Courtland is one of the small river communities in the southwest corner of Sacramento County, about 19.6 miles from our Sacramento office in a straight line. It has no city government and no courthouse. Its cases belong to the Sacramento Superior Court, which spreads them across three buildings in the city, and the right one depends on the case type.
The bigger practical question is the address. Most of the land that uses Courtland's ZIP Code isn't in the Courtland community at all, and that shapes how a service attempt is planned.
Courtland by the numbers
The 2020 Census counted 326 people in the Courtland Census-designated place. The Census Bureau's 2020 ZCTA to place relationship file shows how that community sits inside its ZIP Code area:
- ZIP Code area 95615 covers about 21.2 square miles of land.
- The Courtland community takes up about 1.8 square miles of it, roughly 8.5%.
- The other 91.5%, about 19.4 square miles, is outside any Census place, with no town or community boundary around it.
- All of Courtland's mapped land falls in 95615, so there's no second ZIP Code to sort out.
A 95615 address, then, is far more likely to be a rural parcel than a house on a town street. Remote areas are subject to different timelines, and the instructions you send matter more here than they do for a suburban tract.
Which Sacramento courthouse takes a Courtland case
| Courtland matter | Courthouse | Straight-line distance from Courtland |
|---|---|---|
| Eviction asking $35,000 or less | Carol Miller Justice Center, 301 Bicentennial Circle | about 17.1 miles |
| Small claims | Carol Miller Justice Center | about 17.1 miles |
| Divorce, custody, support, domestic violence | William R. Ridgeway Family Relations Courthouse, 3341 Power Inn Road | about 16.6 miles |
| Probate, guardianship, conservatorship, adoption | Ridgeway Family Relations Courthouse | about 16.6 miles |
| Other civil suits, and evictions above $35,000 | Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye Sacramento County Courthouse, 500 G Street | downtown Sacramento |
Distances run from Courtland's Census center point to each courthouse's Census-geocoded address. None of the three is close to Courtland, so a filing and a service attempt are usually separate trips. Our Sacramento County court filing page explains how one request can cover both.
Civil suits go to 500 G Street
The court moved civil filing to the new Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye Sacramento County Courthouse at 500 G Street in April 2026. Its notice says all downtown operations relocated there, including every courtroom, civil and criminal operations and jury services. The old Gordon D. Schaber Courthouse at 720 9th Street and the Hall of Justice at 813 6th Street are permanently closed to the public. Older summonses and forms can still show those addresses, so check the courthouse printed on anything you're about to serve.
The facility page lists what happens in the building: general civil trials and pretrial motions, except evictions, small claims and family relations matters, plus felony and misdemeanor trials and the civil and criminal case processing units. Public entry is at the corner of 5th and G Streets. According to the Civil Division page, documents can be e-filed, mailed, brought in person or placed in the drop box. A paper filing needs an original and one copy, and only one copy of each document is conformed.
Evictions and small claims at Carol Miller
The Carol Miller Justice Center handles eviction cases asking for damages up to $35,000 and small claims cases. It keeps a short week: the counters and both divisions are open 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Thursday, and the building is closed Fridays and court holidays. The small claims and landlord-tenant line for both is 916-875-7746.
A few working details from the court's pages:
- Friday filings. The drop box takes traffic, small claims and eviction papers, but anything left on a Friday is filed the next court day. To file on a Friday, use the Ridgeway courthouse instead.
- Night court. On the second Wednesday of each month, from 5:15 to 6:15 p.m., the center offers counter help for small claims and eviction cases. If that Wednesday is a court holiday, it moves to the second Thursday.
- Parking. The lot in front costs a flat $5 a day, and parking is free with a DMV disabled person plate or placard.
- Courtrooms and kiosks. Hearings are in Departments 81 to 84 on the first floor and 86 to 88 on the third, and the court also holds video hearings by Zoom. Internet kiosks in Room 200 on the second floor are for case research only; the court says e-filing kiosks aren't available.
For a small claims case, the claim must be served at least 15 days before the hearing if the defendant lives in Sacramento County, or 20 days if they live outside it, under CCP § 116.340. The person who filed can't serve it. See our guide on who can serve papers in California.
Family law, probate and adoptions at Ridgeway
The William R. Ridgeway Family Relations Courthouse houses the Family Law and Probate Divisions, the Self-Help Center, Family Court Services and the Family Law Facilitator's Office. The court's family page lists divorce, legal separation, parentage, custody and visitation, support, domestic violence and elder abuse among the matters heard there. Adoptions go to the Probate Court in the same building.
