries to new or amended rules, in a given year, should not discard the corresponding
edition of the Practice Book. For example, Histories and Commentaries corresponding to rule
changes to take effect January 1, 2026, will appear only in the 2026 edition of the Practice Book
and not in subsequent editions, unless the rule falls into one of the exceptions, listed previously.

The Commentaries to the rules of practice are included in this volume for informational
purposes only. Commentaries to those rules are not adopted by the judges and justices when
they vote to adopt proposed rule changes. Commentaries to the Rules of Professional Conduct
and Code of Judicial Conduct are adopted by the judges and justices and are printed in every
edition of the Practice Book.

Beginning in 2000, Amendment Notes were incorporated into the Rules of Professional
Conduct and the Code of Judicial Conduct. Those notes, approved by the Rules Committee
of the Superior Court to explain the revisions to the Rules of Professional Conduct and Code
of Judicial Conduct, appear only in the edition of the Practice Book corresponding to the year
of the revision and not in subsequent editions.

Every year, certain nonsubstantive, technical editorial changes are made to a number of
the rules. Some, but not all, of these changes are explained in Technical Change notes.

The Rules of Appellate Procedure. The reorganization of the Rules of Appellate Procedure
in 1998 was completed subsequent to the publication of the July 29, 1997 Connecticut Law
Journal and was published in this volume for the first time in 1998. The goal in reorganizing
the Rules of Appellate Procedure was to present them in the order in which an appellant
might approach the appeal process, i.e., rules on whether to appeal, how to file, what to do
next, when argument will take place, opinions and reargument. Rules on various special proceedings
were organized into separate chapters. No substantive changes were made in the
course of reorganization, but there were editorial changes.

Juvenile matters. Effective January 1, 2003, the rules pertaining to procedure in juvenile
matters were amended and reorganized. The amendments initially were published in the
Connecticut Law Journal of July 23, 2002. The July 23, 2002 Connecticut Law Journal gave
notice that the rules on juvenile matters, which, since 1998, had been found in Chapters 26
through 35, had been moved to Chapters 26a through 35a. In the Practice Book itself, however,
the original numbers of the juvenile rules were retained whenever possible.

Appendices and notices. In 2002, an Appendix was added following the Index. The Appendix
contains certain forms that previously had been in Volume 2 of the 1978-1997 Practice
Book. The Appendix of Superior Court Standing Orders, which was added in 2010, was removed
in 2012. A notice referring the reader to the Judicial Branch website for access to the Superior
Court Standing Orders was substituted in its place. The Index of Official Judicial Branch Forms
Used in Civil, Family and Juvenile Matters, which was added in 2010, was removed in 2018. A
noticereferringthe readerto the JudicialBranchwebsitefor accessto officialJudicialBranchforms
was substitutedin its place.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Attorney’s Oath . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Lawyers’ Principles of Professionalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Rules of Professional Conduct

Preamble. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Rules and Commentaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Code of Judicial Conduct

Preamble. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Canons, Rules and Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Superior Court Rules and Rules of Appellate Procedure

Chapter and Section Headings of the Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Superior Court—General Provisions

Chapter 1 Scope of Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Chapter 2 Attorneys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Chapter 3 Appearances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Chapter 4 Pleadings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Chapter 5 Trials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Chapter 6 Judgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Chapter 7 Clerks; Files and Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

Superior Court—Procedure in Civil Matters

Chapter 8 Commencement of Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Chapter 9 Parties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Chapter 10 Pleadings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Chapter 11 Motions, Requests, Orders of Notice and Short Calendar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Chapter 12 Transfer of Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
Chapter 13 Discovery and Depositions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
Chapter 14 Dockets, Trial Lists, Pretrials and Assignment Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Chapter 15 Trials in General; Argument by Counsel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
Chapter 16 Jury Trials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
Chapter 17 Judgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
Chapter 18 Fees and Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
Chapter 19 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
Chapter 20 Hearings in Chambers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
Chapter 21 Receivers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
Chapter 22 Unemployment Compensation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
Chapter 23 Miscellaneous Remedies and Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
Chapter 24 Small Claims . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

Superior Court—Procedure in Family Matters

Chapter 25 General Provisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
Superior Court—Procedure in Family Support Magistrate Matters
Chapter 25a Family Support Magistrate Matters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323

