Fair Oaks is a Census Designated Place in Sacramento County, with 32,514 residents in the 2020 Census. It has no city government. We serve summonses and complaints, small claims, eviction papers, restraining order papers, subpoenas, and divorce and custody papers at Fair Oaks homes, apartments and businesses, and we can file a new case with the Sacramento Superior Court before the papers go out.
Fair Oaks requests are handled from our Sacramento office, about 13.5 miles west of the community's Census center point. Upload the papers on a Service Request, email Service@ValproAttorneyServices.com, or call 855-582-5776.
A community without a city hall
The Census Bureau counts Fair Oaks as a Census Designated Place, its term for a named community with no incorporated city government. Sacramento County provides local government, and law enforcement comes from the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office. The Sheriff's North Division lists Fair Oaks among the northern county communities it serves, along with Carmichael, Orangevale, Arden-Arcade, Foothill Farms, North Highlands and others. Its Garfield Station is closed to the public, according to the division's page.
For a lawsuit, that means two practical things. First, there's no city to sue or serve; a claim involving local government is against the County of Sacramento or another public agency. Second, there's no Fair Oaks court. Every Fair Oaks case is a Sacramento County case.
One ZIP Code area, three communities
Fair Oaks and its ZIP Code area aren't the same shape. The Census Bureau's 2020 ZCTA to place relationship file measures 95628 at about 12.9 square miles of land, all of it inside one of three Census Designated Places:
| Community in 95628 | Land in 95628 | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Fair Oaks | about 10.9 sq mi | about 84% |
| Carmichael | about 1.4 sq mi | about 11% |
| Orangevale | about 0.6 sq mi | about 5% |
The Fair Oaks CDP falls entirely inside 95628, and it also has about a third of a square mile of water within its boundary. Every acre of the ZIP Code area is in Sacramento County, so none of this changes the court. It can change which name is on the papers. A home in the Carmichael part of 95628 may carry a Fair Oaks mailing address, and a Fair Oaks home may be described by a neighboring community's name in an old file. Keep the address as your source document shows it, and add a note if you know the home sits on the Carmichael or Orangevale side. ZIP Code areas are Census approximations of postal ZIP Codes.
Which Sacramento courthouse takes a Fair Oaks case
The Superior Court of California, County of Sacramento splits its work by case type:
| Fair Oaks matter | Courthouse | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| General civil cases, and evictions over $35,000 | Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye Sacramento County Courthouse, 500 G Street | Civil 8:30 a.m.–4:00 p.m., Mon–Fri |
| Small claims up to $12,500, and evictions up to $35,000 | Carol Miller Justice Center, 301 Bicentennial Circle | 7:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m., Mon–Thu |
| Divorce, custody, support, probate | William R. Ridgeway Family Relations Courthouse, 3341 Power Inn Road | 8:30 a.m.–4:00 p.m., Mon–Fri |
E-filing is optional for every party in civil cases, attorneys included, according to the court's civil e-filing page; the court says that holds until further notice. A Fair Oaks civil complaint can be filed at the 500 G Street counter, e-filed, or handed to us through our Sacramento County court filing service.
The move to 500 G Street
If your office template still lists an older downtown courthouse, update it. The court's new courthouse page says the Gordon D. Schaber Courthouse at 720 9th Street and the Hall of Justice at 813 6th Street are permanently closed to the public. Effective April 27, 2026, all courtrooms, civil and criminal operations and jury services moved to 500 G Street.
A few details from the court's pages help on a first visit:
- Entry. Public entry is at the corner of 5th and G Streets; the ADA ramp is at 6th and G.
- Second floor. The civil public counter and Civil Self-Help Services, Room 250, are both on the second floor. Self-help is open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, 8:30 a.m. to noon and 1:30 to 4:00 p.m., and Thursday mornings only.
- Courtroom numbers. The 53 courtrooms are on floors 3 through 17. The number is the floor, and the letter runs from A on the west side to D on the east, so 3A is on the west side of the third floor.
- Phone. Civil is 916-874-5522, option 3.
Papers to serve in Fair Oaks?
Fair Oaks small claims and evictions at Carol Miller
The Carol Miller Justice Center handles small claims cases up to $12,500 and eviction cases requesting up to $35,000. It's open Monday through Thursday, 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and closed on Fridays and court holidays. Both divisions share the phone line, 916-875-7746.
