If you need a process server in Redwood City, Valpro Attorney Services delivers summonses, complaints, subpoenas, restraining order papers, eviction notices and family law documents to people and companies across the city. Redwood City counted 84,292 residents in the 2020 Census. It is also the San Mateo County seat, which means most San Mateo County cases, wherever the parties live, are filed a few blocks from downtown.
We handle Redwood City work from our Sacramento office. Nothing about the job requires a local visit from you: the papers come to us as PDFs, and every update comes by email.
One building takes nearly every Redwood City filing
The Hall of Justice and Records at 400 County Center is the court's Southern Branch. It is an eight-story building at the corner of Marshall and Hamilton Streets, about 0.9 miles from the center of Redwood City. The court lists civil, criminal, family law, probate and small claims among the cases it serves, and the clerk's office for civil and small claims is Room A on the first floor.
| Redwood City matter | Where it's filed | Where it's heard |
|---|---|---|
| Civil, limited or unlimited | Room A, Hall of Justice, or e-file | Assigned judge |
| Unlawful detainer | Room A, Hall of Justice, or e-file | Central Branch, San Mateo (pretrials, court trials, ex partes) |
| Small claims | Room A, Hall of Justice | South San Francisco, or the Redwood City night court |
| Family law | Hall of Justice | Hall of Justice |
| Probate, guardianship, conservatorship | Hall of Justice | Dept. 13, Courtroom 2C |
| Juvenile and adoptions | Juvenile Branch, 222 Paul Scannell Drive, San Mateo | Juvenile Branch |
From the San Mateo County Superior Court's location and division pages, checked October 2026.
The court's judicial district page lists Redwood City among the agencies assigned to the Southern Branch, alongside Atherton, Belmont, Menlo Park, San Mateo and others. That list governs where police and agency cases go. Civil filers from anywhere in the county come to the same Room A counter.
Filing at 400 County Center
Counter time is scarce. The civil, family law, probate and small claims clerks see the public by appointment only, Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., and the phones run on the same hours. The Records Management counter keeps the same appointment-only schedule.
After 1:00 p.m., the civil drop box outside Room A is the paper route. The court empties it at 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. on court days. Anything left before 4:00 p.m. is deemed filed that day; anything later is filed the next court day. If a fee is wrong or a filing is late, the court says it will try to contact the filer before returning the papers.
Attorneys in San Mateo County don't use the counter for most work. The court's e-filing page says attorneys must e-file in civil, complex civil and small claims cases, and in family law and probate. A few things still go in on paper, including subpoenas, writs and abstracts of judgment. An e-filed document received on a court day, up to 11:59:59 p.m., is deemed filed that day once the clerk accepts it.
One line on that page matters for us: the court does not provide electronic service. Filers must still serve the other parties by traditional means. E-filing gets a complaint into the file; it doesn't put the summons in the defendant's hands. Our San Mateo County court filing page explains how we file and return conformed copies, and the California e-filing post covers providers in general.
Serving the County of San Mateo
Because the county government sits in Redwood City, many lawsuits name the County of San Mateo or one of its departments. The county's Clerk of the Board page answers the first question every paralegal asks: the Clerk of the Board accepts service of legal documents on behalf of the County of San Mateo, county special districts, and county employees sued in their capacity as county employees.
California law sends a summons for a public entity to its clerk, secretary, president, presiding officer or other head of its governing body (CCP § 416.50). For San Mateo County, the Clerk of the Board is where that delivery goes. The same page notes that the Clerk of the Board is not the custodian of records, so a records subpoena may need a different recipient.
Claims under the Government Claims Act follow their own route. The county takes them only by regular or certified mail, FedEx or in person at 500 County Center, 5th Floor. It won't accept a claim by email, and it says Risk Management usually needs 6 to 8 weeks to investigate. If a deadline is close, in-person delivery with a proof of service gives you a clean record of the date. A county employee sued personally, rather than as an employee, still has to be served as an individual.
Papers to serve in Redwood City?
Redwood City evictions
A Redwood City unlawful detainer is filed at the Hall of Justice, or e-filed, but most of its hearings happen at the Central Branch at 800 North Humboldt Street in San Mateo. The court's unlawful detainer page puts pretrials and court trials there, and hears eviction ex partes on Tuesdays and Fridays at 1:30 p.m. in Courtroom H.
