A lawsuit filed in Los Angeles rarely stays in Los Angeles. The defendant who lived in Koreatown last year now rents in Sacramento. The company you are suing is incorporated in Delaware and run from Texas. The witness you need took a job in Hong Kong. The ex-spouse moved back to Mexico.
Every one of those people can still be served. But each move changes the rules, the timeline, and the cost, and each one creates a new way for the serve to go wrong. Deadlines keep running while you figure out which rules apply. A defective serve can be quashed. A judgment built on bad service abroad may never be enforced. And an evasive defendant who crosses a border is counting on you to give up.
That is why the choice of process server matters. A company that only knows a few zip codes will hand your file back the moment it leaves town. You need one that can follow the case wherever it goes.
We are The Global Process Server. We were founded by licensed private investigators, and our team has over 30 years of experience serving court papers throughout Los Angeles County, in all 58 California counties, in all 50 states, and in 195 nations. In this guide, we explain how service of process works at each of those levels, how to vet a company, what service costs, how the rules differ by case type, and the questions we hear most often.
A process server delivers legal papers to the people and businesses involved in a case, using a method the law accepts, and then gives the court sworn proof that it happened.
Service of process does two things. It tells the defendant that a case exists and that they have a limited time to respond. That is due process. And it gives the court jurisdiction, meaning the legal power to make orders that bind that person or business. Without valid service, a court generally cannot enter a judgment that will stand.
That is true whether the defendant lives three blocks from the courthouse or on another continent. What changes is how valid service is achieved.
On each assignment, a professional process server will:
In California state courts, the server signs a proof of service under penalty of perjury. In many other states and in some federal matters, the same document is called an affidavit of service and may need to be notarized. In an international serve under a treaty, the proof is often a certificate issued by a foreign government office. Part of our job is making sure the proof you receive is the kind your court expects.
For a case in a California court, the Code of Civil Procedure allows:
Those are the tools. Where the defendant is located decides which ones are available.
Most of our assignments begin close to home. Local does not mean easy.
Los Angeles County covers more than 4,000 square miles and is home to roughly ten million people. It has dozens of courthouses, from the Stanley Mosk Courthouse downtown to branch courts in Van Nuys, Long Beach, Pasadena, Torrance, Pomona, Lancaster, and elsewhere. A single day’s route can include a high-rise in Century City, a warehouse in Vernon, a hillside home in Malibu, and an apartment in Palmdale.
A local process server who knows the area plans routes around traffic, knows which buildings have mailrooms that refuse deliveries, and knows what time a night-shift worker is likely to be home.
In most civil cases, California Rules of Court, rule 3.110(b), requires the complaint to be served on all named defendants, with proof of service filed, within 60 days after filing. Courts can extend that time, but you need a reason. Timely service starts with getting the papers to a server early.
Our Los Angeles County process servers cover the entire county, including:
Whatever your process serving needs are in the county, the standard is the same: verified address, documented attempts, correct proof.
Leave the county and the Code of Civil Procedure stays the same. The ground conditions do not.
Our California process covers every county, and each region has its own character:
A registered process server in California registers in the county where they live or have their principal place of business. That registration is valid statewide. So a properly registered server can serve process anywhere in California.
When a defendant moves from Los Angeles to Fresno, you should not have to find, vet, and brief a new company. We reassign the serve inside our own network, carry the attempt history forward, and keep the documentation consistent. That continuity matters if you later need to show the court one unbroken record of diligence.
A California court can often reach a defendant who lives in another state. Getting the papers there correctly is the next step.
For a California case, a defendant outside the state but inside the United States can generally be served in any manner California law allows, or as permitted by the law of the place where service is made. One option is section 415.40, which allows service by first-class mail with a return receipt requested, complete on the tenth day after mailing. In practice, a signed return receipt is not always easy to get, and personal service by a local server in the other state is often the more dependable route.
This catches people off guard. Every state decides who may serve papers within its borders. California registers its servers. Some states require licensed process servers. Others use a certified process server system run by the courts. A few limit certain kinds of service to sheriffs or constables, and some simply allow any adult who is not a party. Rules on Sunday service, on how papers may be left, and on what the affidavit must say vary too.
