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Important Notice Requirements
What the Law Requires
In any civil case before the court, all parties are entitled to proper, legal notice of the proceedings. Therefore, the Court requires a good physical address (either residential or place of employment) for all parties. The Sheriff’s Office in each locality serves all residents within their respective jurisdiction. For example, the Chesterfield Sheriff’s Office Civil Process Division serves all Chesterfield residents. The Clerk’s Office mails notice to the Sheriff in all other Virginia localities for their residents to be served.
Out of State Parties
If a party resides out of state, please follow these instructions to have them served by a non-Virginia sheriff’s office/constable:
- Find out which non-Virginia sheriff’s office or local constable serves civil process in the jurisdiction where the non-Virginia resident lives
- Call their civil process division and find out how much it costs for out-of-state service
- Provide the address of the non-Virginia party and the address of the non-Virginia sheriff’s office/constable to the Clerk’s Office
- Provide a money order or certified check made payable to the non-Virginia’s sheriff’s office/constable to the Clerk’s Office to be sent with the notice
- Provide all of this information at least 30 days before your hearing; information provided less than 30 days may result in the non-Virginia party not being notified
Private Process Servers
You may also arrange for a private process server at your own cost. Please notify the Clerk’s Office as soon as possible that you want a private process server to handle service and we will let you know when it will be ready. The Court will prepare the notice and your private process server can pick it up at the Clerk’s Office.
Read Virginia law regarding service of process (Virginia Code § 8.01-296).