What you need to know before your jury service

Find out what you need to know before you report for jury duty.

Learn about preparing for your service once you’ve responded to your jury summons, including making arrangements and confirming your service. You can also get information on what to do if your service is canceled.

If you have misplaced your summons, you can call 1 (800) THE-JURY for assistance.

Prepare for jury duty

Before your jury duty date, you should make arrangements to be available for up to 3 days of service. This includes scheduling childcare, notifying your employer, and anything else you need to do to make sure you're available. You'll want to check with your employer about their compensation policy for jury duty: with few exceptions, your employer is required to compensate you for the first three days of service. 

You'll also need to fill out the Confidential Juror Questionnaire (CJQ) before your service. This form helps the court and parties decide if you would be a suitable juror on a particular case. You will be asked for general information such as your city or town, your employer and your spouse’s employer, and whether you have prior experience with the justice system.

If you're not seated on a jury, this form will be destroyed, usually within 24 hours. If you're seated on a jury, your CJQ will be kept in a secure location until it's no longer needed.   

Additional Resources

Learn about compensation for jury duty

Trial Juror's Handbook

Trial Juror Instructions and Information brochure

Grand Juror's Handbook

Grand Juror Instructions and Information brochure

Confirm that you're needed for jury duty

Sometimes, the needs of the court change. Cases scheduled on the day of your service may have been resolved without the need for jurors, or all of the available judges may be busy with other trials. If this happens, jurors will be canceled. The day before you're scheduled for jury duty, you should confirm that you'll still be needed by the court.

If you've previously confirmed your jury duty service online and provided an email address, you'll receive an email the day before letting you know if you'll be needed. Otherwise, you can find out if you'll be needed in 1 of 2 ways:

• Log in to the Massachusetts Juror Service Website after 4 pm 
• Call the Juror Line listed on your Reminder Notice after 3 pm

Canceled service

If your service is canceled, you don't have to reschedule, unless you are a delinquent juror attempting to resolve your delinquency. However, you are eligible to be summoned for jury duty again the following year. 

Additional Resources

Delinquent jurors and the delinquency process