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California Summons Law

By Joshua Jones, eHow Contributor
updated: October 29, 2010

A summons is a legal document issued by a court, ordering a defendant to appear at the court or to answer a complaint filed by a plaintiff. In California, state law prescribes the contents of a summons, as well as the process of serving a summons.

    Contents

  1. In Sections 412.10-.30, The California Code of Civil Procedures explains the necessary components of a summons. Six specific items must be included in a California summons: the title of the court, the names of the parties, an order to file a response within 30 days, a notice of possibility of default for failure to respond, a suggestion to seek advice of an attorney and a specific statement that the defendant has been sued.

    2. Process

  2. Generally, a defendant should be served with a summons within the state of California at his home. However, many exceptions have been carved out, for example for out-of-state defendants, service at a person's place of employment and the ability to leave the summons with an adult at the home of defendant.

    3. Process servers

  3. Anyone may serve as many as 10 summons in the state of California without registering as a process server. However, to process more than 10, the process server must be registered with the state and bonded.
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