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Cal. WIC § 5207

This is the official text of Cal. WIC § 5207, part of California’s Welfare and Institutions Code — governs public social services, juvenile justice, and mental health/developmental disability services.

Not legal advice. This page reproduces the official text of a government statute for reference only. Laws change, and how a statute applies depends on your specific facts. For advice about your situation, consult a licensed attorney in your state.

Official statutory text

The order for evaluation shall be in substantially the following form:

In the Superior Court of the State of California
for the County of _____

The People of the State of California
Concerning

and

Respondents No. _____
Order
for
Evaluation
or Detention

The People of the State of California to
:
(Peace officer, counselor in mental health, or
other official appointed by the court)

The petition of ____ has been presented this day to me, a Judge of the Superior Court for the County of ____, State of California, from which it appears that there is now in this county, at ____, a person by the name of ____, who is, as a result of mental disorder, a danger to others, or to himself, or gravely disabled.

Now, therefore, you are directed to notify ____ to submit to an evaluation at ____ on the ____ day of ____, 19_, at __ o’clock __m.

____ shall be permitted to be accompanied by one or more of his relatives, friends, an attorney, a personal physician, or other professional or religious advisor.

The individual or individuals who accompany ____ may be present during the evaluation if so requested by ____.

*Provision for Detention for Evaluation

If the person fails or refuses to appear for evaluation when notified by order of this court, you are hereby directed to detain said ____ or cause him to be detained at ____ for a period no longer than 72 hours, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays if evaluation services are not available on those days, for the purposes of evaluation.

I hereby direct that a copy of this order together with a copy of the petition be delivered to said person and his representative, if any, at the time of his notification; and I further authorize the service of this order at any hour of the day or night.

Witness my hand, this ____ day of ____, 19_

Judge of the Superior Court

*This paragraph is applicable only if the person to be evaluated fails or refuses to appear for evaluation after having been properly notified.

Return of Order

I hereby certify that I received the above order for the evaluation of ____ and on the ____ day of ____, 19_, personally served a copy of the order and of the petition on ____ and the professional person in charge of the ____, a facility for treatment and evaluation, or his designee.

Dated: ____, 19_.

Signature and Title

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.