Editorial Policy

Our job is to give Californians accurate, specific, plain-English guidance, and to send them to the official source to get things done.

How a guide is made

1. Official sources first. Every guide is based on the statute, court rule, official form or agency page it describes, and links to it in an Official sources section at the end of the guide.
2. Checked on the agency's own website. We confirm current fees, forms, deadlines and portals on the agency's own website (courts.ca.gov, dmv.ca.gov, edd.ca.gov and county sites) and update the date on the guide.
3. Fact-checked before publishing. A second pass checks every figure, deadline and link in the guide against its source before the page goes live.
4. Dated. Each guide shows the date it was last updated. Benefit amounts, tax rates and fees that change every January are rechecked each year.

Facts we haven't yet confirmed are held back. Our publishing system won't publish a page that still contains an unverified fact.

Use of AI tools

We sometimes use AI tools to help outline a guide, draft first versions or check wording for clarity. A person then checks every fact against the official source and adds local details before the guide is published. Nothing is published without that human research and review, and we don't create author profiles for people who aren't real.

Updates and corrections

We recheck fees, benefit amounts and tax rates every January and update guides whenever a law or fee changes. If you spot an error, contact us. We verify it against the official source and correct the page, usually within a few business days.

Independence

Advertisers never decide what we cover or what we say. We never accept payment to change, rank or remove content, and we never charge for government services.

Privacy

We write about processes, not people. We don't publish names from court cases or public filings, and we don't collect claim, case or license details from readers.