Los Altos is an incorporated city of about 6.5 square miles of land in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County. The 2020 Census counted 31,625 residents, and the Census Bureau's July 2025 estimate is 30,965. Valpro Attorney Services serves summonses, complaints, subpoenas, family law papers, probate notices, restraining orders and eviction documents at Los Altos homes and workplaces, and on the people and companies tied to Los Altos cases wherever they are.
Los Altos requests are handled from our Sacramento office, about 92 miles to the northeast. You send the papers and instructions online, and the attempts are made at the Los Altos address.
Los Altos, Los Altos Hills or Loyola?
Two ZIP Code areas carry the Los Altos name, and neither one stops at the city limit. The Census Bureau's 2020 ZCTA-to-place file shows how each splits by land area:
| ZIP Code area | Inside Los Altos | Inside Los Altos Hills | Other places | Outside any city or CDP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 94022 | about 15% | about 42% | Palo Alto city, about 28% | about 15% |
| 94024 | about 46% | about 18% | Loyola CDP, about 17%; slivers of Cupertino, Sunnyvale and Mountain View | about 19% |
Read from the city's side, about 58% of Los Altos's land is in 94024 and about 42% is in 94022. A tiny corner reaches into 94040, which is almost entirely Mountain View.
Three different governments sit behind those labels:
- City of Los Altos: the incorporated city itself.
- Town of Los Altos Hills: a separate incorporated town, listed by the Census Bureau in Santa Clara County. Most of its land, about 83%, is in 94022.
- Loyola: a census-designated place with no city government, so the County of Santa Clara governs it. All of Loyola is inside 94024.
For a summons on a person, the label rarely matters. Every one of these places is in Santa Clara County, so the case goes to the same San Jose courthouse. It matters when a city or town is itself the party, when a local ordinance or permit is part of the claim, or when a records request goes to the wrong clerk. Look the parcel up, and copy the address on the papers exactly as the person uses it. Census ZIP Code areas approximate postal ZIP Codes; they aren't identical.
Where Los Altos cases are filed
There's no courthouse in Los Altos. The Santa Clara County court's Local Civil Rules route Los Altos matters to downtown San Jose.
| Los Altos matter | Courthouse | Rule or court page |
|---|---|---|
| Limited and unlimited civil | Downtown Superior Court, 191 N. First St. | Local Civil Rule 1.C |
| Unlawful detainer | Downtown Superior Court | Local Civil Rule 13.C |
| Small claims, filed and heard | Downtown Superior Court | Local Civil Rule 19.A and 19.C(2) |
| Probate, guardianship, conservatorship | Probate Clerk's Office, Room 107, Downtown Superior Court | Probate court location page |
| Family law | Family Justice Center Courthouse, 201 N. First St. | Family Justice Center page |
Both buildings are about 11.3 miles from the Census Bureau's internal point for Los Altos, measured in a straight line to the coordinates on each court page. Clerk phones and counters in both close at 3:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday and at noon on Friday, while the buildings stay open until 5:00 p.m. Court facts were checked on santaclara.courts.ca.gov in October 2026.
Attorney-represented parties must e-file in civil, family and probate cases, and the court still takes certain papers in hard copy, such as abstracts, writs and out-of-state commissions. A self-represented party doesn't have to e-file. Rule 6.B asks self-represented filers to hold paper filings over 10 pages with binder clips, separate exhibits with a titled sheet, and leave tabs off. Our Santa Clara County court filing service can file the papers and then hand them to the server on the same request.
Ex parte orders in a Los Altos civil case
Santa Clara County decides most civil ex parte applications without a hearing. Local Civil Rule 7.C lays out the sequence, and two steps of it involve service.
- Notice first. Rule 7.C(2) incorporates California Rules of Court, rule 3.1203(a): notice to all parties by 10:00 a.m. the court day before the application is filed, unless exceptional circumstances justify less.
- Electronic filing. Counsel and parties with e-filing access must file the application electronically. A self-represented party can use the drop box at the Downtown Superior Court.
- Opposition the same day. Written opposition, or a request for a hearing, is due by the end of the day the application was filed.
- Ruling on the papers. The court tries to rule within 24 to 48 hours.
- Service of the order. Rule 7.C(7) puts that on the moving party, once the order is filed.
That last step is where we come in. Upload the signed order, the list of parties and their addresses, and tell us whether a hearing date in the order sets a service deadline. If the other side has counsel, the order may go to the attorney's office; if a party is self-represented, it goes to the person.
Applications for restraining orders follow their own track. Under Rule 7.B, a request for a civil harassment, elder abuse or workplace violence restraining order needs a Declaration in Support of Ex Parte Application for Civil Restraining Orders, form CV-5014. It can be e-filed or brought to the clerk's office during clerk hours. Once the court issues a temporary order, the restrained person gets served with the petition, the notice of hearing and the order before the hearing.
