To serve a corporation in California, deliver the summons and complaint to its agent for service of process or to one of the officers named in Code of Civil Procedure § 416.10. Find the agent on the Secretary of State's bizfile Online. If neither the agent nor an officer can be served with reasonable diligence, a court can order service through the Secretary of State in Sacramento.
Valpro Attorney Services serves corporations, LLCs and partnerships across the entire State of California. Find more information in our service areas, starting with Sacramento County, Los Angeles County and San Francisco. The rules below were checked October 2026 against the Legislature's published code text and the Secretary of State's pages. This is general information, not legal advice.
Step 1: Look up the company on bizfile Online
Search the entity on the Secretary of State's bizfile Online Business Search. It's free, and it shows the most current filings on record.
For corporations, LLCs and limited partnerships, the record shows:
- the exact entity name and entity number
- its status, such as active, suspended or dissolved
- street and mailing addresses
- the name and address of the agent for service of process
- officers, directors, members or managers, with addresses
Use the name exactly as it appears there on the summons and the proof of service. The Business Search doesn't include limited liability partnerships, general partnerships or associations. For those, the Secretary of State takes a paper Business Entities Records order form. Source: sos.ca.gov service of process and information requests pages, checked October 2026.
Step 2: Serve the agent for service of process
Every California corporation names an agent in its statement of information, which it files within 90 days of its articles and then each year after (Corporations Code § 1502). The agent is either a California resident or a company that has filed a certificate under Corporations Code § 1505, usually called a registered agent company.
How delivery works depends on which kind of agent it is:
| Agent type | Who takes the papers | Code |
|---|---|---|
| An individual | That person, at the address on file | Corp. Code § 1701(a) |
| A registered agent company | Any person named in the company's latest § 1505 certificate, at that office | Corp. Code § 1701(b) |
| LLC agent (either kind) | The individual agent, or a person named in the agent company's § 1505 certificate | Corp. Code § 17701.16(b) |
An LLC must keep an agent for service of process in California at all times (Corporations Code § 17701.13).
Step 3: Or serve an officer
The agent isn't the only option. CCP § 416.10(b) also allows delivery to the president, chief executive officer or other head of the corporation, a vice president, a secretary or assistant secretary, a treasurer or assistant treasurer, a controller or chief financial officer, a general manager, or any person the corporation authorizes to receive service. For a bank, a cashier or assistant cashier works too (§ 416.10(c)).
Serving an officer helps when the agent is a registered agent company in another city, or when you know the company's office better than its agent. The proof of service has to name the person served and the capacity they were served in, such as "Jane Doe, Vice President" (CCP § 417.10(a)).
Ways to serve a company, side by side
| Method | How it works | When it's complete | Code |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal delivery | Hand the papers to the agent or an officer | On delivery | CCP §§ 415.10, 416.10 |
| Substituted service at the office | Leave the papers during usual office hours with the person apparently in charge, then mail a copy to the same address | 10th day after mailing | CCP § 415.20(a) |
| Notice and acknowledgment | Mail the papers first-class with two acknowledgment forms and a prepaid return envelope | The date the acknowledgment is signed | CCP § 415.30 |
| Out-of-state address | First-class mail requiring a return receipt | 10th day after mailing | CCP § 415.40 |
| Through the Secretary of State | Hand delivery in Sacramento under a court order | 10th day after delivery | Corp. Code §§ 1702, 2111 |
Two notes on substituted service at an office. Subdivision (a) of § 415.20 doesn't set a number of prior attempts. The three-occasion diligence showing that AB 747 adds for 2027 is written into subdivision (b), which covers individuals. And from January 1, 2027, the follow-up copy can go by first-class mail, Priority Mail with tracking or Certified Mail with a return receipt.
A company to serve? Attach up to 5 PDFs to one Service Request.
When the agent can't be found: service through the Secretary of State
If the agent resigned and wasn't replaced, can't be found at the address on file with reasonable diligence, or was never named, the court can order service on the Secretary of State. You first show, by affidavit, that the agent and the officers couldn't be served with reasonable diligence (Corporations Code § 1702(a)).
Once you have the order, the Secretary of State's page lists what to bring:
- A copy of the process, usually the summons and complaint, for each defendant.
- A copy of the court order allowing the service.
- The $50 fee (Government Code § 12197).
It must be hand-delivered to the public counter at 1500 11th Street, 3rd floor, Room 390, Sacramento, Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m., excluding state holidays. The Secretary of State doesn't accept it by mail or at its Los Angeles office. Source: sos.ca.gov service of process page, checked October 2026.
The Secretary of State then forwards the papers to the company's principal office by registered mail with a return receipt requested (§ 1702(b)). Our office is in Sacramento, so we can hand-deliver court-ordered service at that counter for you.
Out-of-state corporations, LLCs and partnerships
- Foreign corporations. Deliver to an officer or the general manager in California, the individual agent, or a person named in the corporate agent's § 1505 certificate (Corporations Code § 2110). If none can be found after diligent search, the court can order service through the Secretary of State. That generally takes 2 copies of the process and 2 of the order (§ 2111(a)).
- LLCs. The same order process exists for domestic and registered foreign LLCs under Corporations Code § 17701.16(c).
- Partnerships and associations. Serve the agent named in a statement filed with the Secretary of State, or a general partner or the general manager (CCP § 416.40).
- Dissolved or forfeited corporations. Serve a trustee of the corporation and its stockholders or members, or use the methods the Corporations Code allows for them (CCP § 416.20).
What changes on January 1, 2027
AB 747, the SPARE Act (Chapter 563, Statutes of 2025), applies to business service too. Proofs of personal, substituted and posted service need photographs of each attempt, each with an automatic date, time and GPS stamp. At a place of business, one photo per attempt must show the door, or the entrance of the specific office if the door isn't reasonably accessible (CCP § 417.10(a)(1)–(2), operative January 1, 2027).
A proof signed by someone who must register as a process server has to show the registration number the county clerk assigned (CCP § 417.40). And a defendant who says service wasn't lawful can move to set aside a default, which puts the burden on the side that took the default to prove service (CCP § 473.2). Read how AB 747 changes service of process in 2027.
Who can serve the papers
Any adult who is at least 18 and not a party to the case can serve a summons (CCP § 414.10). The proof of service of summons goes on Judicial Council form POS-010. More on that in who can serve papers in California.
Have Valpro Attorney Services serve the company
Send a Service Request with the summons and complaint (up to 5 PDFs), the entity name as bizfile shows it, the agent's name and address, and any officer or office address you know. Put the hours the office is open in the Letter of Instruction.
Choose Rush or Standard, and every update comes to you by email. We serve the agent or an officer, and we return the proof of service to you. If the agent can't be found, we tell you what we tried so you can ask the court for a Secretary of State order. See our process serving and Secretary of State filings pages for more.