Understanding civil process and all the related statutes may seem daunting. Our goal is to present the details to you here in a manner that helps you increase awareness, expedite the process and achieve your goals.
By providing a glossary of terms, helpful links, fee schedules and more, we hope you’ll become better able to navigate through civil process services.
HELPFUL LINKS
The Clay County Sheriff’s Office needs the plaintiff or plaintiff’s agent to provide the Civil Section with the following:
- Original writ, a certified copy of the writ or an electronic copy of the writ, which was signed and certified by the Clerk of Court and two copies for service.
- Nonrefundable fee of $90, in cash, money order, cashiers check or business check with business information on the face of the check.
- A contact name and number the officer is to call with the date and time for the eviction.
- A correct address is required (your document will not be accepted otherwise), to include correct numerical, apartment number or suite. The plaintiff or his/her agent may be required to provide additional information before acceptance.
The Civil Specialist will provide the customer with a receipt for payment of the fee. The specialist will prepare the appropriate paper work and place the Writ of Possession in the appropriate Civil Unit deputy’s box for service. Please do not ask the specialist when the deputy will complete your eviction because the specialist does not know this information.
The assigned deputy will usually post the eviction on the premises the following day or shortly thereafter and will schedule the eviction with the plaintiff or plaintiff’s agent as soon as possible, taking into consideration statute limitations and workload. On the scheduled day and time of eviction, the plaintiff or the plaintiff’s agent will meet the assigned deputy at the premises and the deputy will turn possession of the premises over to this person. The only responsibility the deputy has is to remove persons from the premises and maintain the peace. If the deputy is required to stand by, there may be additional fees required at a specific rate per hour or any part thereof after.
Upon delivering possession of the premises to the plaintiff or his/her agent, the officer will provide the plaintiff or his/her agent a stamped copy of the Writ of Possession with the date, time and the deputy’s initials. The original Writ of Possession will be returned to the court with a sheriff’s office return.
*Disclaimer: This is not to be considered as legal advice, but only to be used as a guideline. If the plaintiff or his/her agent decide to recall the Writ for a specific reason, they must contact the Civil Section and also are required to provide the Civil Section with a written statement indicated the reason the Writ is to be recalled. If the plaintiff or the plaintiff’s agent have taken possession of the premises prior to the deputy’s arrival, the deputy will return all documents and complete a return to the courts stating that this Writ was non-served.
The Clay County Sheriff’s Office Civil Unit carries out the sheriff’s statutory responsibility for the service of process and execution of writs. These judicial process documents originate from the courts, governmental agencies and private attorneys in Florida and throughout the United States. The staff also enforce levies and conducts sheriff’s sales to aid in the collection of money judgments.
For more information about having your documents served, call our Civil Section at (904) 529-6390 (M-F, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.) or visit the Civil Section front counter located in the Clay County Courthouse at 825 N. Orange Ave. in Green Cove Springs.
You may mail your civil documents to us at:
Clay County Sheriff’s Office
Attention: Civil Section
P.O. Box 548
Green Cove Springs, FL 32043
(904) 529-6390
The Clay County Sheriff’s Office serves foreign process under Florida State Statute 48.031. For process that needs to be served outside these guidelines, you will have to contact a private process server. This private process server will need to obtain proper authorization from the court to serve such process within Clay County.
Please note that the Civil Unit does not provide legal advice or assist in the preparation of documents. Fees for service of process are fixed by Florida State Statute 30.231 and are nonrefundable. At a minimum for process, you must provide the Civil Unit with the original process or a certified copy with a copy for service for each individual, and the best address available where the document is to be served.
The Civil Unit files all returns with the Clerk of Court in which it was filed. The petitioner should check online or in person with the specific clerk of court in which he/she filed paperwork to discover whether the process has been served. If our civil specialists have time, they may check the status on a pending paper for service and provide you with that information.
Personal checks are not accepted through the mail. Only cashier checks or money orders are accepted through the mail from private individuals. Never send cash through the mail. Method of payment for process brought into the Civil Section is cash (exact amount), certified check or a money order. We only accept checks from businesses. All checks, cashier checks and money orders must be made payable to the “Clay County Sheriff’s Office.” Documents for service not properly issued or those with incorrect fees or incorrect payee on them will be returned.
*Please note: Under Florida Law, email addresses are public record. If you do not want your email address released in response to a public records request, do not send electronic mail to this agency. Instead, contact our agency in writing or by phone.
