We take Service Requests for every part of the city of Los Angeles: downtown towers, Valley neighborhoods, the Westside and the harbor. We serve summonses, subpoenas and every other legal document on people and businesses. We also file with the Los Angeles Superior Court, at the counter or by eFiling.
Upload the papers on the Service Request form (up to 5 PDFs) or email them to Service@ValproAttorneyServices.com. Our office is in Sacramento, about 360 miles in a straight line from the city's Census center point, so everything runs online, by email and by phone.
One city, many filing courts
Los Angeles is unusual. The city sits inside a single county court, but its neighborhoods file at ten or more different courthouses. The Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, assigns a case by the community and ZIP Code it comes from, and by the type of case.
The court's Filing Court Locator does the matching. Its instructions draw the main line at $35,000. Unlimited civil means claims over that amount, plus family and probate. Limited civil means $35,000 or less, and it includes unlawful detainer and small claims.
The locator also warns about three traps:
- A mailing address can name the post office's community rather than the true city or unincorporated area.
- Caseload adjustments in the San Fernando Valley, East Los Angeles and the North Central District can move a case elsewhere.
- Falling inside a district doesn't by itself decide the assignment. The criteria are in Local Rules Chapter 2.
Here is what the locator returned for a sample of city ZIP Codes on October 28, 2026.
| Area (ZIP) | Unlimited civil | Eviction (limited UD) | Small claims |
|---|---|---|---|
| Downtown (90012), Hollywood (90028), Highland Park (90042) | Stanley Mosk | Stanley Mosk | Stanley Mosk |
| Van Nuys (91401), Encino (91436) | Van Nuys Courthouse East | Van Nuys Courthouse East | Van Nuys Courthouse East |
| Northridge (91324), Porter Ranch (91326), Granada Hills (91344) | Chatsworth | Chatsworth | Chatsworth |
| Tarzana (91356), Woodland Hills (91367) | Van Nuys Courthouse East | Van Nuys Courthouse East | Van Nuys Courthouse East |
| North Hollywood (91601) | Burbank | Pasadena | Pasadena |
| Studio City (91604) | Burbank | Van Nuys Courthouse East | Pasadena |
| Tujunga (91042) | Burbank | Pasadena | Pasadena |
| Westwood (90024), Brentwood (90049), Venice (90291) | Beverly Hills and Santa Monica (both listed) | Santa Monica | Beverly Hills |
| Westchester (90045) | Inglewood and Torrance (both listed) | Inglewood | Inglewood |
| San Pedro (90731), Wilmington (90744), Harbor City (90710) | Deukmejian, Long Beach | Deukmejian, Long Beach | Deukmejian, Long Beach |
| Watts (90002) | Compton | Compton | Compton |
A few case types don't follow the neighborhood. Every city ZIP Code in the locator sends limited civil cases that aren't collections to Stanley Mosk. Limited collection cases split between Chatsworth and Norwalk. Probate goes to Stanley Mosk. Family law follows its own map: the Westside ZIP Codes above file family cases at Stanley Mosk, and Tarzana and Woodland Hills file them at Chatsworth.
Sherman Oaks (91423) shows how fine the lines get. West of Fulton and Dixie Canyon Avenues, unlimited civil goes to Van Nuys Courthouse East. East of them, it goes to Burbank. When a result names a street, the court says the boundary is the street's centerline.
Three courthouses inside the city limits
Three of the civil courthouses are in the city itself. Each is open to the public from 8:00 a.m., except Stanley Mosk, which opens at 7:30 a.m. Each Clerk's Office is open 8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except court holidays.
- Stanley Mosk Courthouse, 111 North Hill Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012. Civil, family law, probate, small claims, unlawful detainer and appellate work. Parking is in paid lots around the building, with limited metered spaces on Grand Avenue and Hill Street.
- Van Nuys Courthouse East, 6230 Sylmar Ave., Van Nuys, CA 91401. Civil, family law, small claims and unlawful detainer. The paid structure at 6170 Sylmar Ave. closes at 7:00 p.m.
- Chatsworth Courthouse, 9425 Penfield Ave., Chatsworth, CA 91311. Civil, family law, small claims, unlawful detainer and traffic. Public parking is at the end of the Penfield Avenue cul-de-sac.
