Stanislaus County lies in the middle of the northern San Joaquin Valley, between San Joaquin County to the north and Merced County to the south. The 2020 Census counted 552,878 residents. Modesto, the county seat, has 218,464 of them, followed by Turlock (72,740), Ceres (49,302), Riverbank, Patterson and Oakdale.
We serve papers, file court documents and retrieve records across the county. Jobs are coordinated from our Sacramento office. Send the documents on a Service Request or email them to Service@ValproAttorneyServices.com.
A court split between Modesto and Turlock
Stanislaus Superior Court sorts cases by type, and the rule surprises people who file elsewhere in the valley. Evictions and small claims don't go to the county seat. They go to the Turlock Division, Department 19, at 300 Starr Avenue in Turlock, about 12 miles straight-line south of downtown Modesto.
Everything else civil-side stays in Modesto, split across two buildings a block apart:
- City Towers Courthouse, 801 10th Street. The Civil and Probate Division. The civil clerk's office is on the 4th floor, with Departments 23 and 24 on that floor and 21 and 22 on the 6th. Limited, unlimited and complex civil, civil harassment petitions and name changes are filed here, along with probate estates, trusts and conservatorships.
- Main Courthouse, 800 11th Street. Criminal and juvenile clerks use the 11th Street entrance. The I Street entrance leads to the clerk for family law, child support (DCSS), Family Court Services and a second probate group: guardianships, LPS conservatorships and adoptions. The Self-Help Center is in Room 220.
Traffic has its own building at 2260 Floyd Avenue. Juvenile hearings stay in Department 18 at 2215 Blue Gum Avenue, but the juvenile clerk's office moved to the Main Courthouse on May 1, 2026.
Clerk's offices are open 8:15 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on weekdays, and phones 8:15 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The probate window at City Towers keeps a short schedule, 8:15 to 10:00 a.m., so a walk-in probate filing has to go early.
E-filing under Local Rule 1.14
Local Rule 1.14 dates to January 1, 2019 and was last amended January 1, 2026. In the rules effective July 1, 2026, it says documents in civil (limited, unlimited and complex), family, juvenile, probate, and LPS conservatorship and CARE Act cases must be e-filed through an approved provider. Self-represented parties aren't required to e-file.
Some documents can't be e-filed, and the court lists them on its website. A party who needs an exemption files a request on Judicial Council form EFS-007 with a proposed EFS-008. The clerk's office rejects unsolicited courtesy copies of e-filed papers.
Our Court Filings service files electronically for represented parties and in person at City Towers, the Main Courthouse or Turlock when paper is still accepted. Send the case number, the department if you know it and the deadline. See Court Filings for what to include. This is general information, not legal advice.
Papers to serve in Stanislaus County?
Small towns, farm roads and the West Side
Most Stanislaus County service happens in the cities strung along Highway 99: Modesto, Ceres, Turlock and Salida. Addresses there are mostly routine, though apartment complexes and gated subdivisions need unit numbers and gate codes.
Off the freeway, the county is agricultural. Orchards, dairies and row crops surround Hughson, Denair, Keyes, Empire and Waterford, and a rural address may cover a home, a shop and worker housing on one parcel. East of Oakdale, the land rises toward the Sierra foothills and the Tuolumne County line.
West of the San Joaquin River, Patterson, Newman, Crows Landing and Westley sit near I-5, against the Diablo Range. Newman is the farthest city on our list, about 93 miles straight-line from our Sacramento office.
Work schedules decide when people are home. If the person starts before dawn or works late, say so, because a weekday morning attempt may miss someone who would be home at midday.
Getting the details right
These notes help a server finish a Stanislaus County job sooner:
- a description of the house or the building on the parcel, for rural addresses
- the employer, the shift and the season, for farm or plant workers
- an apartment or space number for complexes and mobile home parks
- any second address, including one in San Joaquin or Merced County
- the language the person speaks, if it isn't English
If an address has gone stale, skip tracing can look for a current one. Our post on how to find a defendant in California explains what to send.
Rules behind the service
Any adult who is at least 18 and not a party to the case may serve a summons. Our guide to who can serve papers in California covers the registration rule for people who serve for pay. When service is done, the proof of service guide explains the forms that document it.
Starting January 1, 2027, AB 747 changes the documentation for service attempts. Read the AB 747 guide before you plan service late in 2026. This is general information, not legal advice.
For a company with a Modesto or Turlock plant, service usually goes to the agent for service of process listed with the California Secretary of State. Our serving corporations page shows how to find it.
Start a Stanislaus County request
Open a Service Request, attach up to 5 PDFs, add a Letter of Instruction and choose Rush or Standard. Get status updates by email. We answer 855-582-5776 from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays.
For addresses just over the county line, see our hubs for San Joaquin County, Merced County, Tuolumne County and Santa Clara County.