Irvine Service Requests are managed from our Sacramento office, about 399 miles away in a straight line, and the papers are served at the Irvine home, office or campus address you send. Plenty of papers headed to Irvine name a company rather than a person, so this page spends more time than most on serving businesses.
The city is also growing. The Census Bureau counted 307,670 residents in 2020 and estimated 318,764 for July 2025, slightly more than its estimate for Santa Ana. More people means more addresses, and more ways for an address on an old filing to have gone stale.
Which court hears Irvine cases now?
Irvine's civil, small claims and unlawful detainer cases go to the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana, about 7.8 miles straight-line from Irvine's Census center point. The Harbor Justice Center in Newport Beach is closer, at 5.0 miles, but under the court's designation list effective June 30, 2025, it takes only Irvine's criminal and traffic cases.
That catches people out because older sources still list Harbor with civil and small claims. The Judicial Council's statewide courthouse data did when we checked in October 2026. The court's own Harbor page says the building handles traffic, minor offenses and criminal matters.
Here is where an Irvine matter goes today:
- Limited and unlimited civil, small claims, unlawful detainer: Central Justice Center, Santa Ana.
- Complex civil: Civil Complex Center, Santa Ana, a few blocks from Central.
- Family law and domestic violence: Lamoreaux Justice Center, Orange, about 10.0 miles.
- Probate and mental health: Costa Mesa Justice Complex, about 8.5 miles.
- Criminal and traffic: Harbor Justice Center, Newport Beach.
When a filing or a records pull is part of the job, name the building in your request. Our Orange County court filing page explains what we need for each.
How do you serve a company in Irvine?
Serve the company's agent for service of process. California corporations and LLCs name one on their Secretary of State filings (Corporations Code §§ 1502 and 17701.13), and anyone can look it up on bizfile Online. Send us the entity's exact name and the agent listed there, with the summons and complaint.
Companies often list a registered agent company as their agent, and its office may be nowhere near Irvine. In that case the papers are delivered to someone that agent company has authorized, at the address on file, not at the business's own Irvine office. If the agent is an individual, such as an officer of the company, we serve that person where they can be found.
There's a second route when the agent can't be reached. Under CCP § 415.20(a), a summons for the company's officer, manager or agent can be left during usual office hours with the person apparently in charge of the office, and then mailed to the same address. Service done that way is complete on the 10th day after mailing, so calendar the response date from there, not from the day of delivery.
For an office address, tell us:
- the suite and floor, and the company name as it appears on the lobby directory
- the name and title of the officer or manager you want served, if any
- whether the office is open to visitors or keeps a locked lobby
- a phone number for the reception desk, if you have one
Our serving corporations page covers the rest, including out-of-state companies and officers who can accept.
When an Irvine company's agent can't be found
Sometimes the agent on file has resigned, the address is a vacant suite, or the company never named anyone. After reasonably diligent attempts fail, the court can order service on the entity through the California Secretary of State. You ask the Orange County court for that order, usually in the case pending at the Central Justice Center.
The Secretary of State takes this kind of service only by hand, at its Sacramento public counter: 1500 11th Street, 3rd Floor, Room 390, Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. It needs a copy of the process, a copy of the court order and the $50 statutory fee. Mail isn't accepted, and the Los Angeles office can't take it. Our office is in Sacramento, so once you have the order, the delivery can go on the same Service Request as the earlier attempts. Source: the Secretary of State's service of process page, checked October 2026.
Some entity types, such as limited liability partnerships and general partnerships, don't appear in the Secretary of State's online search. Their filings have to be ordered with the agency's records request form.
Papers to serve in Irvine?
Subpoenas for Irvine records custodians
A business records subpoena goes to the custodian of records at the business, and it often has an attached declaration and a production date. Send the full subpoena package, the business name and the address where records are kept, and the date by which service has to be complete. Our guide on how to serve a subpoena in California lists the timing rules.
What if nobody answers the door at an Irvine home?
Nobody is required to open the door to a process server, and an unanswered knock is just one attempt. The server returns at other times of day. If personal delivery can't be made with reasonable diligence, the papers can be left with a competent member of the household who is at least 18, then mailed (CCP § 415.20(b)).
From January 1, 2027, AB 747 adds two rules worth knowing. Reasonable diligence will be shown by good-faith attempts on at least 3 occasions, on 3 different days at 3 different times. The proof of service will need one or more photos of each attempt site, stamped with the date, time and GPS coordinates (new CCP § 417.10). This is general information, not legal advice.
Access is the other thing to plan for. If the Irvine address sits behind a guard gate or a controlled entrance, or in an apartment community with locked buildings, include a gate code, a guest-list contact, or the management office's name and hours. Without one, an attempt can end at the gate.
Irvine ZIP Codes and campus addresses
The Census counts 10 ZIP Code areas for Irvine: 92602, 92603, 92604, 92606, 92612, 92614, 92617, 92618, 92620 and 92697. 92697 is the ZIP Code in UC Irvine's official address.
A person can be served on campus if the server can reach them, but a campus is a hard place to find one individual. The building and room number, the department, office hours or a class schedule all help. When you have a home address too, list it first, and put the campus address second.
Irvine small claims and landlord cases at Central
Because Irvine's small claims go to Santa Ana, the 7.8-mile trip is worth planning around. The court hears Central small claims in Department C18 and lets parties appear by video. On its small claims hearings page, choosing the time link for your hearing day counts as asking to appear remotely, and it notifies the court and accepts a remote hearing in one step. A mobile check-in app works from a phone or tablet camera.
Irvine landlords should know one cutoff. Since October 1, 2025, the court's unlawful detainer page says, small claims can't be used for COVID-19 rental debt over $12,500, meaning rent and costs unpaid before September 30, 2021 because of the pandemic. Eviction cases from Irvine also follow Local Rule 356 and the court's own unlawful detainer forms. The tenant is still served in person or by another lawful method, wherever the case is heard.
Choosing Rush or Standard for Irvine
Both levels are available. Pick Rush when a hearing date, a statute deadline or a subpoena production date is close, and say why in the Letter of Instruction. You can get status updates by email.
When the address is old and the person has moved on, skip tracing looks for a current one before the papers go back out.
Cities near Irvine
Nearby cities we serve include Tustin, Lake Forest, Laguna Woods, Aliso Viejo and Newport Beach. Every Orange County city is on the Orange County page. Send the papers through the Service Request form when you're ready.