The Civil Process Service Email System may be used by litigants only to submit requests for service of civil process to the Sheriff's Office.  The email system may not be used to submit questions relating to the service of civil process to the Sheriff's Office. (Questions emailed to the Sheriff's Office via the email system will be deleted without response.) *

*For answers to questions relating to the service of civil process, please call one of our Civil Division offices.

PLEASE NOTE that currently the email system may only be used by litigants with a court-ordered fee waiver from a California court that waives the Sheriff's fees for service of process.

Important notice regarding restraining/protection orders:  To ensure prompt attention, the email system SHOULD NOT be used to request service of a restraining/protection order.  A request for service of a restraining/protection order should be submitted via fax to the appropriate Civil Division office (with the SER-001 Request for Sheriff to Serve Court Papers service instructions) or delivered in-person to one of our Civil Division offices. (In-person requests can be made at the Civil Division office nearest to you.)

Most legal documents are required to be served a specified number of days prior to the date of the court hearing and some legal documents require to have additional forms such as responses or other informational documents attached. It is NOT the responsibility of the Sheriff's Office to provide these forms or information. It is the litigant's responsibility to ensure that their request for service of civil process complies with all applicable codes. The Sheriff's Office will review the documents only to the extent permitted by Government Code § 26666.2.

The Sheriff's Civil Division will review your request for service of civil process within 72 hours, and you will receive a confirmation email that will notify you whether your request for service of civil process has been accepted or rejected.

If your request for service of civil process is accepted, your request for service of civil process will be processed as quickly as possible, and you will receive either a Proof of Service if your documents were served, or an Affidavit of Unsuccessful Service if we were not able to serve your documents for any reason.  (Please allow 10 days before calling our office to check status of your request for service of civil process.)

If your request for service of civil process is rejected, the confirmation email will indicate the reason(s) why the request for service of civil process was rejected.  You may re-submit your request for service of civil process via a new email after you have addressed the reason(s) why the original request was rejected.  (Rejected requests for service of civil process are not retained by the Civil Division.)

After clicking the email button below to open your email client, do the following:

• Add your court case number to the end of the Subject line.
• Attach your PDF* file(s) to the email. (A copy of the documents to be served, a copy of your court-ordered fee waiver, and the applicable service instructions.)
• Do not enter anything in the body of the email.
• Verify your attachments then click the Send button.

*Only PDF files will be accepted.  (Any non-PDF file submitted will not be reviewed.)