Papers to serve in Los Altos?
Estates and conservatorships from Los Altos
Every probate filing in the county goes to the Probate Clerk's Office in Room 107 of the Downtown Superior Court. The court's probate location page names three kinds of help:
- Probate examiners review filings and write a summary for the judge. They can't advise anyone on how to fix a deficient petition.
- The probate staff attorney reviews urgent and uncontested temporary petitions, ex parte petitions, and hearings set on less than 15 days' notice. Appointments are made through (408) 882-2100.
- Pre-approval reports. Examiners sometimes approve certain petitions without a hearing, and the court lists those on its Probate Advance Case Status Reports page.
Attorneys must e-file probate ex parte petitions, a rule the court dates to September 17, 2021, under Local Probate Rule 2C.
Most probate notices travel by mail. When a petition, citation or order has to reach a beneficiary, a relative or a proposed conservatee in person, send us the filed papers, the hearing date and any notes about health or living arrangements. A care facility address needs the facility name and, if you have it, the unit or room.
Before the server knocks: a Los Altos checklist
A complete Letter of Instruction saves attempts. For a Los Altos address, include:
- The full name on the papers, plus any other name the person uses.
- The unit or structure. A second unit, a cottage at the back of the lot or a home office above the garage each needs to be named.
- Shared or long driveways. If the house sits behind another one, say so and give the turn-in point.
- Gates and intercoms. A code, a call box or a time of day when the gate is open.
- Pets and signs. A dog in the yard or a no-soliciting sign doesn't stop service, but it helps the server plan the approach.
- A second address. A workplace or a regular weekday location gives the server another place to try.
- A photo, if several adults live at the address.
The 2027 service rules for a Los Altos defendant
AB 747 rewrites substituted service from January 1, 2027. Under the new CCP § 415.20(b)(2), a party shows reasonable diligence by attempting personal delivery in good faith on at least three occasions, on three different days, at three different times. After that showing, papers can be left with a competent adult at the home and mailed by first-class mail, Priority Mail with tracking, or certified mail, and service is complete on the 10th day after mailing.
Two other pieces of the bill matter for Los Altos files. In an action on a consumer debt, at least one attempt is to be made at the person's home, if that address is known or can be found with reasonable effort. In an unlawful detainer case, the proof of service is to include at least one photo of the site, with a readable date, time and GPS stamp, if the server can take it safely. Our AB 747 guide goes through the full set of changes, and our proof of service guide shows what the signed form reports. We make no guarantees for service.
Small claims for a Los Altos dispute
A Los Altos small claims case is filed and heard at the Downtown Superior Court when the defendant lives in the county or the contract or injury is tied to it (Rule 19.A). The clerk schedules every hearing there, and Rule 19.C(3) says night sessions run as shown on the court's website.
The court's small claims page sets the limits: up to $12,500 for an individual, including a sole proprietor with a fictitious business name, and up to $6,250 for a corporation, partnership or other entity. Two claims over $2,500 per calendar year is the statewide cap for any one claimant.
Rule 19.D(1) adds a local form to the service packet. The plaintiff serves the Notice to Small Claims Litigants, form SC-8006, together with the Plaintiff's Claim and Order to Go to Small Claims Court. Send both with your request. If the defendant can't be served in time, Rule 19.D(3) lets the plaintiff ask the clerk for a later hearing date at least one court day before the scheduled one.
Evictions from Los Altos rentals
All unlawful detainer cases in the county are filed at the Downtown Superior Court and heard in its designated eviction department (Rules 13.C and 13.D). For service, send the summons, the complaint, the notice that started the case and the name of every adult occupant. A tenant served personally has 10 court days to respond, according to the California courts' eviction self-help page. The AB 747 guide explains how posting under CCP § 415.45 changes in 2027.
Serving a company with a Los Altos address
For a corporation or LLC, the person to serve is usually its agent for service of process, listed on the Secretary of State's bizfile Online. Send us the agent's name and address exactly as listed. If the agent is a commercial service such as CSC or CT Corporation, service happens at that agent's office, not at the Los Altos storefront. Our serving corporations page covers officers, partnerships and out-of-state companies. If the address on file is stale, skip tracing can look for a current one.
Sending Los Altos papers
Open a Service Request, attach up to 5 PDFs, name each party as the papers do, add the address notes above, and choose Rush or Standard. Get the updates by email, call 855-582-5776, or email Service@ValproAttorneyServices.com.
Places near Los Altos
Mountain View is 2.4 miles away, Sunnyvale 4 miles and Cupertino 4.4. Santa Clara is 7.1 miles, and across the county line Portola Valley is 7.5. Every place we serve in the county is listed on the Santa Clara County page.