Personal delivery is complete when the papers are handed over.
California has no separate service method for well-known people. The usual Code of Civil Procedure methods apply, and this guide explains how they work when agents, attorneys, security staff or a gated home stand between the server and the person.
Personal service means delivering a copy of the summons and complaint to the person to be served, and it is complete at the time of delivery (Code Civ. Proc. § 415.10). California Courts’ self-help guide says this can happen at the person’s home, at work or any place, and that the server must make sure the papers go to the right person. If the person refuses to take them, the guide says the server can leave them on the ground in front of the person, and this still counts as service.
Personal delivery doesn’t give a server any right to enter private property. Instructions should point to places where a server may lawfully be. Access to a staffed gated community is covered in its own section below.
An attorney or agent can accept only if authorized.
Section 416.90 covers people the rest of its article doesn’t name, which usually includes an adult sued as an individual. It allows the summons to be delivered to the person or to a person they have authorized to receive service of process. What matters is that authorization, not the representative’s title or the work they do for the person in other matters.
Ask first. If an attorney or agent confirms they are authorized to accept service for this person in this case, delivery can be arranged with them. Keep the confirmation with your file: the proof of service names the person who received the papers and, where it applies, the capacity in which they received them (§ 417.10).
When a representative says the person will cooperate, notice and acknowledgment under section 415.30 is another option. The summons and complaint are mailed by first-class mail or airmail with two copies of a notice and acknowledgment form and a postage-paid envelope addressed back to the sender. For an individual, the form is signed by the person or by someone they have authorized to acknowledge receipt. Service is complete on the date the acknowledgment is signed, if it is then returned to the sender. California Courts describes this method as one for when the other person agrees to receive the papers by mail and sign for them.
If the acknowledgment isn’t returned within 20 days of mailing, the person can be made to pay the reasonable expenses of serving them another way, and the court awards those expenses on a motion unless good cause is shown. The signed acknowledgment becomes part of the proof of service. If you have mailed one and are still waiting, tell the team the mailing date when you request service.
Substituted service at a home or usual place of business.
If the papers can’t be personally delivered with reasonable diligence, section 415.20(b) allows them to be left at the person’s home, usual place of business or usual mailing address other than a U.S. Postal Service post office box. They are left with a competent member of the household, or with a person apparently in charge of the office, business or mailing address, who is at least 18 and is told what the papers are. A copy is then mailed to the person at the same address, and service is complete on the 10th day after mailing.
The version of section 415.20 operative on January 1, 2027 says a party shows reasonable diligence by attempting personal delivery in good faith on at least three occasions, on three different days, at three different times. It also allows the copy to be mailed by first-class mail, Priority Mail with tracking or Certified Mail with return receipt requested.
At a business address, the papers go to the person apparently in charge of the office or place of business. Whether an address is the person’s usual place of business, and whether the attempts show reasonable diligence, are for you or your attorney to judge, and for the court if service is challenged.
Gated communities with a guard on duty.
Section 415.21 requires that a person be granted access to a gated community, or to a covered apartment or condominium building, for a reasonable period of time and only to perform lawful service of process or serve a subpoena. The person shows a current driver’s license or other identification, along with one of the credentials the section lists.
The section applies only when a guard or other security staff assigned to control access is on duty at the time service is attempted. If no one is staffing the entrance, or the property isn’t one the section covers, it doesn’t apply.
Affid is a registered and bonded California process server. Access under section 415.21 comes through the guard, with identification shown openly. If access is refused, that is recorded as the outcome of the attempt, and the next step is for you or your attorney to decide.
| Condition | What the section says |
|---|---|
| Where | A gated community, an apartment building with three or more units, or a condominium with four or more units |
| When | Only while a guard or other security staff assigned to control access is on duty |
| Identification | A current driver’s license or other identification |
| Credential | Evidence of current registration as a process server or licensure as a private investigator, or a badge or other confirmation of acting for a county sheriff or marshal, or as an investigator for certain public legal offices |
| Purpose and time | Lawful service of process or of a subpoena, for a reasonable period of time |
Scheduled time at one agreed location.
When attempts at known addresses haven’t reached the person, Affid’s Stakeout for Service books a defined period at one agreed location to attempt personal delivery. The location, time window, fees and instructions are settled in advance. The record shows the time spent, each attempt and the outcome. Scheduled time doesn’t guarantee a completed serve.
Choose a location where the server may lawfully be. Keep instructions lawful and honest: don’t ask a server to misrepresent who they are or why they are there, follow anyone, enter private areas without permission or get around security staff. Service still follows the method allowed for your papers.
When the usual methods fail, the court can order another.
If a plaintiff can’t serve the summons by any statutory method despite reasonable diligence, section 413.30 lets the court, on a motion, direct service in a manner reasonably calculated to give actual notice, including email or other electronic technology. The motion must set out every attempt by each statutory method and why each one failed at every address or location where the defendant is likely to be found.
Section 415.50 allows service by publication when the court is satisfied, on an affidavit, that the person can’t with reasonable diligence be served another way and the statute’s other conditions are met. The court orders publication in a named newspaper most likely to give actual notice. Even after that order, the papers can still be served another authorized way, and that service supersedes the publication.
Both are requests to the court that you or your attorney make, and the court decides them. The attempt records from earlier service are the history such a request draws on.
The record of each attempt, and keeping details private.
The proof of service shows the time, place and manner of service and names the person who received the papers (§ 417.10). Affid logs the GPS location, a photo and the time for each attempt, and an unsuccessful attempt is recorded as an attempt, not as service.
From January 1, 2027, the proof for personal or substituted service must include photos of the site of each attempt, stamped with the date, time and GPS or equivalent coordinates. At a home, a photo shows the door, or the entrance if the door isn’t reasonably accessible, with a specific explanation why. If, in the server’s reasonable judgment, taking a photo would compromise their safety, no photo is required; the server documents the attempt on the proof of service and explains in detail why.
The proof of service is filed with the court. Send addresses and schedules privately with your request, share them only with the people working on the case, and don’t publish them.
What to send with the request.
Hard-to-serve cases are Affid’s specialty, and our team has served well-known people and major Bay Area technology companies. Affid serves the papers you provide. How the person must be served is your or your attorney’s decision.
- The person’s full name as it appears on the papers
- Any attorney or agent authorized to accept service, and whether they have confirmed they will
- Any known business address
- The papers to be served, and the mailing date of any notice and acknowledgment already sent
- Your deadline and the court’s case information
Official sources.
Follow the instructions for your case and check the relevant court’s current requirements. These links provide the official information referenced in this guide; Affid is not affiliated with the courts.
This guide summarizes California statutes on serving an individual and the California Courts self-help guide, checked November 4, 2026. It is not legal advice. Where a section changes on January 1, 2027, the guide says so. Which method fits your papers, and whether a representative may accept them, are questions for you or your attorney.