A probate estate with a Courtland connection often needs notices served on relatives who live somewhere else. List every heir or interested person with a full address, and say which ones you've already reached by mail. Visitor parking is in the lot east of the courthouse, at $2 for the first two hours, $1 for each additional hour and $8 a day at most.
Papers to serve in Courtland?
Pulling records from a Sacramento case file
Sometimes the job before service is finding out what's already on file: a prior judgment, an old eviction or an earlier proof of service. The Civil Division page explains where records are kept. Public cases and documents filed after November 13, 2007, including tentative rulings, can be viewed and printed from the court's Public Portal. Anything filed before that date isn't digital; the paper file sits at an off-site facility and takes about 10 business days to reach the downtown courthouse, and viewing it requires photo ID.
Certified copies come from the civil front counter or by mail with form CV\E-300, and written requests take about 4 to 6 weeks. The court charges $40 per certification plus $0.50 a page. Our document retrieval page explains how a records pull can be added to a Courtland request.
E-filing is optional on this side of the river
Sacramento hasn't made e-filing mandatory. Its civil e-filing page says that when e-filing expanded to civil cases on January 16, 2024, it became permissive for all parties, and that remains the rule until further notice. Self-represented parties are encouraged to e-file but don't have to. A firm used to Yolo County, where attorneys must e-file, can still file a Sacramento case on paper.
That contrast is close at hand. Clarksburg, about 6 miles from Courtland, is in Yolo County, and its cases are filed in Woodland under Yolo's rules. When a dispute involves people on both sides of the county line, confirm which court issued the papers before anything is served.
Getting the papers to a rural 95615 address
Outside the community boundary, the job is often finding the right door. These details help:
- A street location, not a P.O. box. CCP § 415.20 allows substituted service at a home, a business or a usual mailing address, but it rules out a U.S. Postal Service post office box by name. If a box number is all you have, we'll need a physical address or a workplace.
- A parcel number or a cross road. County parcel maps tie a property to a location even when the house number isn't visible from the road.
- Which building. A single parcel can hold a main house, a second home and outbuildings. Tell us which one the person lives in.
- Gates, dogs and access. Say whether there's a locked gate, a shared private drive or animals loose on the property.
- Hours. If the person works long or irregular hours, give the times they're most likely home, and a work address if you have one.
If the person has moved on, skip tracing can look for a current address before the next attempt. Our post on how to find a defendant in California covers what to gather first.
When a Courtland rental ends in court
A landlord's eviction case starts at Carol Miller for most residential tenancies. After personal service of the summons and complaint, the tenant has 10 court days to file an answer, not counting weekends and court holidays. If the landlord wins and gets a writ of possession, the Sacramento County Sheriff's Civil Bureau serves it; its page says the tenant then has five days to leave under CCP § 1174, after which deputies carry out the eviction.
Collecting a Sacramento judgment
The sheriff's page also explains bank levies. A writ of execution expires 180 days after it's issued. The garnishment generally has to be served at the specific branch where the debtor's account is kept, unless the bank names a central location for service, and it reaches only the funds in the account at that moment. The bank must send the money, or a memorandum explaining why not, within 10 days. For a business debtor, the writ must name the legal entity; a "dba" alone won't do.
The Civil Bureau is at 2969 Prospect Park Drive, Rancho Cordova, about 23.6 miles from Courtland in a straight line. It asks for papers at least 10 days before the service deadline, and its page says deputies can't use stakeouts or computer inquiries such as DMV or arrest records to serve civil process. A private process server is the other common choice for a summons, a subpoena or a restraining order.
The 2027 service rules
From January 1, 2027, three good-faith attempts at personal delivery, on three different days and at three different times, show the reasonable diligence needed before papers can be left with another adult at a home or business (CCP § 415.20(b)(2), as amended by AB 747). The county clerk's register of process servers also becomes public under Business and Professions Code § 22355. Our AB 747 guide explains the changes, and our proof of service guide covers the signed return. We make no guarantees for service.
Starting a Courtland Service Request
Attach up to 5 PDFs to the Service Request, give the full name of each person or business, and add every address you have with directions for rural parcels. For a company, find its agent for service of process on the Secretary of State's bizfile Online; our serving corporations page explains the rules. Choose Rush or Standard, and get status updates by email. Call 855-582-5776 or email Service@ValproAttorneyServices.com, Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Up and down the river from Courtland
Hood is about 3.4 miles upriver. Downriver, Walnut Grove is about 5.8 miles away, Locke 6.3 and Ryde 6.5. Laguna West is about 7.8 miles to the east. Every community we serve in the county is listed on our Sacramento County page.