California will require photo proof for every service attempt in 2027

California’s new service-of-process law will require photographs and GPS-stamped records of every summons attempt starting January 1, 2027. The changes also make it easier to challenge defaults based on unlawful service and create a public register of process servers.

Why it matters: - California’s service-of-process rules are about to get stricter and more document-heavy. - Every summons attempt will need photo proof with date, time, and location data. - The law also shifts more leverage to defendants challenging defaults based on improper service. - Firms serving papers in California have until January 1, 2027, to update workflows.

What happened: - Assembly Bill 747, called the SPARE Act, was signed on October 10, 2025. - The measure is Chapter 563 of the 2025 Statutes. - The main provisions become operative on January 1, 2027. - The act amends or replaces eight sections of the Code of Civil Procedure and one section of the Business and Professions Code. - The act also adds new Code of Civil Procedure section 473.2.

The details: - New section 415.20(b)(2) defines reasonable diligence as at least three good-faith attempts at personal delivery on three different days at three different times. - New section 417.10 requires proof of service to include one or more photographs of the site of each effected or attempted service under sections 415.10, 415.20 and 415.45. - Each photograph must include a readable stamp that automatically records the date, time and GPS or equivalent coordinates. - For dwelling service, section 417.10(a)(2)(A) requires a photograph of the door, or the entrance if the door is not reasonably accessible. - If no signal is available, or if a photograph would compromise server safety in the server’s reasonable judgment, a detailed statement may replace the image requirement. - New section 473.2 allows a party to seek to set aside a default by presenting evidence that service was not lawfully effected. - That showing rebuts the presumption created by a process server’s return. - The party that sought the default then bears the burden of proving lawful service by a preponderance of the evidence. - Section 473.2(d) guarantees a hearing with oral testimony on request. - Section 473.5 still applies only when service was lawfully effected but did not provide actual notice, and it keeps a two-year outer limit. - Challenges to unlawful service fall under section 473.2, which has no deadline. - New section 22355(a) requires each county clerk to maintain a publicly available register of process servers beginning January 1, 2027. - Registration rules themselves did not change. - A natural person making more than 10 paid services in a calendar year must register with the county clerk. - Companies face no registration threshold. - Registered process servers keep limited trespass exemptions under Penal Code sections 602(n) and 602.8(c)(3) if they go straight to the door and leave when finished or asked. - No comparable exemption appears in Penal Code section 602.5, so entering a dwelling without consent remains a misdemeanor. - Section 602.5(b) treats that entry as aggravated trespass when a resident is present. - Code of Civil Procedure section 415.21 gives access to a gated community and also applies to subpoena service, but only where the premises are staffed by a guard. - The 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. service window often cited by practitioners comes from Code of Civil Procedure section 1011(b)(1) for papers served after a party has appeared, not from the summons chapter. - Sunday is a legal holiday under Government Code section 6700(a)(1), but the cited court-holiday rules do not restrict a server from delivering papers.

Between the lines: - The new photo and GPS requirements are designed to make service attempts easier to verify and harder to dispute. - The new default-setting challenge procedure weakens the practical force of a process server’s return when service was unlawful. - The public register may increase transparency around who is authorized to serve papers in California. - The law separates unlawful service challenges from actual-notice disputes, which could change how attorneys frame default attacks.

What's next: - Process-serving firms in California will need to align their field practices, recordkeeping and proof-of-service templates before January 1, 2027. - County clerks will need to stand up the public register of process servers by the same date. - Courts should see more evidentiary disputes over whether service was lawful and whether the new documentary proof is sufficient. - On Call Legal said it is a legal support company, not a law firm, and that the description concerns court procedure rather than legal advice.

The bottom line: - California is moving service of process into a more audited, image-based system that should make both compliance and challenges more exacting.