You know who you need to serve. You don’t know where they are.
That search is called skip tracing. We run public records, property data, court filings, and address history until we have somewhere a server can actually knock.
Do you actually need one?
Plenty of people pay for a search they didn’t need, and a few skip one that would have saved them a wasted trip. Find your situation.
You have an address and no reason to doubt it
Skip the search. Don't buy a search. Order the serve.
Three attempts are already included, and the attempt log tells you more about whether someone actually lives there than any database will. If the address turns out to be dead, we search then — and at that point it rides along with the order for free.
Mail came back, or someone told you they moved
Search first. Search first.
You already have evidence the address is wrong. Paying a server to confirm what the post office told you is the most common way people waste a service fee.
The address is more than a couple of years old
Search first. Worth searching.
Addresses on a contract, a lease application, or an old filing go stale fast. A search here usually costs less than a second round of attempts at the wrong door.
Attempts failed and nobody answered
Call first. Depends what the log says.
There's a difference between an empty unit and someone who is home and not opening the door. The first is a locate problem. The second is a stakeout. Call us with the log before you pay for either — we'll tell you which one you have.
You're serving a business
Call first. Often free to check yourself.
California's Secretary of State Business Search lists the agent for service of process for most registered entities, and it's public. Start there. Hire us when the agent has resigned, the listing is stale, or the entity has dissolved out from under the case.
You have a name and essentially nothing else
Search first. This is what the search is for.
A name plus one anchoring detail — a rough age, a former city, an employer, a relative — is usually enough to work with. A common name with no anchor at all is the hard case, and we will tell you that before you pay rather than after.
Not sure which row you’re in?Tell us what you haveNo charge for the answer — and it’s frequently “don’t buy this yet.”
What we search
Not one database. The answer usually comes from agreement between several — a utility account and a property record pointing at the same unit is worth far more than a single hit anywhere.
- Property and utility records
- Who owns the unit, who pays to keep the lights on, and when that last changed. The strongest single signal that someone lives where a database says they do.
- Court and public filings
- Other cases, liens, and judgments carry addresses the subject gave under their own name — often more recent than whatever is on your paperwork.
- Credit header and change-of-address data
- The identifying layer above a credit file — names, aliases, and address history. Permissible-purpose data, which is why we ask what the search is for.
- Relatives, associates, and prior addresses
- People move in with people they know. When a subject goes quiet, the household around them frequently does not.
- Employment and business filings
- A workplace is a servable location in California. For a subject who is never home, it is often the faster answer.
- Entity and registered-agent records
- For a company: current filings, the listed agent, and whether the entity is still in good standing or has quietly dissolved.
What comes back, and what it has to answer
- Where is the address?
- The one we would serve, with the unit number, and what makes us think they are there rather than merely associated with it.
- How sure are you?
- Stated plainly per address — confirmed, likely, or stale. We separate a current lead from a 2019 mail forward instead of handing you a list of hits and letting you guess.
- What did you rule out?
- The addresses we found and rejected, and why — a PO box, a commercial mailbox, a prior tenant, a different person with the same name. This is the part that keeps you from serving the wrong door.
- What if you find nothing?
- You get the search, the sources, and a straight answer that the trail is cold — which is itself the record your attorney may need. We'll tell you whether another identifier would change the odds, and we don't sell you a second search that won't.
Where we search
Records are nationwide. What’s local is the part after the hit — knowing that a Richmond address is a duplex with no unit numbers posted, or that a Walnut Creek complex won’t let a server past the gate without the resident buzzing them in. We serve these four counties ourselves, so the search is run by people who will have to work the address.
- Contra Costa County
- Alameda County
- San Francisco County
- Marin County
- Elsewhere in California by arrangement
Serving a registered business? Check the California Secretary of State Business Search before you order anything. It lists the agent for service of process for most entities, it’s free, and it may be the whole answer.
Common questions
- What is skip tracing?
- Finding someone whose current address you don't have. The name comes from debt collection — the person "skipped," and someone traces them. In process serving it means one thing: producing an address where a server can actually hand your papers to the right person.
- What does it cost?
- $60 for a standalone search. Free when you bundle it with a service order — so if you're serving through us anyway, there's no reason to pay for it separately.
- How long does it take?
- Usually 24 to 48 business hours. Common names, out-of-state trails, and subjects with several plausible addresses take longer. If you are against a deadline, call before you order and we will tell you honestly whether the timing works.
- What do you need from me?
- Full legal name and last known address at minimum. Anything else helps narrow it: approximate age or date of birth, a former city, an employer, a phone number, a vehicle, a relative. Send only information you have the right to share.
- What if you find nothing?
- You still get the report, including the sources searched and what they returned. That record is often what an attorney needs to show the court that a diligent search was made. We won't sell you a second search unless you have a new identifier that would actually change the result.
- Is skip tracing legal?
- Yes, for a permissible purpose — and serving legal process is one. That is also why we ask what the search is for and expect the case context up front. We search public records and licensed data available for that purpose; we do not pretext, and we do not obtain phone or financial records.
- Can this get me service by publication?
- It can support the showing, but the court decides. California Code of Civil Procedure § 415.50 requires reasonable diligence before a judge will allow publication, and a documented search is the usual evidence of it. Whether yours is sufficient is a question for your attorney.
- Can you find a business or its registered agent?
- Yes — though check the Secretary of State's Business Search first, because it's free and it lists the agent for most registered entities. Bring it to us when the agent has resigned, the address is stale, or the entity has dissolved.
We’re a registered process serving and legal support company, not a law firm. We can find an address and document how we found it. We can’t advise you on whether your search satisfies the diligence your judge expects, or what to file next — for that, ask your attorney or your county’s Self-Help Center, which is free.
Send us the name. We’ll find the door.
$60 on its own, free with a service order, and results in 24–48 business hours. If what you have isn’t enough to work with, we’ll say so before you pay — not after.