Court filing

Filing and retrieval

Court filing and retrieval is a trip to a San Diego County court to file papers or to pick papers up. It is not a serve on a person. Same day filing or retrieval is $250. Next day is $200. Standard, within 1–3 business days, is $150. Pick the clock that matches the courthouse, not the clock on a door serve.

The office is open Mon–Fri, 7am–5pm PST. Orders placed after closing are processed the next business day, so a same-day filing ordered at 6pm does not reach the court that evening. We file what you upload, at the court you name. We do not tell you which department takes the paper, and we do not calculate whether you are on time.

Service attempts are also made outside of these office hours.

Drop boxes and department boxes

A drop or department box is cheaper because it is a different errand. Same day drop or department box filing is $150. Next day is $115. Standard is $70. Use this line when the court accepts the papers in a box, and when you want a proof of service hand-delivered instead of mailed.

Mailed proofs for self-represented people, on an in-person serve, already go to San Diego County courts as part of that serve. The drop-box prices are for the times you want a person to carry the papers in. Say which box, which courthouse, and which case number. A note that only says “file this” is not enough for a clerk window or a box.

Copy fees and money we advance

Filing, certification, and copy fees are not inside the $250, $200, $150, $150, $115, or $70 trip price. When Rockstar advances them, the order adds 8% or $4.00, whichever is greater.

Tell us the amount if you already know the court fee. If you do not, say so and we will confirm before we write the check. We do not absorb a filing fee inside the service price. Retrieval means we ask the court for the document you named. If the court does not have it, we tell you what the clerk said. We do not invent a conformed copy.

How filing sits next to a serve

A standard serve is $150 and includes four attempts plus a mailed proof of service/declaration for self-represented people in San Diego County courts. That mailing is not the same product as a $250 same-day filing. If you need both a serve and a separate filing, they are two lines on the order. The attempt rules for the serve do not apply to the filing trip.

Same day service of process is $195 at a street address. Do not order it when the only task is a clerk window. Do not order a filing when the task is to hand papers to a defendant. The cart will sell you either one. The page you are on is the courthouse errand. Rural surcharges belong to door serves in outlying towns, not to a filing downtown.

What we need before we leave

Upload every page you want filed or picked up. Name the court, the department if you know it, the case number, and whether the job is a filing, a retrieval, or a drop box. An additional case is $50 on a filing or retrieval and $30 on a drop box. Notarization is $40 per signature on the papers being filed.

We are licensed and bonded. The work is in San Diego County. Call 619-399-3278 during office hours if the clerk gave you a special instruction. Put that instruction in the order so the person at the counter is not guessing. We follow the instruction you write. We do not give you a new one.