We work with vetted servers in every state who meet their local legal requirements, so the serve is valid where it is made and acceptable to the California court where it will be filed.
A subpoena does not travel. A California subpoena has no force over a witness in Nevada, and a New York subpoena has no force over a records custodian in Los Angeles. Most states, California included, have adopted a uniform act for interstate discovery. In California it is the Interstate and International Depositions and Discovery Act, section 2029.100 and following. The out-of-state subpoena is submitted to the local court, a local subpoena is issued, and that subpoena is served. We assist attorneys with this domestication process to and from California.
Federal courts follow Rule 4 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which sets its own time limit for service and its own methods, and borrows state methods as well. We serve for matters in all four federal districts in California and in federal courts nationwide.
Territories and tribal land
Our coverage includes U.S. territories and Indian Reservations. Service on tribal land can require coordination with tribal courts or tribal police. We check the protocol before we attempt service.
When the defendant is outside the United States, you are no longer dealing with California law alone. You are dealing with a foreign country’s sovereignty, and often a treaty.
Section 413.10 of the Code of Civil Procedure makes service outside the United States subject to the Hague Service Convention where it applies. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that when the Convention applies, following it is mandatory. So the first question in any international process assignment is whether the destination country is a party to it.
The Hague Service Convention is a treaty, signed at The Hague in 1965, among the United States and many other countries. Its main channel works like this:
That certificate is your proof for the California court.
The Convention allows service by postal channels only if the receiving country has not objected. Many have. Germany, China, India, and Mexico, among others, do not accept service by mail from abroad. Mailing a summons into a country that objects is not valid service, and a judgment that rests on it may be refused when you try to enforce it. Even where mail is tolerated, proving delivery to the right person can be difficult.
Country rules change. We confirm current requirements before each request is sent.
For countries that are not part of the Hague Service Convention, the traditional route is Letters Rogatory: a formal request from your court to a court in the foreign country, asking it to carry out service. The request moves through official and often diplomatic channels. It can take many months, sometimes a year or longer.
Some countries in the Americas are parties to the Inter-American Convention on Letters Rogatory and its Additional Protocol, which provides another treaty channel through designated central authorities.
In some countries, service by a local agent, without going through a government office, is permitted. It is faster and often cheaper. The trade-off is enforcement. If you expect to enforce a U.S. judgment in the country where the defendant lives, formal service through the treaty channel is usually the safer path. We lay out the service options. You and your attorney choose.
International service is measured in months. A Central Authority may take anywhere from a couple of months to well over half a year. Your California court will still expect progress, so your attorney should tell the court early that foreign service is under way and ask for the time it requires. We provide realistic estimates and status reports to support that request.
The Convention does not apply when the defendant’s address is not known. That does not mean you can skip the search. The court will want to see genuine efforts to locate the person before it allows an alternative such as publication. Our investigators help build that record.
Translation
Many Central Authorities reject documents that are not translated into the official language. We coordinate translation along with the request so the package is complete the first time.
Click any nation below for more information about international process service.
In California, the server must be at least 18 years old and not a party to the case. You cannot serve your own lawsuit, your own divorce, or your own small claims case.
An adult who is not a party may serve legal papers for you. For a cooperative recipient across town, that can work. The risks grow fast when anything is complicated:
The sheriff’s civil division will serve papers within its own county for a set fee. It is a legitimate choice for a simple local serve with no time pressure. Sheriffs generally keep limited hours, do not investigate bad addresses, and cannot help once the defendant has left the county.
Professional process servers bring knowledge of the methods, persistence at odd hours, and a written record. In California there is a legal advantage as well. Under Evidence Code section 647, the return of a registered process server creates a presumption that the facts in it are true. A defendant who claims they were not served has to overcome that presumption.
For out-of-state and international matters, a professional is close to essential. The legal consequences of getting foreign service wrong, an unenforceable judgment after a year of waiting, are too serious to risk.
Search results and review sites offer plenty of names. Here is how to judge them.
Ask for the registration number and county of the person who will actually serve, or the state license number if the company works under a private investigator license. Licensed investigators and their employees are exempt from separate registration. Either way, the credentials should be current and offered without fuss.
