Orange County work comes to us in a few familiar shapes: a summons for a defendant in Irvine, a subpoena for a records custodian in Anaheim, a filing that has to reach the Central Justice Center today, or copies pulled from a probate file. One Service Request covers any of them.
Orange County jobs are managed from our Sacramento office, which stays your one point of contact from the first attempt to the proof of service. Send the documents through the Service Request form or by email to Service@ValproAttorneyServices.com, and call 855-582-5776 with anything urgent.
How Orange County splits its caseload
Orange County assigns case types by building under its court designation list, effective June 30, 2025. Limited and unlimited civil, small claims, unlawful detainer and civil harassment are all filed at the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana. Complex civil cases have their own building, the Civil Complex Center, a few blocks away.
Family law, domestic violence and juvenile matters go to the Lamoreaux Justice Center in Orange. Probate and mental health moved to the Costa Mesa Justice Complex at 3390 Harbor Boulevard. The North (Fullerton), West (Westminster) and Harbor (Newport Beach) justice centers now handle criminal and traffic only, and their civil clerk services are at Central.
Clerk counters open at 8 a.m. and close at 4 p.m. on weekdays. Source: occourts.org locations and the designation list, checked October 28, 2026. Confirm on the court's site before a deadline.
Do attorneys have to e-file in Orange County?
Represented parties have to e-file civil and probate documents here. Local Rule 352 requires documents filed by represented parties in limited, unlimited and complex civil actions to be filed electronically unless the court excuses them, and mandatory civil e-filing has applied since January 1, 2013. Local Rule 601.01 sets the same rule for probate. Small claims e-filing through an approved provider is optional. Source: the court's e-filing page, checked October 28, 2026.
When a filing can't go electronically, or you want it walked to the counter, a court runner files it in person. Both options are on our Court Filings page. Send the court, the case number and any deadline with the documents.
Orange County addresses
Orange County had 3,186,989 residents at the 2020 Census, with a Census Bureau estimate of 3,149,507 for mid-2025. We serve all 34 of its cities plus North Tustin, between about 379 and 418 miles straight-line from our Sacramento office.
The five largest by 2020 count are Anaheim (346,824), Santa Ana (310,227), Irvine (307,670), Huntington Beach (198,711) and Garden Grove (171,949). At the south end, San Clemente is the farthest city from our office. Probate and mental health cases are heard in Costa Mesa, next to Newport Beach and Irvine.
At that density, specific instructions save attempts. In your Letter of Instruction, include:
- the building, unit or suite number
- how to get through a gate or a guard station, if there is one
- the person's work schedule or the hours they are usually home
- the company name and floor for an office address
- a second address, so a failed attempt can move straight to the next one
From Service Request to proof
Attach as many as 5 PDFs to the Service Request form, or email them. Tell us who to serve and every address you have, then pick Rush or Standard. Get each update by email. The statuses are New, In progress, Served/Filed and Closed.
During office hours, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, ring 855-582-5776 if 5–10 minutes pass without a reply. A business defendant in Irvine or Costa Mesa is usually served through its agent for service of process. The serving corporations page explains how to find the agent and what to do if the agent can't be found.
Registration numbers on proofs from 2027
From January 1, 2027, a proof of service signed by someone who must register as a process server has to show the number the county clerk assigned (Code of Civil Procedure § 417.40, as amended by AB 747). The rest of the 2027 changes are in our AB 747 guide. Not legal advice.