Superior Court—Procedure in Juvenile Matters

Chapter 26 General Provisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
Chapter 27 Reception and Processing of Delinquency Complaints or Petitions . . . . . . . . . 335
Chapter 28 Delinquency and Family with Service Needs Nonjudicial Supervision [Repealed] . 338
Chapter 29 Reception and Processing of Delinquency Petitions and Delinquency Informations 339
Chapter 30 Detention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340
Chapter 30a Delinquency Hearings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
Chapter 31 Delinquency and Family with Service Needs Hearing [Repealed] . . . . . . . . . . 346
Chapter 31a Delinquency Motions and Applications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
Chapter 32 Neglected, Uncared for and Dependent Children and Termination of Parental Rights
[Repealed] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352
Chapter 32a Rights of Parties, Neglected, Abused and Uncared for Children and Termination
of Parental Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
Chapter 33 Hearings concerning Neglected, Uncared for and Dependent Children and Termination
of Parental Rights [Repealed] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356
Chapter 33a Petitions for Neglect, Uncared for, Dependency and Termination of Parental Rights:

Initiation of Proceedings, Orders of Temporary Custody and Preliminary Hearings . . . . . 357
Chapter 34 Rights of Parties [Repealed] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362
Chapter 34a Pleadings, Motions and Discovery Neglected, Abused and Uncared for Children
and Termination of Parental Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
Chapter 35 General Provisions [Repealed] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368
Chapter 35a Hearings concerning Neglected, Abused and Uncared for Children and Termination
of Parental Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369

Superior Court—Procedure in Criminal Matters

Chapter 36 Procedure Prior to Appearance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380
Chapter 37 Arraignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384
Chapter 38 Pretrial Release . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388
Chapter 39 Disposition without Trial. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396
Chapter 40 Discovery and Depositions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
Chapter 41 Pretrial Motions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412
Chapter 42 Trial Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416
Chapter 43 Sentencing, Judgment, and Appeal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428
Chapter 44 General Provisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437

Rules of Appellate Procedure

Chapter 60 General Provisions Relating to Appellate Rules and Appellate Review . . . . . . . 445
Chapter 61 Remedy by Appeal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449
Chapter 62 Chief Judge, Appellate Clerk and Docket: General Administrative Matters . . . . . 458
Chapter 63 Filing the Appeal; Withdrawals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463
Chapter 64 Procedure concerning Memorandum of Decision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470
Chapter 65 Transfer of Matters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471
Chapter 66 Motions and Other Procedures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473
Chapter 67 Briefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478
Chapter 68 Case File and Clerk Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489
Chapter 69 Assignment of Cases for Argument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492
Chapter 70 Arguments and Media Coverage of Court Proceedings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493
Chapter 71 Appellate Judgments and Opinions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496
Chapter 72 Writs of Error. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 498
Chapter 73 Reservations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501
Chapter 74 Decisions of Judicial Review Council . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503
Chapter 75 Appeals from Council on Probate Judicial Conduct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505
Chapter 76 Appeals in Workers’ Compensation Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506
Chapter 77 Procedures concerning Court Closure and Sealing Orders or Orders Limiting the
Disclosure of Files, Affidavits, Documents or Other Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 508
Chapter 78 Review of Grand Jury Record or Finding Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 511
Chapter 78a Review of Orders concerning Release on Bail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 512
Chapter 78b Review of Orders Denying Application for waiver of Fees to Commence a Civil
Action or a Writ of Habeas Corpus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513
Chapter 79 Appeals in Juvenile Matters [Repealed] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 514
Chapter 79a Appeals in Child Protection Matters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 515
Chapter 80 Appeals in Habeas Corpus Proceedings Following Conviction . . . . . . . . . . . . 521
Chapter 81 Appeals to Appellate Court by Certification for Review in Accordance with General
Statutes Chapters 124 and 440 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 522
Chapter 82 Certified Questions to or from Courts of Other Jurisdictions . . . . . . . . . . . . . 525
Chapter 83 Certification Pursuant to General Statutes § 52-265a in Cases of Substantial Public
Interest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527
Chapter 84 Appeals to Supreme Court by Certification for Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529
Chapter 84a Matters within Supreme Court’s Original Jurisdiction in which Facts May Be Found 534
Chapter 85 Sanctions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 535
Chapter 86 Rule Changes; Effective Date; Applicability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 536

