Madera County sits in the central San Joaquin Valley, between the Chowchilla River to the north and the San Joaquin River to the south. The 2020 Census counted 156,255 residents. The two incorporated cities are both on the valley floor along State Route 99: Madera, the county seat, with 66,224 residents, and Chowchilla, with 19,039. East of the valley, the land rises through the foothills to the Sierra Nevada.
Madera is about 138 miles straight-line from our Sacramento office and Chowchilla about 124. We coordinate Madera County process serving and court filing from that office. Send the documents on a Service Request or by email to Service@ValproAttorneyServices.com.
Everything happens at 200 South G Street
Madera Superior Court has a single courthouse. Local Rule 1.3.12 puts all departments at the Main Courthouse, 200 South G Street in Madera, and the court calls it a full-service court. Civil, small claims, probate and family law filings all go through the Civil Division window. Traffic, criminal and juvenile have their own divisions in the same building.
The counter schedule is short:
- Clerk's windows: 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.
- Drop boxes: 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. for filings, with no cash payments.
- Phones: 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
The Civil Division says its busiest hours are 8:00 to 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. It asks visitors to reach the window by 2:00 p.m. if they need processing or copies from a case file.
Ex parte timing. Civil ex parte papers, with the 24-hour notice or non-notice declaration, are due by 11:00 a.m. the work day before the hearing. Family law and probate ex partes are due by 10:00 a.m. Hearings start at 8:15 a.m. The division pages also ask that documents be filed two days before the court date.
Probate. The court states that it has no probate examiner on staff, so petitions need to be complete when filed. Probate guardianship and conservatorship investigations go through Family Court Services.
Small claims. These cases are set at 9:00 a.m. on Fridays in Department 44 or 45.
E-filing is open, not required
The court's e-filing page says e-filing is available to attorneys and self-represented litigants in civil, family law, probate and small claims cases, 24 hours a day, through an approved provider. It also says plainly that e-filing is not mandatory at this time. Division 6 of the local rules governs it. Rule 6.1.4 calls for text-searchable PDFs with OCR, and Rule 6.1.6 lists the eligible case types.
Some filers have options beyond a provider. Domestic violence and gun violence restraining order petitions can be filed free on the court's Public Portal, which has accepted them since July 1, 2023. Fax filing still exists, with a catch: Rule 2.11.1 says the fee must be paid within three days, or the pleading can be stricken.
The court has also posted proposed amendments for January 1, 2027. They revise the list of documents that can't be e-filed, such as bonds, original wills, claims of right to possession and subpoenaed records. Those papers would be filed conventionally, with a notice e-filed to record them. Treat this as a proposal until the court adopts it.
Our Madera County court filing service files at the window or electronically. The Court Filings page lists what to include, and our post on same-day court filing covers tight deadlines. General information, not legal advice.
Papers to serve in Madera County?
Valley floor, foothills and mountains
The western third of the county is farmland and the two cities. Madera Ranchos and other unincorporated subdivisions lie between Madera and the Fresno County line. Two state prisons sit near Chowchilla. For anyone in custody, service runs through the institution's procedures, so flag it in your Letter of Instruction.
State Route 41 climbs out of the valley into the foothills. Coarsegold, Oakhurst, Ahwahnee, North Fork and Bass Lake sit in the mountain half of the county, on the way toward Yosemite's south entrance. Parcels there can be large and set back on private roads. Remote areas are subject to different timelines.
For any address outside the two cities, the server needs:
- the physical address, not a P.O. box or rural route
- a cross road, gate description or map pin
- a vehicle or workplace, if you have one
- any second address in Fresno or Merced County
If the address doesn't pan out, skip tracing can search for a newer one.
Sheriff's Civil Division
The Madera County Sheriff's Civil Division page blocked automated access when we checked, so these details come from an archived copy dated September 14, 2025. Confirm them before relying on them. That copy gives the office address as 2725 Falcon Drive, Madera, with business hours of 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on weekdays. It says the Civil Division requires an original SER-001 with the physical service address, and that deputies normally make at least three attempts on different days: morning, midday and late afternoon. If service fails, an Affidavit of Attempts is mailed.
A private server can also serve. Any adult who is at least 18 and not a party may serve a summons; our guide on who can serve papers in California explains registration for paid servers. The proof of service guide covers the form filed afterward.
Starting January 1, 2027, AB 747 provides that three good-faith attempts at personal delivery on 3 different days at 3 different times show reasonable diligence for substituted service (CCP § 415.20(b)(2)). Clerks' process server registers also become public under Bus. & Prof. Code § 22355. See the AB 747 guide. General information, not legal advice.
For a company, service generally goes to its agent for service of process; see serving corporations.
Your Madera County Service Request
Start a Service Request, upload up to 5 PDFs, and choose Rush or Standard. Reply to your confirmation email to check progress. Call 855-582-5776 weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Nearby county hubs: Fresno County, Merced County and Mariposa County.