The employees of the Civil Clerk's Office will not check service for any plaintiff or plaintiff's counsel, to include pulling files and making copies.
There are multiple ways to check the service return on a Fairfax County Sheriff Service:
- The files are available for review in the Civil docket review room between 8:00AM - 9:00AM on the court date. In October 2021, docket review will be between 8:00AM - 11:45AM on the court date.
- The files are available for review Monday - Friday between 8:00AM - 4:00PM prior to the court date.
- Service can be checked on the state website at https://eapps.courts.state.va.us/gdcourts/captchaVerification.do?landing=landing
- Service can be checked on the Fairfax County Sheriff's Office website at https://searchcivilprocess.fairfaxcounty.gov/search
- Calling the Sheriff's Civil Process Office in the jurisdiction where the service was rendered.
- Calling the Private Process Company that the Plaintiff contracted for Service.
If service of process has not been made, the court has no jurisdiction to adjudicate the matter. Occasionally, a defendant may have received a mailed copy of the warrant and will appear in court without having been served. In these instances, the Court may request that the defendant sign a form voluntarily submitting to the jurisdiction of the Court.