Bellflower has a courthouse inside the city limits, but most Bellflower cases aren't filed there. The Bellflower Courthouse at 10025 East Flower Street hears small claims and criminal matters. A Bellflower landlord, a creditor or a spouse filing for divorce will be sent to a different building, and the summons will say which one.
That matters to a process server for a practical reason. The papers are served at the Bellflower address, but the proof of service goes back to the courthouse that issued the case, and the deadlines run from that court's hearing dates. Bellflower requests are handled from our Sacramento office, about 377 miles north, and every update comes by email.
What each courthouse takes from 90706
We entered ZIP Code 90706 in the Los Angeles Superior Court's filing court locator in October 2026. It returned a single community row, Bellflower, with this list. Distances are straight lines from the city's Census center point to each building:
| Bellflower matter | Filing courthouse | Miles |
|---|---|---|
| Small claims | Bellflower Courthouse, 10025 East Flower Street | 0.6 |
| Limited unlawful detainer | Norwalk Courthouse, 12720 Norwalk Boulevard | 3.7 |
| Unlimited civil (over $35,000) | Norwalk Courthouse | 3.7 |
| Limited civil collection | Norwalk Courthouse | 3.7 |
| Family law | Whittier Courthouse, 7339 South Painter Avenue | 8.1 |
| Restraining orders | Whittier Courthouse | 8.1 |
| Probate | Stanley Mosk Courthouse, 111 North Hill Street | 13.4 |
| Limited civil, not collection | Stanley Mosk Courthouse | 13.4 |
Two buildings that are close by don't appear on the list at all. The Compton Courthouse is about 5.6 miles west and the Long Beach courthouse about 9 miles south, but neither takes 90706 filings unless the address actually sits in another ZIP Code, which is covered below.
The Flower Street courthouse: small claims and criminal
The court's directory shows two clerk's offices on the second floor of the Bellflower Courthouse. The Small Claims Clerk's Office answers at (562) 345-3396 and the Criminal Clerk's Office at (562) 345-3398. The building opens at 8:00 a.m., and the clerk's offices are open 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except court holidays.
Bellflower's small claims counter isn't just for Bellflower. When we ran neighboring ZIP Codes through the same locator, it also returned the Bellflower Courthouse for small claims from Downey (90241), Norwalk (90650), Pico Rivera (90660), Artesia and Cerritos (90701 and 90703) and Lakewood (90712). So a hearing notice from Flower Street may involve a defendant who lives several cities away.
For a Bellflower claim, keep these in mind before you send it out:
- The person suing can't serve the claim. Any adult who isn't a party can, and we return the signed proof on form SC-104.
- Count back from the hearing date. CCP § 116.340 gives a defendant inside Los Angeles County at least 15 days of notice before the hearing, and at least 20 days outside it.
- Name a business correctly. A small claims defendant that is a corporation or LLC is served through its agent for service of process, listed on the Secretary of State's bizfile Online search.
Bellflower evictions are filed in Norwalk
A limited eviction case for a Bellflower rental goes to the Norwalk Courthouse, 12720 Norwalk Boulevard. The court's directory places the Civil Clerk's Office in Room 101 on the first floor, with a separate line for limited unlawful detainer, (562) 345-0897, and a general civil line, (562) 345-0899. Larger eviction cases and unlimited civil suits from 90706 are filed at the same counter.
Once the summons issues, the tenant is served at the Bellflower unit. After personal service the tenant has 10 court days to respond, according to the California Courts Self-Help Guide, so the service date matters for the earliest default request. From January 1, 2027, posting an eviction summons under CCP § 415.45 calls for a court order based on reasonable diligence, and the statute counts three good-faith attempts on three different days at three different times as showing it. Except for commercial property, at least one of those attempts has to be at the tenant's home when that address is known. Our AB 747 guide walks through the new rules.
What helps the server most on a Bellflower eviction:
- Each adult named on the summons, written exactly as the papers spell it.
- The unit number and the door the tenant uses, especially for a rear unit or a converted garage on the same lot.
- Gate, dog and parking notes that affect where the server can stand and knock.
- The Norwalk case number and any hearing date already set.
Family law and restraining orders in Whittier
Divorce, custody and support cases for 90706 are filed at the Whittier Courthouse, 7339 South Painter Avenue, about 8 miles north. The directory lists the Family Law Clerk's Office in Room 100, Family Court Services mediation and evaluation in Room 101, and the Family Law Facilitator and Self-Help Resource Center in Room 300, (562) 968-2753. Restraining orders for Bellflower addresses are filed there too.
