The Fresno County Sheriff’s Office Civil Unit will serve all court process and notices that are to be served in any proceedings before any court.

Follow the same steps as “Service of Documents” on the main page.

A “service” (non-enforcement) is a service that is not an enforcement order. It is a document or pack of documents informing the other party of a hearing or some other information for a court proceeding. These types of services are typically served personally or by substitute service.

Personal Service

If your service must be personally served, then we only need one copy of the documents for service for each person to be served.

Substitute Service

If your service does not need to be personally served and can be sub-served, then you must provide two copies of the documents for service for each person to be served.

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 a firewall. Email or mail the completed instruction form, the ordered fee waiver, and the documents for service. See “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 “Civil Main Page” for more information and “Fees & Service Type” for fee amounts and forms of payment.

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

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 https://maps.fresnosheriff.org/gisportal1/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=24fb16aae91445989dc033ee285af441 to verify the address.

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. https://www.fresnosheriff.org/units/records/inmate-search.html

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

Pursuant to 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 requestors 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 instructions, 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 instruction form.

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