People going to the Santa Clara County family courts in San Jose have been experiencing days of frustration. Upon arrival, they discover the building closed due to a prolonged power outage.

The outage began on Monday, forcing the center to close, and it has remained closed since then. This has resulted in the postponement of divorce proceedings, child custody cases, and other hearings.

According to a court spokesperson, stormy weather caused the initial outage on Monday, affecting both the downtown superior court and the old courthouse in addition to the family justice center. While the other two buildings experienced only brief outages, the family justice center remained closed three days later due to technical challenges in restoring all the databases inside the building.

One person, Marie, arrived on Wednesday for a hearing for her daughter, only to find the center closed. She expressed her frustration, saying, “I didn’t know it was closed. I just wasted half my afternoon. I took time off of work for this.”

Jason Perry stated that Wednesday marked his third day of being turned away from the Santa Clara County family court. His divorce proceeding, originally scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, was delayed, and he will need to wait for the court to provide him with a new date.

“It’s very much an inconvenience,” he expressed.

To address emergency requests like temporary restraining orders, a temporary office was established in a jury room across the street. However, most hearings were postponed.

A court spokesperson mentioned that the power is expected to be restored, and the family justice center should reopen by Thursday morning.