Family papers usually need personal delivery, and the petitioner can't hand them over personally. The proof for a family summons is commonly form FL-115, and a domestic violence order is proved on DV-200. If the other party works outside Bellflower, tell us the employer and shift. A second location often decides how quickly the papers land.
Papers to serve in Bellflower?
Civil suits and collections at Norwalk
Unlimited civil cases from 90706 are filed at Norwalk under the locator. Chapter 2 of the court's Local Rules, effective July 1, 2026, also lets many unlimited cases be filed in the Central District at Stanley Mosk. A personal injury case must be filed in the district where the incident happened. Every new civil complaint needs form LACIV 109, the Statement of Location.
Limited collection cases under California Rules of Court rule 3.740 go to one of two countywide hubs, Chatsworth or Norwalk. Bellflower's row lands at Norwalk, a short drive away. Attorneys have to e-file civil cases in Los Angeles unless they hold an exemption, and self-represented parties may still file on paper. Our Los Angeles County court filing page explains how a filing and a service can run on the same request.
The 90723 edge of the city
The Census Bureau's 2020 ZCTA to place file shows 90706 sitting entirely inside Bellflower, and almost all of Bellflower inside 90706. The remainder, roughly 0.2% of the city's land, lies in 90723, the ZIP Code area centered on Paramount.
That edge changes the routing. The locator's 90723 search returns one community, Paramount, and sends its evictions, small claims, family law and unlimited civil cases to the Compton Courthouse, 200 West Compton Boulevard. If a Bellflower property carries a 90723 mailing address, read the summons carefully, and call the clerk before filing if the city and the ZIP Code point to different courthouses.
When nobody answers at a Bellflower door
Personal delivery is the first goal, but it isn't always possible. Substituted service under CCP § 415.20(b) lets the server leave the summons and complaint with a competent member of the household who is at least 18, or with the person apparently in charge at the defendant's business, and tell them what the papers are. A copy then goes by mail to the same address. In the version operative January 1, 2027, the mailing can be first-class, Priority Mail with tracking or certified with a return receipt, and service is complete on the 10th day after mailing.
Before substituted service, the server has to make a good-faith effort at personal delivery. Starting in 2027, the statute says three tries on three different days at three different times show that effort. A few practical points for Bellflower addresses:
- Vary the hours. An early-morning, an evening and a weekend visit cover more work schedules than three afternoons.
- Tell us about a private mailbox. If the only address you have is a box at a commercial mail receiving agency, the 2027 statute allows service on the first visit by leaving the papers with that agency, in the manner set out in Business and Professions Code § 17538.5.
- Watch the 10-day clock. Substituted service isn't complete until 10 days after the mailing, which pushes back the response deadline and the earliest default date.
Each visit, with the time and what happened, appears on the request so you can see how the diligence is building.
Serving the City of Bellflower
Claims and lawsuits against the city follow CCP § 416.50, which allows delivery to the clerk, secretary, president, presiding officer or other head of the governing body. Bellflower City Hall is at 16600 Civic Center Drive. The city publishes hours of 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Friday, closed every other Friday and on holidays, so check the calendar before a Friday attempt. Give us the department and the person or office named in the papers.
Probate and smaller civil cases downtown
Two kinds of Bellflower cases skip the Southeast District entirely. Probate, and limited civil cases that aren't collections or evictions, are filed at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse, 111 North Hill Street in downtown Los Angeles. Citations and notices in an estate case are still served at Bellflower addresses, so mark which documents need filing first and which go straight to the server. Stanley Mosk's directory lists the probate line as (213) 830-0800 and the building opening at 7:30 a.m., an hour before the clerk's windows, which helps when a filing has to be in before a downtown hearing.
Businesses and people who have moved
A shift manager at a Bellflower store is rarely the agent for a corporation or LLC. Look up the agent on bizfile Online and give us the name and address it shows (Corporations Code § 1502), or see our guides to serving corporations, CSC and CT Corporation. If the person has left the Bellflower address, skip tracing looks for a current one before the next attempt, and our post on finding a defendant in California lists what to gather first.
Starting a Bellflower request
Open a Service Request and attach up to 5 PDFs. List each person or business to be served, every Bellflower address with unit and gate notes, and the courthouse on the summons. Add a Norwalk, Whittier or downtown filing to the same request if you need one. Status updates come by email, and questions go to 855-582-5776 or Service@ValproAttorneyServices.com. We make no guarantees for service.
Cities next to Bellflower
Paramount is 2.4 miles away, Lakewood 2.8, Norwalk 2.9, Artesia 3.0 and Downey 3.5. Every community we serve in the county is listed on the Los Angeles County page.