Services (Non-Enforcement)

Ordered Court Fee Waiver

Only services with an ordered court fee waiver can be emailed or mailed. If the request is emailed it must be in a PDF format; any other attachments may be blocked by network firewalls. Email or mail the completed instruction form, the ordered fee waiver, and the documents for service. See the Civil Main Page for more information.

Fee for Service

If you are paying for a request, you can mail the completed instruction form to our post office box address or bring them to the window during public window hours. See the Civil Main Page for more information and Fees & Service Type for fee amounts and forms of payment.

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Address Warning:

Any mail sent to an address other than the civil unit post office box address is subject to delays if received at all.

If you submit your request by email and the initial request is rejected, you will have to resubmit a new request as a new email. DO NOT reply within the same email thread, or your documents will not be received.

If your request is to serve a summons and complaint unlawful detainer, then you must provide us with two copies of the documents for each named tenant.

If you are including the prejudgment claim of right to possession with the summons and complaint unlawful detainer, then you must provide two copies of the documents for each person you believe to be in possession of the property.

It is your responsibility to make sure we have enough copies to serve “any and all” individuals at the address.

Jurisdiction (Is the service address in Fresno County?):

Please make sure the address for service is in Fresno County. See Fresno County GIS Map Viewer to verify the address.

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Any mail sent to an address other than the civil unit post office box address is subject to delays if received at all.

If the respondent is in custody with Fresno County Jail, see inmate search for jail identification (JID) and booking number: Inmate Search Portal.

If the respondent is in a prison located in Fresno County, you must provide the exact facility address and any inmate identifiers (i.e. registration number).

Gov § 26666.2

“Except for the following criteria, a marshal or sheriff, including their department or office, shall not review the substance of a summons, order, or other notice”.

The Sheriff’s Office can only follow the law as it applies to civil process. It is the requestor's responsibility to instruct the Sheriff on service of the documents. If you are missing any important information we should know that is not listed on the SER-001, the service may not be effective with the court. See the government code for more information.

It is extremely helpful to our Deputies and Professional Staff to provide our office with all the necessary information to serve your documents. Failing to provide important information makes the request to serve improbable.

Time Limits / Timely Service

The court has rules on when service should be completed. It is your responsibility to contact the court regarding “time for service” of your documents. If you require your documents to be served by the Civil Unit, please submit your request without delay and identify time limits on the SER-001 form.

Any service request submitted to our office that has a time restraint and does not allow our office the time to make due diligence attempts in a timely manner, may be ineffective with the court.