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Serving documents
The Civil Process Unit accepts legal documents for service; however, it must prioritize the resources of its Civil Unit to facilitate service of orders and petitions that require the assistance of commissioned law enforcement personnel.
Other court documents not requiring the assistance of commissioned personnel for the Sheriff’s Office such as Small Claims, Notices, Summons, Civil Complaints, Petitions, Declarations, Civil Subpoenas, Orders to Show Cause, Writs of Garnishment etc., will not be accepted for service at this time except under the following circumstances:
• Service on a person currently booked into a correctional facility within King County
• Articulated Hazard or safety concerns supported by evidence or court ruling, provided with documents presented for service.
• Documents issued in another state and the documents reflect that the issuing court requires service by law enforcement. All authority requiring law enforcement personnel to serve, should be clearly identified on the information on the cover sheet.
If you need assistance to serve documents that we cannot accept, please seek service through a private process server or anyone over the age of 18 not a party to the action.
The number of attempts made is determined by how much time we have to serve and our ability to locate the person(s) you wish to have served. Our office typically does not serve in the evenings or on weekends and we require payment of our fees in advance.
Information needed to serve
To more effectively assist you, we will need to know information about the person(s) to be served. Information needed includes addresses, physical description, phone numbers, dates of birth (if known), hazard information, and service deadlines and requirements. You may use the Service Contact Information Sheet; to provide us with this information. It is your responsibility to provide this information to our office. We are unable to attempt service without a valid, physical address; we cannot serve papers at a P.O. Box. It is important to note that we do not guarantee service.
Acceptable payment methods
- Cash
- Check or Money order
- Check or money order should be made payable to "King County Sheriff." No 2nd party checks are accepted
- ACH (eChecks) and Debit/Credit cards will be accepted ONLY at the King County Courthouse (516 Third Ave, Seattle) Location
- Fee for ACH (eCheck) payments - flat fee $1.00 per eCheck processed
- Fee for Credit/Debit cards - 2.35% of the total due, with a minimum fee charge of $2.00