Civil Process

The Salem Civil Process Office is open at its new location at 35 Congress St., Suite 2100A, in Salem.

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The Essex County Sheriff’s Department Civil Process Division is a professional law enforcement agency whose responsibility is the delivery of legal services and the enforcement of civil orders in Essex County. Our Civil Process Division is responsible for executing court orders and for the delivery of legal documents essential to the proceedings of state-wide and county civil cases.

According to Massachusetts General Law (MGL) CH 37, Sections 11 & 12, Sheriffs and their Deputies shall serve and execute, within their counties, all precepts lawfully issued to them and all other process required by law to be served by an officer. Deputy Sheriffs are trained to properly deliver important court and non-court documents and are held to the same high standards as any law enforcement official in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 
 
The Civil Process Division also enforces judgments made by the court which include but are not limited to seizing property and selling property through a Sheriff’s sale, garnishing wages, and facilitating Capias arrests (CAPIAS ARREST REQUEST FORM). Our office staff and Deputy Sheriffs are committed to a high standard excellence and work each and every day to improve both our delivery of service and our communication with our clients and the public we serve. We understand the importance of achieving court related deadlines and we are proficient in the application of enforcing civil actions. 
 
In February 1997, the Civil Process Division became a fully accountable public agency under the direction of the Sheriff, an agency that has always been fully dedicated to serving its country, and a valuable part of the public safety community. The Civil Process Division employs uniformed and non-uniformed deputies, as well as an experienced administrative staff in two convenient locations (Salem and Lawrence), to help attorneys and pro se litigants get their legal documents served quickly and properly. And, unlike private firms, the Essex County Sheriff’s Office Civil Process Division is an independent agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. We remain dedicated to serving the public and are constantly looking for ways to improve our Civil Process operations.