Serve by Notice and Acknowledgment of Receipt
Before you can move your family law case forward, you must notify your spouse, domestic partner or child's other parent by formally delivering copies of the paperwork. The primary way this is done is personal service.
But, if you and the other person are cooperating and they will participate to move the case forward, you can try service by mail with Notice of Acknowledgment and Receipt.
Before you start
Things to consider
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This only works if the other person will sign and send back a form
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Waiting for the other person to return the form may take longer than having them personally served
There are some benefits to serving this way—if it’s done right
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It can save money. If the other person lives far away, you may need to hire someone to do personal service. This saves that cost since you can probably find someone to mail the papers for free.
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For some people, being personally served is emotionally hard. They would prefer to get the papers in the mail.
Be prepared. If it doesn’t work, you'll need to do personal service.
To see the personal service instructions, other ways to serve papers, and more information on service, look at the directions for your type of case:
How to serve by mail with a Notice of Acknowledgment and Receipt
️ All form links below open in a new tab.
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Choose a server
You can't mail the papers yourself. Ask another adult to mail the papers. This is your server.
Your server must be:
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18 or over
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Not part of your case
Your server can be someone you know or a professional process server you hire.
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Figure out when to serve
You can't move your case forward until you serve the other person. Once they are served, they have 30 days to respond. After that, your case can move forward even if they don’t respond.
Service is complete the day the other person signs the Notice (form FL-117), not the day your server mailed it. -
Fill out and copy a Notice and Acknowledgement of Receipt
Get the Notice of Acknowledgment and Receipt (form FL-117).
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Fill in the top part with the information about your case
Give the form to your server.
Your server:
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Writes in the other person’s name in item 1
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Fills in the day they will mail the papers in item 2
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Signs the form in item 3
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Checks the boxes in item 4 for the papers they are mailing to the other person
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Makes a copy of form FL-117
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Prepare a return envelope
Once the other person gets the papers, they need to mail back the signed Notice and Acknowledgement of Receipt to your server.
To make sure this happens, give your server an envelope addressed to your server with the proper postage.
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Have your server mail the papers and envelope
Your server mails to the other person:
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A copy of the papers that need to be served
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A blank Response form and any other blank forms the other person may need to respond
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If you're not sure what type of response form to send, read the instructions for serving papers in your type of case.
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The original and copy of the signed Notice and Acknowledgement of Receipt
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The stamped envelope addressed to your server
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Wait for your server to get signed Notice in the mail
Once the other person gets the Notice, they should sign it and mail it back to your server. They can use the envelope the server sent them.
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Fill out the Proof of Service forms
Use Proof of Service of Summons (form FL-115).
It helps if you fill in the top part of the form with the case and court information.
The server:
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Fills in the rest of the information (Items 1, 2, 3(c), 4, and 5)
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Signs the form
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Attaches a copy of the signed Notice they got from your spouse
They can then give you back the Proof of Service to file.
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Copy and file the Proof of Service form
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Make 2 copies of your Proof of Service form (including the signed Notice).
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File the original and copies with the same court where you filed the papers. The court will stamp and return the copies.
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Keep a copy of the Proof of Service for your records.
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Once you've served the Petition and Summons, you've completed the first part of the family law case.
What's next?
After you serve these papers, you'll wait for a response from the other person. They have 30 days from the date they signed the Notice they sent back to file a response. If they don't file a response, you can still move forward with the case.
In the meantime, there may be steps you have to take depending on your type of case, so make sure you follow those instructions.
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Go back to a divorce overview
Go back to see all the steps in a divorce.
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Go back to a parentage case overview
Go back to see all the steps in a parentage case.
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Go back to a petition for custody and support overview
Go back to see the steps in a petition for child custody and support.
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