Family law cases from much of the high desert are filed in Barstow, about two miles from downtown, but the city's own lawsuits and estates are filed somewhere else. The Barstow District courthouse on Mountain View Street takes divorces, custody cases, small claims and smaller evictions from a wide stretch of the desert. A Barstow civil suit or probate case goes about 29 miles southwest to Victorville.
We serve papers in Barstow, in the desert communities around it and at the courthouse's other towns, and we can file the papers in Barstow, Victorville or San Bernardino.
A courthouse for much of the high desert
The court's location page puts the Barstow District at 235 East Mountain View Street, in the Law and Justice Center, open 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on weekdays. Its directions send drivers off I-15 at the Barstow Road exit, then left on Mountain View. A drop box at the front entrance takes completed documents, and anything left before 4:00 p.m. is received that day.
The building handles a long list of filings for Barstow addresses:
- family law, adoptions and emancipations
- child support, through a separate Child Support Division in the same building
- small claims and limited landlord-tenant cases
- domestic violence, civil harassment, elder abuse, gun violence, workplace violence and postsecondary school protective orders
- name change petitions and petitions for return of firearms
- traffic and non-traffic infractions, such as code enforcement
The Where Can I File page lists the areas this building serves for those cases. Besides Barstow, the list runs from Victorville, Hesperia and Apple Valley to Big Bear Lake, Fort Irwin, Trona, Baker, Yermo, Daggett, Hinkley, Lenwood and Newberry Springs. So a Barstow courtroom often hears parties who live an hour or more away. For a Barstow resident, the courthouse is about 2 miles from the city's Census center point in a straight line.
The location page gives separate phone lines: (760) 718-3734 for small claims, landlord-tenant and civil restraining orders, (760) 245-6215 for family law and (760) 718-3700 for traffic. The email is Barstow@sb-court.org. The court takes appointments for family law and adoption filings and for small claims and landlord-tenant filings.
Where each Barstow case goes
Distances are straight-line from Barstow's Census center point.
| Case type | Where it's filed | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Family law, adoptions, domestic violence orders | Barstow District, 235 East Mountain View Street | 2.0 mi |
| Child support | Barstow District, Child Support Division | 2.0 mi |
| Small claims | Barstow District | 2.0 mi |
| Limited landlord-tenant ($35,000 or less) | Barstow District | 2.0 mi |
| Civil, limited and unlimited | Civil Division, Victorville District, 14455 Civic Drive | 29.2 mi |
| Unlimited landlord-tenant | Civil Division, San Bernardino Justice Center, 247 West 3rd Street | 54.5 mi |
| Probate, conservatorship, guardianship | Victorville District, 14455 Civic Drive | 29.2 mi |
| CARE Act petitions, countywide | Fontana District, 17780 Arrow Boulevard | 57.1 mi |
A case is limited civil only when the amount in controversy is $35,000 or less, under CCP § 85. Juvenile delinquency filings for the Barstow area are also made in Victorville.
How family law came to Barstow
The court's High Desert Reorganization Project page tells the story. Since 2018, the court had been looking for ways to deal with overcrowding and rising caseloads at the Victorville Courthouse. In February 2020 it secured space in the Barstow Courthouse from the County of San Bernardino.
The page states that child support and civil matters completed their move to the Barstow Courthouse in November 2020. It says construction began in December 2020, and that family law would move from Victorville, with a grand reopening ceremony slated for July 12, 2021. The expansion was described as bringing 3.5 family law courtrooms, a Self-Help Resource Center, Family Court Services and a children's waiting room.
That page is a project record, not a filing guide. Today's Where Can I File page is the one to follow. It lists family law and child support at Barstow, and it sends Barstow's general civil cases to Victorville and San Bernardino, not to Barstow.
Civil lawsuits: Victorville or San Bernardino
Barstow appears twice on the court's civil lists. The Civil Division of the Victorville District, in the Victorville Courthouse at 14455 Civic Drive, names Barstow among the eight areas it takes limited and unlimited civil cases, labor board appeals and writs of mandate from. The Civil Division of the San Bernardino District, at the San Bernardino Justice Center, includes Barstow in its countywide area list too.
For most Barstow lawsuits, Victorville is the nearer choice at about 29 miles, against about 54 miles to San Bernardino. One case type has no Victorville option: an unlimited landlord-tenant case, where more than $35,000 is at stake, appears only on the San Bernardino list. Which courthouse is proper for a particular case is a question for your attorney. We serve the defendant in Barstow either way and can take the filing to whichever building you choose through our San Bernardino County court filings service.
Barstow evictions
Rentals are a large share of Barstow housing. The Census Bureau's American Community Survey for 2020 to 2024 counts about 5,150 renter-occupied homes out of about 9,150 occupied homes in the city, or 56%.
A limited eviction, for $35,000 or less, is filed at the Barstow District, and the court books appointments for landlord-tenant filings there. A bigger case goes to the Justice Center in San Bernardino.
Once the tenant is served, the time to answer turns on the method. Personal delivery gives 10 court days. That includes papers left close to a tenant who refuses to take them. Substituted service or posting, each followed by mailing, gives 10 calendar days after the mailing date and then 10 court days. A tenant served through the Safe at Home program gets 15 court days. Those figures come from the California Courts self-help guide. This is general information, not legal advice.
Papers to serve in Barstow?
