How to Serve Someone in California: The Ways to Serve Court Papers

If you are working out how to serve someone in California, the rules are shorter than they look. Service of process in California starts with one sentence about who may serve, then a short list of methods in the Code of Civil Procedure, each with its own conditions and its own moment of completion. This post is the overview: who is allowed to serve, each way a summons can be served, and how the serve gets proved. Where we have a deeper post on a method, it is linked rather than repeated.

Can you serve someone yourself?

No. Code of Civil Procedure section 414.10 says a summons may be served by any person who is at least 18 years of age and not a party to the action. A plaintiff is a party, so a plaintiff cannot hand over their own summons. Anyone else who is an adult and not part of the case can: the court's self-help guide to serving court papers lists a friend or relative, a coworker, a county sheriff or marshal, and a professional process server. Registration is a separate question, and What Makes a Registered California Process Server explains when it is required.

1. Personal service

Under section 415.10, a summons may be served by personal delivery of a copy of the summons and of the complaint to the person to be served, and service is deemed complete at the time of that delivery. No waiting period follows. The statute directs that the date of delivery be entered on the face of the served summons, and then says service without that date is still valid and effective.

The self-help guide adds the practical point most people ask about: if the person refuses to take the papers, the server can leave them on the ground in front of them, and that still counts. It also notes that personal service is valid in all types of cases and is generally required for the first papers in a case. The details are in Personal Service in California: What CCP §415.10 Requires.

2. Substituted service

Section 415.20 has two paths. For an individual, substituted service is allowed only if the papers cannot with reasonable diligence be personally delivered. The server then leaves the summons and complaint at the person's dwelling house, usual place of abode, usual place of business, or usual mailing address (not a post office box), in the presence of a competent member of the household or a person apparently in charge who is at least 18 and is told what the papers are, and afterward mails a copy to the same place by first-class mail. For a business or other entity served through one of the people named in sections 416.10 through 416.50, the papers may be left during usual office hours with the person apparently in charge of the office, followed by the same mailing. In the version of the statute in effect today, service by either path is deemed complete on the 10th day after the mailing.

The self-help guide describes the diligence the court expects before the individual path is used: several attempts in person, on different days of the week and at different times, written up as a declaration of due diligence that is signed under penalty of perjury and attached to the proof of service. Section 415.20 was rewritten in 2025 and the version in force now is repealed on January 1, 2027, when a new version takes over. Substituted Service in California: What CCP §415.20 Actually Requires covers both versions.

3. Service by mail with a notice and acknowledgment

Section 415.30 allows a summons to be served by mail, but only in a specific package: a copy of the summons and complaint, two copies of a notice and acknowledgment of receipt, and a prepaid return envelope addressed to the sender. Service is complete on the date the person signs the acknowledgment, provided it is then returned. If the person does not complete and return it within 20 days of the mailing, the statute makes them liable for the reasonable expenses of serving them another way. The Judicial Council form for this is POS-015, and the court's guide to serving the defendant in a civil lawsuit is candid that this method often does not work because it depends on the other side signing and mailing a form back. We walk through it in Serving a Summons by Mail in California (CCP §415.30).

4. Serving someone outside California

Section 415.40 provides that a person outside the state may be served in any manner the article allows, or by sending a copy of the summons and complaint by first-class mail, postage prepaid, requiring a return receipt. Service by that form of mail is deemed complete on the 10th day after the mailing. The self-help guide warns that the return receipt has to be signed by the right person for the serve to hold up, and not to use it for someone outside the United States.

5. Service by publication

Publication is the last resort and needs a court order. Under section 415.50, the court must be satisfied by affidavit that the party cannot with reasonable diligence be served in another manner, and that a cause of action exists against them or they are a necessary or proper party, or that they have or claim an interest in property in California that the action concerns. The court then orders the summons published in a named newspaper most likely to give actual notice, and if the party's address is found before the publication period runs, the order directs that the summons, complaint and order be mailed to them. The self-help guide describes the usual run as once a week for four weeks, complete 28 days after the first publication.

Who gets served when the defendant is a business

The methods above say how the papers are delivered; other sections say to whom, and for a corporation the answer is usually its agent for service of process, or one of the officers listed in section 416.10. The self-help guide notes that every corporation or limited liability company doing business in California must list an agent with the Secretary of State, which is where a server looks the agent up. How to Serve a California Corporation Through Its Agent goes through it.

Proving the serve

A serve enters the court record through a proof of service, filled out and signed by the server, not by the party. For a summons, the self-help guide points to Judicial Council form POS-010, one per defendant served, filed with the court. In a civil lawsuit, the court's guide says the plaintiff has 60 days from filing the lawsuit to have the papers served and to file proof of it, and that the court can give more time if the plaintiff is actively trying. Which form fits which situation is the subject of POS-010 vs. POS-040: Which Proof of Service Form to Use.

Choosing a method

Take a fictional plaintiff, Marisol Reyes, suing a former contractor. Personal service is attempted first, because it is complete the moment the papers change hands and is accepted for the first papers in every kind of case. If the contractor is never home, the server's logged attempts become the diligence that supports substituted service, with the follow-up mailing and the 10-day wait. If he has moved out of state, the certified-mail route under section 415.40 is available. If he cannot be found at all, publication is the fallback, and only with the court's order. When the address is the problem, skip tracing for attorneys is built for that step.

Legal Hub Group's process serving in California is for law firms: serves go to registered California process servers, every attempt is logged from the field with a GPS fix and a time stamp, and the proof of service is built from that record on the official form. Once the proof is ready, it can be filed through California e-filing at $14.99 per filing plus court fees, with every fee shown before you pay. Before any filing goes in, Lexary by Legal Hub Group, free with every filing, with no limit, flags missing signatures, dates, addresses and case details, and fixes file formats.

This is general information, not legal advice.