Fresno is the biggest city in the San Joaquin Valley and the seat of Fresno County. Valpro Attorney Services serves summonses, complaints, subpoenas, family law papers, eviction notices and other legal documents on people and businesses at Fresno homes, offices and job sites. We also file with Fresno County Superior Court, at the counter or by eFiling, and pull court records when you need copies.
Every Fresno request comes in through our office at 1520 W El Camino Ave #125, Sacramento, CA 95833, about 157 miles straight-line from central Fresno. Start a Service Request online, or email the papers to Service@ValproAttorneyServices.com. Questions go to 855-582-5776, Mon–Fri 8:30 a.m.–5 p.m.
The Fresno courthouse that matters for civil work
Fresno County Superior Court runs its civil side out of one building: the B. F. Sisk Courthouse at 1130 O Street, Fresno, CA 93721. The court's locations page lists these services and case types there:
- Civil, limited and unlimited
- Small claims
- Unlawful detainer (evictions)
- Probate, conservatorship and guardianship
- Family law, Family Court Services and the Family Law Facilitator's Office
- Restraining orders
- Alternative dispute resolution
- The Self-Help Center (Centro de Recursos Legales)
The other Fresno buildings handle different work. The Downtown courthouse at 1100 Van Ness Avenue hears criminal matters and juvenile dependency. The "M" Street Courthouse at 2317 Tuolumne Street takes criminal and traffic infractions. Criminal Departments 95 and 96 sit in the Jail Annex at 1265 M Street, and juvenile delinquency cases go to 3333 East American Avenue. Older case files are kept at the Archives Facility, 1963 "E" Street.
Every courthouse on the court's list has a Fresno address. A case from Clovis, Coalinga or Reedley is filed in the same buildings as one from downtown Fresno.
Source: fresno.courts.ca.gov locations page, checked October 2026.
Clerk hours at B. F. Sisk end before the building closes
This is the detail that catches people. The Sisk building is open 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. on weekdays, but the clerk's office keeps shorter hours:
| Day | B. F. Sisk clerk's office |
|---|---|
| Monday–Thursday | 8:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m. |
| Friday | 8:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. |
The civil limited, civil unlimited and small claims counters all list those same hours. So a complaint that has to be filed in person on a Friday must reach the window by noon. If the papers will reach us late in the week, tell us the deadline on the Service Request and we'll talk through eFiling instead.
Source: fresno.courts.ca.gov locations, civil and small claims pages, checked October 2026.
What are Fresno County Superior Court's e-filing rules?
For law firms, e-filing isn't optional in Fresno. The court's eFile page states that under Code of Civil Procedure § 1010.6(g), "documents filed by represented parties in all civil, family law, and probate actions must be filed electronically unless the Court excuses parties from doing so." Self-represented parties are encouraged to e-file but aren't required to.
Two more points from the court's pages:
- Older cases. If a case was filed before April 13, 2015 and doesn't appear in the e-file system, the court asks you to contact the department directly. The civil e-file desk is civil.efile@fresno.courts.ca.gov, (559) 457-1900.
- Electronic service. The civil page notes that since July 1, 2025, a represented party who has appeared in an action must accept electronic service of documents that could otherwise be served by mail, express mail, overnight delivery or fax. That covers later papers in a case. A summons and complaint still need service under the Code's personal or substituted service rules.
Filed documents in civil cases are viewable on the court's online case portal, and the court says it can't redact e-filed papers, so redaction is on the filer. Our Fresno County court filing page covers how we take filings there, and the guide to California court e-filing explains the process statewide.
Source: fresno.courts.ca.gov eFile Resources and civil division pages, checked October 2026.
Papers to serve in Fresno?
Small claims cases filed in Fresno
The Fresno small claims page lists four ways to serve a Plaintiff's Claim and Order to Defendant: personal service by the Sheriff's Department, a private process server, a disinterested adult who isn't a party, or certified mail sent by the clerk. Clerk mail costs $15.00 per defendant, and the court tells you to call two weeks before the hearing to find out whether it worked.
With personal service, the proof of service has to be filed with the court at least 5 days before the hearing. If the defendant isn't served in time, the hearing gets rescheduled and you start again with another method. When the hearing date is close, choose Rush and call us at 855-582-5776 so we can look at the calendar with you.
The court also lists who can be sued in Fresno small claims: the dispute or injury happened in Fresno County, the person being sued lives there, or the business being sued does business there.
Source: fresno.courts.ca.gov small claims page, checked October 2026.
Sheriff service or a Service Request
You can ask the Fresno County Sheriff's Office to serve civil papers. The court's civil page notes that since January 1, 2024, the Sheriff requires a new mandated instruction form to start any service, and it points to the Sheriff's website for details.
With Valpro Attorney Services, the instructions go into one place: the Letter of Instruction on your Service Request. Put in the best hours to find the person, a description or photo, a workplace, a vehicle and any gate or building access notes. That's what saves attempts at a Fresno apartment complex or a gated subdivision in the north part of the city.
Fresno ZIP Code areas and nearby towns
Fresno had 542,107 residents in the 2020 Census. The Census Bureau's estimate for July 1, 2025 is 555,549. These Census ZIP Code areas overlap the city:
93650, 93701, 93702, 93703, 93704, 93705, 93706, 93710, 93711, 93720, 93721, 93722, 93725, 93726, 93727, 93728, 93730, 93740, 93741.
Some of them also reach past the city limits into unincorporated county land. That matters for the court only in the sense that every Fresno County case still goes to the same Fresno courthouses. ZIP Code areas are Census approximations of postal ZIP Codes.
Most valley addresses around Fresno are routine. Rural parts of the county, such as the west side around Mendota, Huron and Coalinga or the foothill areas to the east, take longer to reach, and remote areas are subject to different timelines. Tell us the full address when you submit and we'll confirm timing.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau 2020 Census, Vintage 2025 estimates and the 2020 ZCTA to place relationship file.
How to send a Fresno Service Request
- Open a Service Request and pick process service, court filing or both on the same request.
- Upload the papers. Up to 5 PDFs: summons, complaint, civil case cover sheet, notice of hearing, whatever the case needs.
- Name the party and the addresses. Full legal name or business name, the Fresno street address with unit number, and any second address.
- Add the Letter of Instruction with what you know about schedules and access.
- Choose Rush or Standard, and add a Billing Reference if your office tracks matters that way.
You'll get a confirmation email, and every update comes in that thread. No reply within 5–10 minutes during business hours? Call 855-582-5776.
How do you serve a business in Fresno?
Many Fresno employers are corporations or LLCs, and the right party to serve is usually the entity's agent for service of process, not the person at the front desk. Look the entity up on the California Secretary of State's bizfile Online, then send us the agent's name and address. When the agent is in another city, we serve there. The guide to serving a corporation in California covers each method, including court-ordered service through the Secretary of State.
Towns near Fresno we serve
Straight-line distances from central Fresno:
South of the county line, Hanford is the seat of Kings County, with its own courthouse. Every Fresno County city is listed on the Fresno County page.
More from Valpro Attorney Services in Fresno
- Court Filings: counter filing at B. F. Sisk or eFiling.
- Document retrieval: case files and copies, including older records.
- Skip tracing: a current address when the one on file has gone stale. Read how to find a defendant in California for what to gather first.
- Secretary of State filings: business filings and document requests in Sacramento.
We make no guarantees for service.