The stay of eviction process loops back to Redwood City. When a stay is approved, the tenant must post the rent money due with the Civil Clerk's Office in Redwood City the same day. The tenant is then directed to serve the stay order on the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office at 300 Bradford Street, First Floor, Redwood City. Uncontested ex partes that need no notice, such as an application to serve by posting, can be e-filed under Local Rule 3.1202(f).
For the first round of service, send us the notice, the summons and complaint, and the names of every adult occupant. Our proof of service guide explains what the returned proof should show. Starting January 1, 2027, the diligence needed before posting an eviction summons is shown by attempts on at least 3 occasions, on 3 different days at 3 different times (CCP § 415.45), as our AB 747 guide explains. This is general information, not legal advice.
Probate and guardianship papers
Probate for all of San Mateo County is handled at the Hall of Justice. The probate supervising judge sits in Department 13, Courtroom 2C. The probate page covers decedents' estates, conservatorships, guardianships, trusts and elder abuse cases.
Its notice on temporary guardianships and conservatorships is a service rule in practice. The court wants those requests filed and then served on the relevant parties at least 5 days before the hearing, and it says requests that could be heard on 5 days' notice will be denied if brought ex parte. Pick a hearing date that leaves room to serve. If a relative or proposed conservatee lives in Redwood City, put their address and any care-facility details in the request.
Four ZIP Code areas, three of them shared
The Census Bureau matches four ZIP Code areas to Redwood City. Only one stays entirely inside the city:
- 94065 is all Redwood City, on the bay side of Highway 101.
- 94063 is about 88% Redwood City by land. Most of the rest is North Fair Oaks, an unincorporated community.
- 94061 is about 84% Redwood City, with a slice of the Town of Woodside and land outside any city.
- 94062 is mostly not Redwood City at all. The city holds about 3.5% of its land. About 76% sits outside any city or Census-designated place, and the area also takes in Emerald Lake Hills, part of La Honda and most of Woodside.
All four ZIP Code areas are wholly in San Mateo County, according to the 2020 ZCTA to county file, so a Redwood City mailing address never changes the court. It can change which city or agency is involved in a code or permit dispute. Copy the address as written, and tell us if you know the home is in an unincorporated pocket.
What a Redwood City Letter of Instruction needs
Redwood City addresses range from downtown apartment towers to hillside homes and bayfront office parks. The details that help depend on the type:
- Downtown buildings: the unit number and the name shown on the call box, plus any lobby desk or garage entry the person uses.
- Hillside streets in 94062: a cross street, the house color, a gate, and whether the house sits above or below the road.
- Office parks near the bay: the building, floor and suite, the company name the person works for, and the hours they badge in.
- Anyone who commutes: a second address, such as a workplace, and the times they're most likely home.
A photo of the person, or a description and a vehicle, saves attempts everywhere.
Serving a Redwood City company
Find the business on the Secretary of State's bizfile Online and note the agent for service of process. A receptionist in a Redwood City office usually can't accept papers for the company, and the named agent is often a registered agent firm somewhere else in California. We serve wherever the agent is. Our serving corporations guide covers officers and the other people the law allows, and our pages on CSC Lawyers Incorporating Service and CT Corporation explain two common agents.
Sending Redwood City papers
- Open a Service Request and upload up to 5 PDFs.
- Name each party exactly as the caption does.
- List every Redwood City address you have, plus a workplace.
- Choose Rush or Standard, and add a Hall of Justice filing if the case isn't filed yet.
You can also call 855-582-5776 or write to Service@ValproAttorneyServices.com. We make no guarantees for service. If the person has moved, our skip tracing service looks for a current address, and document retrieval pulls copies from an existing San Mateo County file.
Cities near Redwood City
Straight-line distances from central Redwood City:
- San Carlos (3.2 miles) and Foster City (4.0)
- Atherton (4.1) and Menlo Park (4.4)
- San Mateo (6.2), home of the Central Branch
Every city we serve in the county is on the San Mateo County page.