San Francisco Superior Court

San Francisco Superior Court

Effective January 4, 2021, San Francisco Superior Court has added Family Law Dissolution cases to its list of mandatory eFiling and eService cases. It has also mandated electronic filing for original filings (Complaints and Petitions) in 21 General Civil case types, as well the Dissolution case type. This service is only available through File & ServeXpress, as of January 4.

We have training and customer support available for this electronic filing expansion project, should you need. On this page you can access printable training guides, video training services, or you can register for scheduled webinar training sessions. File & ServeXpress has been providing electronic filing and service in San Francisco Superior Court cases since 1998.

Criminal Expansion

Updated March 15, 2021

We are pleased to announce that San Francisco Superior Court has expanded its eFiling program with File & ServeXpress to include a pilot program for certain motion filings in Criminal cases. This new service became effective March 15, 2021 and is now live.

Documents & Guides

Case Expansion Overview
San Francisco Superior Court Case Expansion
Case Initiation Guide
Registration Guide
Court Press Release

frequently asked questions

Electronic filing will become mandatory in Family Law Dissolution cases and for original filings (Complaints) in 21 General Civil case types and the Dissolution cases (Petitions).
  • Business Tort
  • Civil Rights
  • Comm Counts/Open Book Accts/Collections
  • Contract/Warranty
  • Defamation
  • Eminent Domain
  • Exempt Collections (Rule 3.740)
  • Family Law Dissolutions
  • Fraud
  • Intellectual Property
  • Malpractice – Medical/Dental
  • Other Non-Exempt Complaints
  • Personal Injury
  • Personal Injury/Property Damage-Non-Vehicle Related
  • Personal Injury/Property Damage-Vehicle Related
  • Products Liability
  • Professional Negligence
  • Quiet Title-Real Property
  • RICO
  • Subrogation/Insurance
  • Uninsured Motorist
  • Wrongful Discharge
  • Wrongful Eviction
Yes, you will need a File & Serve account to file your documents and to receive the filings in your case.  You can register your firm here.  There are also third-party filing companies, approved by the court, who can file documents on your behalf.  A list of those third-party filing companies can be found on the Court’s website here.  If you use a third-party filing company, you will still need an account so that they can file documents on your behalf.
After the Complaint is accepted, your documents will be available for download from the Court’s Register of Actions.
After the Court accepts your electronically submitted Complaint or Petition, you will receive a receipt acknowledging your transaction with the new case number. However, your new case will not appear on File & ServeXpress until the next business day. You can also find your new case number via a plaintiff name search on the Court’s Register of Actions.
File & ServeXpress will continue to advance statutory filing fees and invoice your firm monthly.

If you are unable to find your San Francisco Family Law dissolution case online, please contact Client Support at 888-529-7587. Our Client Support staff will request the case from the court for overnight delivery. Please note that only the dissolution case class (case number prefixes beginning with “FDI”) are subject to electronic filing. We cannot add cases with the prefixes of “FDV”, “FMS” or “FPT.

Please contact File & ServeXpress Client Support at 888-529-7587. Help is available 24/7.
The primary cause for rejections in San Francisco are run-on documents. If you are submitting a civil coversheet, a complaint, and a summons, they should be filed as three separate documents within the same transaction. Combining all three as a single document will cause your transaction to be rejected.

Upcoming Training sessions

Effective January 4, 2021, case initiating filings will be mandatory in twenty-one General Civil case types and one Family Law case type. Additionally, electronic filing will be mandatory in Family Law Dissolution cases.

Request a training session by contacting support@fileandserve.com.