Process server in Sacramento County

Our Sacramento office is at 2450 Venture Oaks Way, Suite 200, the address listed on our contact page, and we cover the whole county, unincorporated communities included. Sacramento is also where two state counters draw in matters from the rest of California: the Secretary of State on 11th Street and the Attorney General on I Street. Having an office here does not change what the statutes and the court require, and it is not a promise about timing. Each assignment starts with the defendant sorted by type, since a person, a company and the State are each served differently, and ends with a POS-010 that shows every visit, successful or not, signed under penalty of perjury.

With a court order, not by choice. Corporations Code section 1702 applies when the agent has resigned without being replaced, cannot be found with reasonable diligence at the designated address, or was never named, and an affidavit satisfies the court that the corporation could not be served by the usual methods. The court can then order hand delivery to the Secretary of State of one copy of the process for each defendant, with a copy of the order. Service is complete on the tenth day after delivery, and the Secretary of State forwards the papers by registered mail to the corporation’s principal office. Section 17701.16 sets up the same route for LLCs.

No to both. The Secretary of State says substituted service through its office is available only in Sacramento and is not permitted by mail, and that its Los Angeles office cannot accept it. The court order, the process and the $50 statutory fee have to be handed in at the public counter at 1500 11th Street, 3rd Floor, Room 390, between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, state holidays excepted. The fee comes from Government Code section 12197. Because the order is the ticket in, the diligence record from the attempts on the agent has to be in good shape before the motion is made.

For a California corporation, yes. Section 1702(d) says the order directing service through the Secretary of State may come from a court of another state, or from any federal court, when the suit is filed there. Foreign corporations follow section 2111 instead, and the paperwork differs: two copies of the process and two copies of the order, unless the corporation never filed its statement under section 2105, in which case one of each is enough but the order has to set out the address the Secretary of State should forward it to. Either way, service is complete on the tenth day after delivery.

On the Attorney General. Government Code section 955.4 directs service of summons in actions on claims against the state to that office, and section 900.6 counts as the state any department, board or agency whose claims are paid by Controller’s warrant. Claims for taking or damaging property through Caltrans or Department of Water Resources work may also go to that director under sections 955.6 and 955.8. The Attorney General lists 1300 I Street in Sacramento for service and accepts it between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. on weekdays. It notes that most service can go to any of its offices, but some statutes require Sacramento, and it has not agreed to accept a summons by email or fax.

It can. Under Government Code section 955, the Attorney General may make a written demand, on or before answering, and the place of trial is then changed to Sacramento County, subject to exceptions in sections 955.2 and 955.3. Actions for taking or damaging private property for public use are different: they belong in the county where the property is. A related point for anyone suing a court rather than an agency: section 955.9 sends the summons to the court executive officer when the claim is against a superior court or one of its judges, and to the Administrative Director when the claim is against the Judicial Council.

No. Since January 16, 2024 the court has taken civil eFiling at the Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye Courthouse, and its eFiling page says that, until further notice, it is permissive for all parties. Local Rule 2.02 lists four routes: electronic, mail, in person and the designated drop box. Paper filings need an original and one copy, only one copy of each document is conformed, and anything submitted without the right fee is returned unfiled. The exception is limited civil unlawful detainer at the Carol Miller Justice Center, where Local Rule 2.99.06 requires attorneys to eFile through an approved provider unless granted an exemption.

An unlawful detainer asking for up to $35,000 is filed at the Carol Miller Justice Center, 301 Bicentennial Circle; above that, it goes to the Civil Division downtown. Represented landlords must eFile the limited cases under Local Rule 2.99.06. The court’s drop box there has a Friday quirk: anything left on a Friday is filed the next court day, and the court points Friday filers to the Ridgeway Family Relations Courthouse instead. Under Code of Civil Procedure section 1167, the tenant has ten days after service to respond, not counting Saturdays, Sundays or judicial holidays, and five more court days when service runs through the Secretary of State’s address confidentiality program.

More than the proof of service alone. Local Rule 2.34(A) says a party applying for default on the strength of substituted service under section 415.20(b) must submit a declaration by the process server stating the factual basis for concluding that the place of service and mailing was the person’s dwelling, usual place of abode, usual place of business, or usual mailing address other than a Postal Service box. Local Rule 2.34(C) adds that the request for entry of default must come with the original summons and proof of service, or file-endorsed copies. Our servers write down those facts at the door, so the declaration can be prepared from notes made at the time.

Two answers, because AB 747 rewrote section 415.20 and the new text starts on January 1, 2027. The version in force until then puts no number on it; the court decides whether the effort was reasonable from what the record shows. The new version fixes a floor: three good-faith tries at handing the papers over, each on a separate day and at a separate time. When the claim is a consumer debt, one of those tries must be at the home if that address is known or reasonably findable. It also widens the mailing that follows to Priority Mail with tracking or Certified Mail. In Sacramento the record matters twice, since Local Rule 2.34(A) asks for it again at default.

Most civil cases are randomly assigned to one of four Civil Home Court departments at the downtown courthouse, which hear law and motion and case management for that case. Civil harassment restraining orders, writs of mandate, complex cases, small claims, unlawful detainer and probate are excluded and go elsewhere. Hearing dates are reserved before the moving papers go in, and a motion without a reserved date may be rejected. Under Local Rule 1.06, tentative rulings post after 2:00 p.m. the court day before; anyone who wants to argue must call by 4:00 p.m. that day, or the tentative becomes the order.

Local Rule 2.35 sets the window. The hearing is reserved with the assigned Civil Home Court department no sooner than five court days and no later than 10:00 a.m. on the court day before, and a reservation needs a case number. The application and supporting papers must be filed and paid for by 4:00 p.m. one court day before the hearing, and the other side must be notified by 10:00 a.m. the court day before unless exceptional circumstances exist. Applications are generally decided on the papers unless the court directs otherwise. Writ and complex departments run their own procedures.