San Francisco, California Process Servers

San Francisco is a city and a county at once, so there is one superior court, one set of county offices and one City Hall. Process service here is less about which court and more about reaching people: many defendants live in buildings with locked lobbies or work in towers with front desks, and plenty of residents use a private mailbox instead of a home address.

When the defendant can't be handed the papers

California allows substituted service once personal delivery has failed after reasonable diligence. The papers can be left at the defendant's home, workplace or usual mailing address (not a USPS post office box) with an adult member of the household or the person apparently in charge, and a copy is then mailed. Service is complete on the 10th day after mailing (CCP § 415.20).

The same section covers private mailboxes. If the only address a server can find is a box at a commercial mail receiving agency, the papers can be left with that business on the first attempt, under Business and Professions Code § 17538.5(d), followed by mailing. That is common in San Francisco, where many people rent a box at a mail store. A process server who documents each attempt makes the later declaration of diligence much easier.

Civil cases at the Civic Center Courthouse

Civil filings, including small claims, go to the Civil Clerk's Office in Room 103 (SF Superior Court civil clerk):

San Francisco Superior Court, Civic Center Courthouse
400 McAllister Street
San Francisco, CA 94102

Small claims are heard in Department 506. An individual can claim up to $12,500, and a business or other entity up to $6,250 (SF small claims). Limited civil cases go up to $35,000. Family law matters, including divorce, custody and restraining orders, are handled by the Unified Family Court at the same building and at the Juvenile Justice Center (Unified Family Court). Criminal cases are mainly at the Hall of Justice, 850 Bryant Street. See how to serve small claims forms.

Suing the City and County

The Clerk of the Board of Supervisors and the City Attorney both have offices in City Hall (Board of Supervisors, City Attorney):

Clerk of the Board of Supervisors
City Hall, Room 244
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place
San Francisco, CA 94102

San Francisco City Attorney
City Hall, Room 234
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place
San Francisco, CA 94102

Code of Civil Procedure § 416.50 sets who must be served for a public entity. Check it before a server goes to City Hall.

Companies

Being headquartered in San Francisco doesn't put a company's registered agent here. The national agents take California service elsewhere: CT Corporation in Glendale and Cogency Global in Sacramento, for example. Look the company up with the California Secretary of State and serve the agent on file. See what an agent for service of process is.

California rules in brief

• Any adult who isn't a party may serve.
• A person who serves papers for pay more than 10 times a year must register with the county clerk (Bus. & Prof. Code § 22350).
• Proof of service on each defendant is due within 60 days of filing the complaint (Rule of Court 3.110).

More in the California process serving laws, service of process deadlines and how much it costs to hire a process server. Servers listed here often also cover Oakland and San Jose.

This is a general summary, not legal advice.