The center has more help than most filers use:
- Advisory clinic. Help with small claims and unlawful detainer cases, 916-875-7846, Monday through Thursday, 7:00 a.m. to noon and 1:00 to 5:00 p.m.
- Mediation. For both case types, 916-875-7843, during the same hours.
- Night court. The second Wednesday of each month, 5:15 to 6:15 p.m., with counter help, mediation and the clinic.
- Case research kiosks. In the Small Claims/Unlawful Detainer Department, second floor, Room 200. They're for looking up cases, not e-filing.
The drop box is the one to watch. Anything left there on a Friday is filed the next court day. To get small claims or eviction papers filed on a Friday, the court says to take them to the Ridgeway Family Relations Courthouse instead.
Once an eviction summons issues, serve it quickly. After personal service, the tenant has 10 court days to respond, according to the California Courts self-help guide. Send us the endorsed papers, the unit number and the names of every adult occupant you know. From 2027, AB 747 changes the posting rules for eviction summonses; our AB 747 guide covers it.
Family law and probate at Ridgeway
A Fair Oaks divorce, custody, support or probate case is filed at the William R. Ridgeway Family Relations Courthouse, home of the court's Family Law and Probate Divisions, Departments 120 through 135. Business hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and the building is open 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.
The courthouse page lists services worth knowing before a hearing. The Self-Help Center is open weekday mornings from 8:30 to noon and Monday through Thursday afternoons from 1:30 to 4:00. A Children's Waiting Room in Room 111 takes children 1 to 12. Parking in the lot east of the building costs $2 for the first two hours and $1 for each additional hour, up to $8 a day.
When we serve family law papers in Fair Oaks, the details in your Letter of Instruction matter most: whether the other parent lives with a new partner, work hours, children in the home, and any safety concerns. For which form proves service, see our proof of service guide.
The Sheriff, restraining orders and the proof of service
The Sacramento County Sheriff's Civil Bureau is at 2969 Prospect Park Drive, Suite 200, Rancho Cordova, phone 916-875-2665. Its public hours are Monday and Friday, 9:00 a.m. to noon, and Tuesday through Thursday, 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. A drop box is available weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
The bureau's page makes two points that matter for a Fair Oaks case. The requesting party is responsible for filing any proof of service or declaration of due diligence with the court. And for a family law order to show cause with temporary orders, the page says the Sheriff makes attempts at various times during normal business hours; if the respondent appears to be evading service, it suggests the petitioner consider a friend or relative over 18, or a process server who can devote more time to it. Send the filed order to show cause, the temporary orders, the blank responsive declaration and the hearing date, plus every address and schedule detail you have.
When the other side is the County
Because Fair Oaks has no city government, a dispute with local government over a Fair Oaks road, permit or county service usually involves the County of Sacramento or a special district. Under CCP § 416.50, a summons on a public entity is delivered to its clerk, secretary, president, presiding officer or other head of its governing body. For the County, that points to its Board of Supervisors.
The board's website lists its offices at 700 H Street, Suite 1450, Sacramento, CA 95814, open Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., phone 916-874-5411. Before a delivery, confirm with that office where the Clerk of the Board accepts service, and put the entity's exact legal name on the summons.
Lawsuits against public entities usually come after a government claim, and those claims have their own deadlines. Check them with your attorney before the case is filed. A special district, such as a park or water district, is served through its own governing board, not the County's. This is general information, not legal advice.
Before you send a Fair Oaks request
Upload up to 5 PDFs on the Service Request and include the address as written on your documents, the hours the person is usually home, a workplace if you know one, and your deadline. Choose Rush or Standard and get every update by email. For a business, find its agent for service of process first; our serving corporations page shows how. If the address is out of date, skip tracing can look for a current one. Questions about who may serve are answered in our guide to who can serve papers in California. We make no guarantees for service.
Communities near Fair Oaks
Straight-line distances from the Fair Oaks center point:
- Gold River, 1.6 miles
- Orangevale, 3.1 miles
- Citrus Heights, 3.7 miles
- Carmichael, 4.2 miles
- Rancho Cordova, 5.1 miles
- Foothill Farms, 5.8 miles, another North Division community
The rest of the county is on our Sacramento County process server page.