The harbor neighborhoods are part of the city but file in Long Beach, at the Governor George Deukmejian Courthouse, 275 Magnolia. Westside small claims go to the Beverly Hills Courthouse at 9355 Burton Way. Source: the court's courthouse directory, checked October 2026.
Courtroom numbers change on November 2, 2026
The court has announced that, beginning November 2, 2026, it will use a new department numbering system at several courthouses. Its Stanley Mosk directory already lists each courtroom with its former number. One example from the directory: Department 215 was formerly Department 2.
This matters for anyone serving notices. A notice of hearing, a subpoena or an order to show cause names a department. If yours was prepared before the change, check the directory before the papers go out. If the department on your notice no longer matches, tell us in the Letter of Instruction so the proof and the papers line up.
Papers to serve in Los Angeles?
Do attorneys have to e-file in Los Angeles civil cases?
Attorneys in Los Angeles civil cases file electronically. The court's civil e-filing FAQ says litigants represented by attorneys must e-file unless they obtain a court order exempting them. People representing themselves aren't required to. The FAQ points to the court's General Order on mandatory electronic filing for the technical rules.
We handle Los Angeles filings by eFiling, or at the counter when a paper filing is allowed or required. One request can cover both steps: file the complaint, then send the issued summons straight out for service. See Los Angeles County court filing for what to send. If the filing is urgent, our post on same day court filing service covers what to have ready.
Serving across 112 ZIP Code areas
The city had 3,898,747 residents in the 2020 Census. The Census Bureau's estimate for July 1, 2025, is 3,869,089. The Census lists 112 ZIP Code areas that overlap the city limits, and several also reach into neighboring cities.
Scale changes how a request should be written. A Los Angeles address alone often isn't enough to find a person on the first try. These details help most here:
- Building access. Many office buildings check visitors at a lobby desk. Give the company name, floor, suite and a reception contact.
- Unit numbers in large complexes. Many apartment buildings have several entrances and gated parking. Include the building letter and unit, and any call-box code you're allowed to share.
- Two addresses. List a home and a workplace even when they're on opposite sides of the city, such as the Valley and downtown.
- Timing. Tell us when the person usually leaves and gets home. An early-morning or evening attempt at a home often beats several midday tries.
- A photo or description. In a large building or a busy workplace, it keeps the server from waiting on the wrong person.
If you already know the person avoids the door, say so. It changes the plan. From January 1, 2027, the diligence needed before substituted service is shown by attempting personal delivery on at least 3 occasions, on 3 different days at 3 different times (CCP § 415.20(b)(2)). Our AB 747 guide covers the rest of that law.
What comes back to you
When service is complete, you get a proof of service to file. In a civil case, the summons is proved on Judicial Council form POS-010. It records who was served, where, when and how, and who served the papers. For substituted service, the proof also shows the follow-up mailing, because service is complete only on the 10th day after it.
You can get each update by email. The status moves from New to In progress, then Served/Filed and Closed. We make no guarantees for service.
Choosing a process server for a Los Angeles case
Our post on how to choose a California process server is written for law firms and legal teams picking a server. It covers the questions to ask: how attempts are documented, how quickly you hear back and how urgent papers are handled. Those answers matter more in a city where one defendant can mean three neighborhoods and two courthouses.
Businesses headquartered in Los Angeles
Serving a corporation or LLC starts with the Secretary of State's bizfile Online record. California entities must list an agent for service of process (Corporations Code §§ 1502 and 17701.13). Send us the agent's name and address from the record, along with the entity's exact legal name.
If the agent has resigned or can't be found at the listed address, other routes exist. They include certain officers named in CCP § 416.10 and, by court order, service through the Secretary of State. Our serving corporations guide walks through each one.
When the Los Angeles address goes stale
An address from an old lease, a credit file or an earlier lawsuit can be months out of date. If the server finds the person gone, ask about skip tracing. Our post on how to find a defendant in California explains what we look for. Once you approve a new address, the papers go back out under the same request.
Next to the city, and across the county
Some places that feel like Los Angeles are separate cities, including Culver City, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica and West Hollywood. Venice is part of the city, so a Venice address is a Los Angeles address.
Farther out, see Long Beach, Glendale, Pasadena, Torrance, Santa Clarita and Lancaster. Every other community is listed on the Los Angeles County page.