# California — Process server licensing and bond requirements by US state — who must be licensed to serve legal papers, and the dollar bond or insurance figure the statute sets, quoted from the statute itself

For California, when regulation applies is Any natural person who makes more than 10 services of process within this state during one calendar year, for specific compensation or in expectation of specific compensation, where that compensation is directly attributable to the service of process, shall file and maintain a verified certificate of registration as a process server with the county clerk of the county in which he or she resides or has his or her principal place of business; bond or insurance required is a bond of two thousand dollars ($2,000), executed by an admitted surety insurer and conditioned upon compliance with the provisions of this chapter and all laws governing the service of process in this state; statute is Business and Professions Code § 22350, recorded from its source on 2026-09-02.

- **State:** California _(our reading, not quoted from the source)_
- **When regulation applies:** Any natural person who makes more than 10 services of process within this state during one calendar year, for specific compensation or in expectation of specific compensation, where that compensation is directly attributable to the service of process, shall file and maintain a verified certificate of registration as a process server with the county clerk of the county in which he or she resides or has his or her principal place of business. _(verified: appears in its own passage below)_
- **Bond or insurance required:** a bond of two thousand dollars ($2,000), executed by an admitted surety insurer and conditioned upon compliance with the provisions of this chapter and all laws governing the service of process in this state _(verified: appears in its own passage below)_
- **Statute:** Business and Professions Code § 22350 _(our reading, not quoted from the source)_

## What the source says

> (a) Any natural person who makes more than 10 services of process within this state during one calendar year, for specific compensation or in expectation of specific compensation, where that compensation is directly attributable to the service of process, shall file and maintain a verified certificate of registration as a process server with the county clerk of the county in which he or she resides or has his or her principal place of business.

## Where each value comes from

This source states these in separate places, so each value is shown with the passage that states it.

### When regulation applies

> (a) Any natural person who makes more than 10 services of process within this state during one calendar year, for specific compensation or in expectation of specific compensation, where that compensation is directly attributable to the service of process, shall file and maintain a verified certificate of registration as a process server with the county clerk of the county in which he or she resides or has his or her principal place of business.

### Bond or insurance required

> (a) A certificate of registration shall be accompanied by a bond of two thousand dollars ($2,000), executed by an admitted surety insurer and conditioned upon compliance with the provisions of this chapter and all laws governing the service of process in this state. The total aggregate liability on the bond is limited to two thousand dollars ($2,000). As an alternative to the bond, the registrant may deposit with the clerk, cash or a money order in the amount of two thousand dollars ($2,000).

### Statute

> Business and Professions Code - BPC DIVISION 8. SPECIAL BUSINESS REGULATIONS [18400 - 22949.92.2] ( Division 8 added by Stats. 1941, Ch. 44. ) CHAPTER 16. Process Servers [22350 - 22360] ( Chapter 16 added by Stats. 1971, Ch. 1661. ) 22350.

## Source

- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=BPC&sectionNum=22350.
- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=BPC&sectionNum=22353.

Last verified: 2026-09-02. Review by: 2028-09-01.
Part of [Process server licensing and bond requirements by US state — who must be licensed to serve legal papers, and the dollar bond or insurance figure the statute sets, quoted from the statute itself](https://referencesource.org/process-server-licensing-requirements-by-state/).