After you filed your small claims forms with the court, the next step is to notify the other side about the case formally. This is called service. In this blog, we will talk about how to serve your small claims forms to the other side properly in California. 📁🚀👍
There are specific steps you need to follow to serve your small claims case in California. Failing to do so, and the other side failing to come to court (which happens frequently), the court might postpone your scheduled hearing. This will drag your small claims process longer.
In this post, I'm going to share the general steps to serve your small claims forms in California. Remember, local courts might have different requirements. Please check with your local court if you have any questions.
High-Level Summary
Let's take a minute to see the chart below for a high-level summary of how to serve your small claims forms in California.
Ways to serve your small claims forms
There are different ways to serve your small claims forms. For example:
Serve the forms directly to the other side. This is called Personal Service. This is how forms are usually served and preferred by the court.
Serve the forms to someone (aged 18 or above) at the other side's home or work. This is called Substituted Service.
Some courts have the option to let the court clerk send forms by certified mail. This type of service might work when you're serving a business's agent for service of process. For others, it often doesn't work. In general, certified mail is not recommended.
No matter which way, you can't serve the forms yourself. You must have someone who is 18 or older, and is not in your case serve the forms for you.
Step 1: Find out who you need to serve
If you already filed a small claims case, I think you probably know who you need to serve. Basically, you need to serve the other side you are suing. For example:
If you are suing someone | Serve each person you are suing. They have to be served in California. |
If you are suing a business or government | Refer to this form to find out which specific person you need to serve. They have to be served in California. |
If you are suing your landlord | You can serve your landlord in California or out of state if they live there |
If you are suing about a car accident, and the owner or driver of the other car lives out of state | Serve the driver, owner, and the Director of the DMV |
Step 2: Choose your server
Remember, you can't serve the paper yourselves. You need to ask someone aged 18 or above to deliver your forms.
Your server can be:
Someone you know or a family member;
A county sheriff or marshal;
A professional process server; or
Anyone over 18 who is NOT part of the case
Your server must be:
aged 18 or above
Not part of your case
Step 3: Find out the deadline to serve
As a rule of thumb,
It's best to serve as early as you can.
If your server can deliver the forms to the other side directly (Personal Service) | The forms need to be delivered 15 days before your court date, or 20 days before your court date if the other side is in a different county from where you file your case. |
If your server can't find the person you need to serve and have to try Substitute Service | The forms need to be delivered 25 days before your court date, or 30 days before your court date if the other side is in a different county from where you file your case. |
Because you don't know if your server can find the person you need to serve before the deadline. It's always good to serve as early as possible.
Step 4: Have your server deliver the forms (Personal Service)
Once you give all the forms to your server, your server would go find the person they need to serve and hand your small claims forms to them before the deadline. Remind your server, when they hand over the forms to the other side:
Tell the other side what the forms are about (e.g., "this is a small claims lawsuit")
Write down the address, date, and time they gave the other side the forms
The server will need this information to fill out the Proof of Service form at a later step.
Step 5: Serve your forms by substituted service
Skip this step if your server hands over your forms to the other side successfully in step 4.
Sometimes, when your server comes to deliver the forms to the other side, the person might not be at their home or workplace. Your server might hand the papers to another adult that is there and then mails the papers to the address. This is called Substituted Service and the forms need to be served before the deadline for substituted service. Remind your server, when they hand over the forms to another adult:
Only give the forms to
Someone aged 18 or above who lives at the home;
Someone aged 18 or above who seems to be in charge of where the person to be served works; or,
Someone aged 18 or above where the person normally gets their mail, but not a USPS Post Office Box.
Tells the person "Please give these court forms to [someone you need to serve]."
Asks the person their name or write down the description of the person they gave the papers to.
Write down the address, date, and time they gave the forms.
The server will need this information to fill out the Proof of Service form at a later step.
Step 6: Make a copy of the forms to the address your server left the forms
Skip this step if your server hands over your forms to the other side successfully in step 4.
If you do Substituted Service in step 5, your server will also need to mail a copy of the forms to the address your server left the forms. This is a backup copy your server needs to send as a 2nd way to make sure the other side knows they are being sued.
Remind your server to write down:
The date, the city, and the state where they mailed the forms.
The place they mailed the forms from (e.g., at a U.S. Postal Service mail drop, or an office mail room),
or if they gave them to someone else to mail for them.
Note: If a different server mails the form, that server needs to fill out Proof of Mailing (Substituted Service) (form SC-104a).
Step 7: Fill out, make copies, and file the Proof of Service with the court
Once you serve the forms to the other side successfully,
Ask your server to fill out the Proof of Service (form SC-104). Ask your server to fill out how, when, and where they served the forms. They then sign and return the Proof of Service back to you.
Make one copy of your filled-out Proof of Service form.
File the original and the copy at least 5 days before your court date.
The court will keep the original and return the stamped copy to you. Remember to keep the copy for your records.
Here you go! I hope these general steps give you an idea of how to serve your small claims forms properly in California.
Remember, different courts might have different procedures. Please refer to your local court for more information.
What's Next?
After you serve your forms, you need to start to get ready for your court date (trial).
Prepare your case with FillMeForms!
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