No one can promise to find every person. Be skeptical of guarantees. Ask instead how quickly the first attempt is made, how many attempts are included, how you will be updated, and what happens when an address is bad.
This is where many companies fall short. Ask directly: Can you serve throughout Los Angeles County? In every California county? In other states? Abroad, under the Hague Service Convention? A company that says yes to all four, and can explain how, will save you from switching vendors in the middle of a case.
Look for specifics about communication, speed, and hard serves. Check how the company responds to complaints. Remember that sponsored placements are advertisements. Reviews speak to customer service. They cannot tell you whether a proof will hold up in front of a judge.
Ask for a sample attempt log and proof. Each entry should show the date, time, address, who was contacted, and what was observed. For international work, ask what status reporting you will get while a request sits with a foreign authority.
A company that can run a skip trace in-house, verify the result, and go straight out to serve will finish jobs that others return unserved.
The figures below are general market ranges, given for orientation. They are not our price list. Fees vary with the location, the deadline, and the difficulty. For a quote, call 855-505-9155.
Service elsewhere in California or in another state is often priced a little higher than a local serve, reflecting distance and local rules. Remote areas cost more. If the affidavit must be notarized in the other state, there may be a small added fee.
International service costs considerably more. A request typically includes preparation of the treaty forms, translation billed by the page or word, any fee charged by the foreign authority, and courier costs. Totals commonly range from several hundred dollars to a few thousand, depending on the country and the size of the document. Letters Rogatory generally cost more than a Hague request because of the court and diplomatic steps involved.
Ask what each quote covers: number of attempts, time frame, proof of service, and bad-address policy. Then consider the cost of a failed serve. Paying a fair fee once is better than paying a low fee twice, plus the attorney time for a hearing you did not need.
Location is one variable. This kind of case is the other.
A summons and complaint are served personally when possible, or by substituted service after diligence. A defendant served in California generally has 30 days to respond. Defaults depend on a clean proof.
A California divorce cannot be finalized until at least six months after the respondent is served or appears. The family law summons carries standard orders about property, insurance, and children that bind the respondent once served. Restraining orders must be personally served before the hearing. When the other parent or spouse lives abroad, treaty service may be required, and the months it takes should be built into your plan.
Notices follow section 1162: personal delivery, then delivery to a suitable person with mailing, then posting with mailing. The unlawful detainer summons is served personally or by substituted service, or by posting and mailing if the court orders it under section 415.45. A prejudgment claim of right to possession, served by a registered process server, covers unnamed occupants.
A corporation is served through the people listed in section 416.10, most often its designated agent for service of process. A company based in another state or country may still have a California agent, which can make it difficult to serve a simple one. If it does not, out-of-state or international service applies.
A witness subpoena is delivered in person, a reasonable time before the appearance, with witness fees available on request. A records subpoena goes to the custodian of records, after any required notice to the consumer or employee. Subpoenas from other states must be domesticated first. Obtaining evidence from another country is a separate and slower process, often governed by a different treaty.
Small claims papers may be served by certified mail through the clerk, by the sheriff, or by a process server. Certified mail fails whenever the defendant will not sign. The claim must be served a set number of days before the hearing.
Writs, bank levies, wage garnishments, and debtor examinations each require service on the right party. A registered process server may handle several of these steps with the levying officer. If the debtor has moved to another state, the judgment generally has to be domesticated there before it can be enforced.
Beyond Delivery: Process Serving and Legal Support Services
Many of our clients are law firms and legal support professionals who want one vendor for the tasks that surround a serve. Our support services include:
- Skip tracing services. Database searches, public record research, and field investigation to find people who have moved.
- Court filing. Filing proofs and other documents so nothing waits on a courier.
- Subpoena domestication. To and from California.
- Service by publication. Coordinating the notice and the proof of publication once the court has ordered it.
- Record retrieval. Obtaining copies of records, including electronic data.
- Translation. For international requests.
A note on what we are not: we provide legal support services, not legal services. We are not a law firm and cannot give legal advice. What we can give is efficient service, clear reporting, and the peace of mind that comes from knowing the delivery of legal documents was done correctly.