Small claims at the Barstow counter
Barstow small claims cases are filed and heard at the Barstow District. The court's small claims page lists these fees:
| Item | Fee |
|---|---|
| Claim of $1,500 or less | $30 |
| Claim from $1,500.01 to $5,000 | $50 |
| Claim from $5,000.01 to $12,500 | $75 |
| Filer with more than 12 claims in California in the past 12 months | $100 |
| Service by certified mail, per defendant | $15 |
| Order of examination | $60 |
The same page explains the service options. Only the clerk can serve by certified mail, and it counts only when the defendant signs the green card and it comes back. To serve a corporation that way, name its agent for service. Personal delivery can be done by any adult who isn't a party, a registered process server or the sheriff, and the defendant can only be served within California, with two exceptions.
The deadlines on that page: personal service at least 15 days before trial for a defendant in San Bernardino County, 20 days for one outside it, and proofs of service filed 5 days before the hearing. Someone appearing for a party needs an authorization filed 5 days before the hearing as well.
After judgment, only the defendant can appeal. The page gives the defendant 30 days from the clerk's mailing of the Notice of Entry of Judgment to file form SC-140.
Divorce and custody papers for a Barstow case
The court's family law page sets out three rules that shape a Barstow filing:
- Residency. One spouse must have lived in San Bernardino County for at least 3 months and in California for at least 6 months before filing for divorce.
- Courthouse. For a divorce, it depends on where either spouse lives. For a parentage case, it depends on where the child lives.
- Timing. A divorce can't be final until at least 6 months and 1 day after the other person is served or files a response.
The third rule is why the service date matters. The six-month period starts with service, so a respondent who is hard to reach delays the earliest possible judgment. The person filing can't serve the papers. Another adult does, and the server completes form FL-115. Our proof of service guide shows the forms.
Estates and guardianships go to Victorville
Probate, conservatorship and guardianship matters for Barstow addresses are filed at the Victorville District, 14455 Civic Drive. The court lists both Barstow and Fort Irwin among the areas it covers. The probate phone on the location page is (909) 521-3388, answered weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The building's drop box takes documents left before 4:00 p.m. as received that day.
CARE Act proceedings are different. The Where Can I File page says every one in the county is filed and heard at the Fontana District, about 57 miles from Barstow.
Fort Irwin and the Marine Corps Logistics Base
Two military installations sit near Barstow. Fort Irwin's Census point is about 33 miles from Barstow's, and the court lists "Ft. Irwin" among the areas the Barstow District serves.
Fort Irwin's visitor access page says visitors, contractors and vendors 18 and older who don't have a Department of Defense identification card are subject to a background check before they're allowed on the installation. For Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow, base access is controlled, and we don't rely on getting on base to serve someone.
What works better:
- An off-base address. A home in Barstow, Yermo or elsewhere, or a family member's address.
- Work hours and days off. Shift patterns help time an attempt at home.
- Other contact points. A vehicle description, a second residence, or a spouse's workplace.
If the person may be on active duty, ask your attorney about default protections for service members before you request a default.
The 92311 ZIP Code area
Barstow's ZIP Code, 92311, covers about 424 square miles of land in the Census Bureau's 2020 ZIP Code area file. The City of Barstow takes up about 40 square miles of it, roughly 9%. The Lenwood Census-designated place adds about 2 square miles, about 4 miles west of the city's center point. The other 90% lies outside any city or Census place.
So a "Barstow, CA 92311" address may be desert property well outside town. Our Rush and Standard turnaround notes both say remote areas are subject to different timelines, and an outlying 92311 parcel can fall into that group. Addresses in town generally don't. We make no guarantees for service.
For an address outside the city, send:
- Directions or a map pin, since some desert parcels have no clear street number.
- What the property looks like, including gates, outbuildings and vehicles.
- When the person is there, and where they work.
- A deadline, so we can tell you whether Rush is realistic before you choose it. Call 855-582-5776 if it's close.
Zoom hearings in Barstow courtrooms
The court's technology page lists Zoom audio and video in all five Barstow courtrooms, B1 through B5, with CourtCall audio only. In Victorville, civil courtrooms V11 and V12 and probate courtroom V15 have the same setup.
Remote appearance is decided courtroom by courtroom. The page warns that you must contact the courtroom before the hearing date, that waiting until the day of the hearing risks not being admitted, and that a phone call may be enough in some cases. It asks remote participants to check in 15 minutes before the hearing. If the judicial officer or another party requires paperwork, the page links forms RA-010, RA-015 and RA-020 and a local order form, 13-20100-360.
Serving the City of Barstow
The city's website lists City Hall at 220 East Mountain View Street, Suite A, Barstow, CA 92311, phone 760-256-3531. It's open Monday through Thursday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and closed Fridays. The court's reorganization page describes the City Hall transit stop as directly across the street from the courthouse.
Under CCP § 416.50, a city is served by delivering the summons and complaint to its clerk, secretary, president, presiding officer or another head of its governing body. Because City Hall closes Fridays, a Thursday attempt gives more room before a weekend.
Copies of San Bernardino civil records
The court offers remote access to documents in civil cases at 50 cents a page, limited to documents the law allows the public to view. It notes that data for cases filed before 1998 may be limited, and that older files should be requested from the court district that holds them. For certified copies or a file pulled at the counter, see document retrieval.
Nearby desert cities
Apple Valley is about 25 miles south, Victorville about 29 miles southwest, and Adelanto and Hesperia farther southwest. Hi Vista and Big Bear Lake are each about 43 to 44 miles away. See all of San Bernardino County. For a business defendant, see serving corporations. If an address goes stale, skip tracing can help.
Barstow is about 357 miles from our Sacramento office in a straight line. Start a Barstow Service Request, get each update by email, or call 855-582-5776.