Process Server Laws in California
Assembly Bill 747 goes into effect on January 1, 2027, adding obligations for photographs, service attempts, and a public register to California’s civil procedure rules.
A signature on a return used to end the discussion. As of 2027, it begins a new one, and the photograph is what the court will examine.”— Brandon Yadegar, Director and Client Manager at On Call Legal.LOS ANGELES, CA, UNITED STATES, September 8, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Beginning January 1, 2027, California will require photographic documentation for every attempt to deliver a summons, as the core provisions of Assembly Bill 747 become operative. The SPARE Act, which was signed on October 10, 2025, carries the official designation of Chapter 563 of the 2025 Statutes. While certain interim amendments took effect earlier, the principal provisions will be enforced later.
The legislation modifies or replaces eight sections of the Code of Civil Procedure and one section of the Business and Professions Code, and introduces a new section, 473.2. Reasonable diligence is now a defined term, each attempt must be captured in a photograph, and unlawful service becomes simpler to contest.
What the Updated Proof of Service Must Include
Section 415.20 of the Code of Civil Procedure permits substituted service only when a summons “cannot with reasonable diligence be personally delivered” and attaches no numerical threshold to that phrase. The replacement provision supplies one. New section 415.20(b)(2) states that a party demonstrates reasonable diligence “by attempting personal delivery of the summons and complaint, in good faith, on at least three occasions on three different days at three different times.”
The documentary requirement is located in the new Code of Civil Procedure section 417.10, which mandates that the proof of service contain one or more photographs of the location of each effected or attempted service under sections 415.10, 415.20, and 415.45. Each photograph must bear “a readable stamp that establishes and automatically records the date, time, and global positioning system (GPS) or equivalent coordinates.” For a dwelling, section 417.10(a)(2)(A) requires that one photograph depict the door, or the entrance if the door is not reasonably accessible. If no signal is available, or if a photograph would compromise the server’s safety in the server’s reasonable judgment, a detailed statement is substituted.
Challenging a Default Becomes More Accessible
The second change operates in the opposite direction. Evidence Code section 647 provides that the return of a registered process server “establishes a presumption, affecting the burden of producing evidence, of the facts stated in the return.” New Code of Civil Procedure section 473.2 narrows that. A party moving to set aside a default must present evidence, by affidavit or otherwise, that service was not lawfully effected, and doing so “rebuts a presumption of the facts stated in the process server’s return.” The party that sought the default then bears “the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that service of the summons and complaint was lawful,” and subdivision (d) guarantees a hearing with oral testimony upon request.
Because of a five-word insertion elsewhere in the act, that motion has no deadline. New section 473.5 applies only to cases where service “was lawfully effected but” failed to provide actual notice and retains its two-year outer limit. Challenges asserting unlawful service fall instead under section 473.2, which states no time limit. The registered server’s affidavit becomes a weaker instrument than it is today.
What Registration Does Not Permit
Registration itself was not changed. It remains in the Business and Professions Code at section 22350, the Process Servers Act, while the Code of Civil Procedure governs how a summons is served in sections 413.10 through 417.40. A natural person who performs more than 10 paid services in a calendar year must register with the county clerk, so the obligation attaches at the eleventh, while companies face no threshold at all. From January 1, 2027, new section 22355(a) directs each county clerk to maintain “a publicly available register of process servers.” The process server requirements behind each entry are unchanged.
Registration confers a limited and conditional set of powers. Penal Code sections 602(n) and 602.8(c)(3) exempt a person described in Business and Professions Code section 22350 from two trespass offenses, on condition that the server goes directly to the door and leaves once finished or once asked. No comparable exemption appears in Penal Code section 602.5, so entering a dwelling without consent remains a misdemeanor, and section 602.5(b) treats it as aggravated trespass where a resident is present. Code of Civil Procedure section 415.21 grants access to a gated community and extends to subpoena service as well, though subdivision (b) limits it to premises staffed by a guard.
Two widely repeated limits do not sit where readers assume. The 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. window comes from Code of Civil Procedure section 1011(b)(1), which governs papers served after a party has appeared, and no equivalent limit appears in the summons chapter. Sunday is a legal holiday under Government Code section 6700(a)(1), which is why many assume papers cannot be delivered then. Section 134 closes the courts on judicial holidays, and sections 12a and 13 extend deadlines falling on one. None restricts a server.
Firms serving papers in California have until January 1, 2027, to align process serving workflows with the new standards. On Call Legal is a legal support company and not a law firm, and the foregoing describes court procedure rather than legal advice.
About On Call Legal
On Call Legal has served legal documents since 1999. The company provides nationwide coverage across all 50 states and all 58 California counties, with Los Angeles County depth spanning 88 incorporated cities and 38 courthouse locations. It is a member of NAPPS and CALSPro. Each attempt is recorded with a timestamp in a client portal, and the company provides court-acceptable proof of service.
Brandon Yadegar
On-Call Legal
+ +1 310-858-9800
Info@OnCallLegal.com
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