Tables and Index

Reference Table 1978-1997 to 1998 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537
Reference Table 1998 to 1978-1997 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550
Table of Statutes Noted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565
Appendix: Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 601
Official Judicial Branch Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 689
Superior Court Standing Orders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 690

THE ATTORNEY’S OATH

THE ATTORNEY’S OATH

You solemnly swear or solemnly and sincerely affirm, as the case may be, that you will do
nothing dishonest, and will not knowingly allow anything dishonest to be done in court, and
that you will inform the court of any dishonesty of which you have knowledge; that you will not
knowingly maintain or assist in maintaining any cause of action that is false or unlawful; that
you will not obstruct any cause of action for personal gain or malice; but that you will exercise
the office of attorney, in any court in which you may practice, according to the best of your
learning and judgment, faithfully, to both your client and the court; so help you God or upon
penalty of perjury. (General Statutes § 1-25 and annotations.)

(Amended pursuant to Public Act 02-71 to take effect Oct. 1, 2002.)

LAWYERS’ PRINCIPLES OF PROFESSIONALISM

The following Lawyers’ Principles of Professionalism
emphasize the obligation of lawyers
to model respect and civility in their interactions
with each other and with the public. 1
Such Principles have been recognized by various
other jurisdictions, including the Federal
District of Connecticut. It is fitting that the Principles
appear in the beginning of the Connecticut
Practice Book as a reminder that courtesy,
respect, and cooperation in the legal profession
are the foundation for serving the interests of
justice in a fair, timely, efficient, and open manner.
We cannot work effectively to serve our
clients and the public if we do not treat opposing
counsel, colleagues, and others with civility and
respect. Professional courtesy should be uniformly
extended to all individuals that we interact
with, whether self-represented parties, seasoned
professionals, or the newest members of
the bar.

The Principles set forth aspirational conduct
and serve as guidelines for civility and decorum.
The Principles are not intended to supersede,
supplement or in any way amend the Rules of
Professional Conduct, Code of Judicial Conduct,
or any other rule or requirement applicable
to professional conduct. Likewise, the Principles
are not intended to be the basis for the imposition
of any civil, criminal, or professional liability,
professional discipline or sanctions.

A lawyer must be dedicated to making our
system of justice work fairly and efficiently for
all. As an officer of the Court, a lawyer must
recognize the obligation they have to advance
the rule of law and preserve and foster the integrity
of the legal system. To this end, a lawyer
must be committed not only to observe the Connecticut
Rules of Professional Conduct, but also
to conduct themself in accordance with the following
Principles of Professionalism when dealing
with their clients, opposing parties, fellow
counsel, self-represented parties, the Courts,
and the general public.

Civility
Civility and courtesy are the hallmarks of professionalism.
As such:

A lawyer will be courteous, polite, respectful,
and civil, both in oral and in written communications;

A lawyer will refrain from using litigation or
any other legal procedure to harass an opposing
party;

A lawyer will not impute improper motives to
their adversary unless clearly justified by the
facts and essential to resolution of the issue;

A lawyer will treat the representation of a client
as the client’s transaction or dispute and not
as a dispute with their adversary;

A lawyer will respond to all communications
timely and respectfully and allow their adversary
a reasonable time to respond;

A lawyer will avoid making groundless objections
in the discovery process and work cooperatively
to resolve those that are asserted with
merit;

A lawyer will agree to reasonable requests for
extensions of time and for waiver of procedural

1On October 19, 2020, the Connecticut Bar Association (CBA) House of Delegates adopted Lawyers’ Principles of Professionalism.
They have been adapted here, with the permission of the CBA, to form the basis of these Principles.

LAWYERS’ PRINCIPLES OF PROFESSIONALISM

formalities when the legitimate interests of their
client will not be adversely affected;

A lawyer will try to consult with their adversary
before scheduling depositions, meetings, or
hearings, and will cooperate with their adversary
when schedule changes are requested;

When scheduled meetings, hearings, or
depositions have to be cancelled, a lawyer will
notify their adversary and, if appropriate, the
Court (or other tribunal) as early as possible and
enlist their involvement in rescheduling; and
A lawyer will not serve motions and pleadings
at such time or in such manner as will unfairly
limit the other party’s opportunity to respond.

Honesty
Honesty and truthfulness are critical to the
integrity of the legal profession—they are core
values that must be observed at all times, and