The Hague Convention on the Service of Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil or Commercial Matters is designed to simplify the process of servicing process to assure that defendants sued in foreign jurisdictions receive actual and timely notice of suit and to facilitate proper proof of service. For more information on the Page Convention please visit the following resources:
Please read our Terms of Service by clicking here.
Our international locations do NOT receive mail,
direct inquiries, or courier deliveries.
Please contact our main California office with all correspondence below:
Dial 855-505-9155 to speak with a representative.
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There is no fixed number in the statutes. The test is reasonable diligence. Courts generally expect at least two or three attempts at personal service, on different days and at different times, before substituted service is used. Many companies include three or four attempts in the standard fee. For an order allowing publication, judges usually want more, plus evidence of a real search. Every attempt should be logged.
As a general market range, routine local service often falls between about $60 and $125 per address. Rush and same-day service cost more. Skip tracing, stakeouts, and additional addresses are billed separately. Out-of-state service is usually somewhat higher, and international service runs from several hundred dollars into the thousands. Ask what a quote includes before you compare it to another.
The main ones are these. The server must be at least 18 and not a party to the case. Anyone who serves more than 10 papers a year for pay must register in their county, pass a background check, and post a bond, unless exempt. Servers must use a method the Code of Civil Procedure allows and must complete a truthful proof of service. A registered process server must be given access to a gated community for lawful service. A server may not impersonate law enforcement, force entry into a home, or sign a false proof.
We start with what the client knows: old addresses, employers, relatives, phone numbers, vehicles. From there, a skip trace draws on commercial databases and public records, such as property, court, and business filings, to develop a current address. Field work follows: checking the location, speaking with neighbors where appropriate, and noting signs that the person lives there. Because our company was founded by licensed investigators, this work is done in-house and within the law.
The server will return at other times and may try your workplace. After diligent attempts, the papers can be left with a competent adult at your home or business and mailed to you. Once that substituted service is complete, your deadline to respond starts running. If you do nothing, the plaintiff can seek a default judgment. Staying behind the door does not stop the case. It only removes you from it.
Fewer than people imagine. The effective methods are ordinary and lawful: showing up at varied hours, trying the workplace, waiting until someone comes or goes, and confirming an address through investigation. A server does not have to announce their purpose before confirming a person’s identity. But a server may not pose as a police officer, threaten anyone, break in, or lie in the proof of service. Companies that cut those corners put their clients’ cases at risk.
Not as a general rule for a summons and complaint. Leaving them on an empty porch is usually not valid service. There are exceptions. If you are present and refuse to take the papers, the server may leave them near you, and courts have generally upheld that. After diligent attempts, substituted service on a competent adult with mailing is allowed. Certain eviction notices may be posted and mailed. And a court may order posting in an unlawful detainer case.
The best process server for you is one with current credentials, honest reporting, strong documentation, in-house investigation, and enough reach to follow your defendant. That last point is easy to overlook. If there is any chance your case will leave Los Angeles, choose a company that can serve statewide, nationally, and abroad. Compare answers to the vetting questions in this guide, not just star ratings.
The plaintiff has other paths. First comes substituted service at your home, business, or mailing address. If you cannot be located at all, the plaintiff can ask the court for permission to serve by publication in a newspaper, or by another method the court approves. If the court grants the request and you do not respond, a default judgment may be entered. If you learn of a judgment you never had notice of, speak to an attorney promptly, because the time to seek relief is limited.
A process server may approach your front door the way any visitor or delivery person would, by the normal path. California law also gives registered process servers limited protection from trespass claims while they are lawfully attempting service, and a right of access to gated communities. That does not extend to entering your home, forcing a gate or door, or staying after service is complete. A server who needs to reach someone inside a secured area should do it through the lawful channels, not over a fence.
If the country is a party to the Convention and you are sending documents there for service, generally yes. Following it is mandatory where it applies. There are narrow situations where it does not apply, such as when the defendant’s address is unknown, or when valid service can be completed inside the United States on an authorized agent. Which situation you are in is a legal question for your attorney.
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