PLEASE NOTE: This search engine may give you incomplete results and we strongly encourage you to navigate LawHelpCalifornia.org using the topic buttons on the home page. By using the topic buttons, you can find a complete list of legal aid organizations and self-help resources in your area.
TIPS ON SEARCHING
Basic Searches
Most searches can be written by entering the words and phrases you're interested in.
Words: If you want to see documents dealing with custody you can start with a single-word search, such as:
| protection |
Your search finds all items that include the word "protection." |
Phrases: To see documents that refer to a series of words that occur in a specific order, such as "order of protection" or "in forma pauperis," enter the whole phrase:
| order of protection |
Your search finds only items that include that exact phrase in that exact order. |
Note: Searches will be case-insensitive unless you use uppercase. The search apple will return Apple, apple or even aPpLe, whereas the search Apple will return only Apple. This means that all search words should be in lower-case, unless you are searching for a word that always has the same capitalization.
Refining Searches
You can make your searches more specific by combining the words you used for basic searches with operators. Operators are special words that are used to indicate relationships between the terms that make up your search.
| and |
Returns results containing all specified words regardless of order. |
| or |
Returns results containing any of the specified words, regardless of order. |
| not |
Eliminates results containing a specified word.
Ex: "support not spousal" |
| <near> |
Returns results containing specified search terms in proximity to each other.
Ex: "Aker <near> Kennedy" returns results with the case name Aker v. Kennedy |
<sentence>
<paragraph> |
Returns results where the word before and after the operator must be in the same sentence or paragraph.
Ex: "custody <paragraph> protective order" |
" "
(double quotes) |
Use quotes to make sure that only the specific word is found. (Can also be used to find phrases.)
Ex: " bank" will only find the word bank and not banking, banked or banker. |
| ? |
Wildcard operator that represents any one character. You can use a ? to specify the first letter of a word.
Ex: " pen?ions" |
| * |
Wildcard operator that represents one or more characters. You cannot use a * to specify the first letter of a word.
Ex: " bank*" (finds bank and bankrupt) |
|
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