Process server in San Bernardino County

No. The offices on our contact page are the two in Los Angeles, on Overland Avenue and in Century City, plus Glendale, Irvine and Sacramento, and none of them is inside San Bernardino County. The court’s Where Can I File? page, not where an office sits, decides which courthouse a case goes to. It does not change what an assignment here produces: a signed POS-010, filed in the courthouse the case belongs in, that lists each visit, including the ones where nobody came to the door.

The court’s Where Can I File? page answers it with lists of place names. Rancho Cucamonga’s civil division lists Alta Loma, Chino, Chino Hills, Montclair, Mt. Baldy, part of Pomona, Rancho Cucamonga and Upland. Victorville’s lists Apple Valley, Barstow, El Mirage, Oro Grande, Silver Lakes, Spring Valley Lake, Trona and Victorville. The San Bernardino Justice Center’s list takes in communities right across the county, Ontario and Fontana among them. Choosing the wrong one is costly, because “incorrect court location is selected” is one of the rejection reasons the court names in its eFiling FAQ, and Local Rule 404 wants a Certificate of Assignment with the complaint.

Hesperia appears on the Barstow District’s list, so a limited landlord-tenant case from there is filed at 235 East Mountain View Street in Barstow, the same courthouse whose list also names Victorville, Apple Valley, Adelanto and Big Bear Lake. The other three branch courthouses split the rest. Fontana’s list covers the valley, including Ontario, Rancho Cucamonga, San Bernardino and Redlands. Joshua Tree takes Twentynine Palms, Yucca Valley and Landers, and Needles takes its own city and the communities east of Kelbaker Road. Unlimited landlord-tenant is listed only under the civil division at the San Bernardino Justice Center.

Section 1167 of the Code of Civil Procedure gives 10 days from service of the complaint, and Saturdays, Sundays and other judicial holidays are not counted; that is the text as amended by AB 2347. A tenant served through the Secretary of State’s address confidentiality program, by mail or in person, gets five extra court days. The section also sends the summons through the same issue, service and return steps as any civil summons, which is why a registered server may deliver it. Rule 3.110(a) leaves unlawful detainers out of the 60-day proof deadline in rule 3.110(b).

Not yet. The court’s landlord-tenant division made eFiling voluntary for attorneys and self-represented parties from October 2, 2023, and its page still says the date for mandatory eFiling is yet to be decided. Writs of execution and writs of possession can now go in through eFiling too. That is the opposite of general civil, where attorneys have had to eFile since September 2, 2025. Landlord-tenant also keeps its own list of documents that cannot be eFiled, separate from the civil one, and unlawful detainer motions are outside the civil rule that a hearing date be reserved before eFiling.

No. Section 715.020 gives the writ of possession to the levying officer, and section 680.260 defines that as the sheriff or marshal. In this county the Sheriff’s Court Services Civil Division is the unit whose deputies and staff receive, serve and execute civil process and court orders. The officer serves an occupant or, failing that, posts the writ and serves the judgment debtor. Occupants still there five days after that service are removed, and possession passes to the landlord. The summons and complaint before judgment are the part a registered process server handles.

No. The court’s list of civil documents ineligible for eFiling includes subpoenas and subpoenaed documents, alongside bonds and undertakings, trial and evidentiary hearing exhibits, lodged documents, peremptory challenges to a judicial officer and anything under seal. The eFiling FAQ says ineligible items can be filed in person, by mail or through the drop box. At the three civil divisions, documents left in the drop box before 4:00 p.m. are marked received that day, and the court asks for the full ZIP+4 on anything mailed to the San Bernardino Justice Center.

At least 30 days before the examination date, and in person. Section 708.110(d) requires the judgment creditor to personally serve the order on the judgment debtor, in the manner section 415.10 sets, and service creates a lien on the debtor’s personal property for a year from the date of the order. San Bernardino adds a filing step: under Local Rule 560 the court may take the examination off calendar if the proof of service has not been filed at least ten days before it. So an assignment like this carries two dates, not one.

The court’s civil eFiling FAQ lists the usual reasons: several documents submitted as one PDF, data fields that do not match the document image, a case number that does not match, the wrong case type, and the wrong court location. Its requirements page adds that fillable form fields must be locked, and that a proof of service must be filed as its own document rather than attached to a proposed order or judgment. A rejection notice gives the reason and the document can be corrected and resubmitted, but the FAQ warns that a missed deadline then needs an application for relief.

No. Business and Professions Code section 22350 has a server register with the county clerk where they live or keep their principal place of business, and the Assessor-Recorder-County Clerk’s own page applies that to people and firms based in San Bernardino County, handling those registrations by certified mail only. A server registered elsewhere shows that registration on the proof. Under section 417.40 as it reads today, the proof gives the county of registration and the number, which POS-010 carries at item 7. The version operative January 1, 2027 asks only for the number the county clerk assigned.

Local Rule 731 sets two times. The application has to be filed by 12:00 p.m. on the court day before the hearing, and every party has to be notified by 10:00 a.m. on that same court day, under rule 3.1203. The rule also bars the application until any required fee is paid, except for a guardian ad litem, an undertaking or an attachment. The eFiling requirements add a step before any of that: the ex parte hearing date is reserved with the department first, and a general civil motion eFiled without one is rejected. Unlawful detainer cases are outside that reservation requirement.

Very little. The clerk’s office at 477 Summit Boulevard opens on the first Wednesday of the month, 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., for limited services such as payments and scheduling. A civil harassment restraining order can be filed there, with the hearing set in Barstow within two court days. Big Bear Lake is on the San Bernardino Justice Center’s list for general civil, and on Barstow’s list for small claims and limited landlord-tenant. None of that affects service itself, which happens at the defendant’s address like anywhere else.