The Civil Process Section of the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office is tasked with processing and serving civil papers. Civil papers are received from our local courts as well as courts throughout the country. After incoming papers are processed they are served by uniformed deputies to citizens and businesses located in Forsyth County. As a general rule civil papers are served within seven working days of receipt by. The service is recorded in the Clerk of Court's office and a copy of the Sheriff's Service Form is mailed to the Plaintiff. Please do not call the office to check status of service. Once service is perfected, notice is mailed to the Plaintiff and returned to the courts.

Location/Office Hours:The Civil Process Section is located at 875 Lanier 400 Pkwy, Suite 144 and is open from 8:30am to 5:00pm Monday through Friday.
Phone: 770-781-3091
Fax: 770-888-2581

Eviction Information:The eviction process starts at the Magistrate Court located on Tribble Gap Rd. You must first go to the Magistrate Court and complete the necessary forms. The Magistrate Court Clerk will assist you in determining which forms are needed. Once you have completed the forms at Magistrate Court and you have been given a court date the forms will be sent to the FCSO Civil Office. Once the proper paperwork has been filed and fees paid, Magistrate Court will forward to The Civil Process Section of the Forsyth County Sheriff's a Notice of Dispossessory to be served upon the defendant in the case. The court date that was assigned by Magistrate is only valid if service was perfected and the defendant has responded to the court within seven days of being served. If service was perfected and the defendant did not respond within seven days, the court may issue a Writ of Possession. The defendant will be served with the Notice of Dispossessory and a copy of the court date within seven working days. On the assigned court date, if the Judge awards the plaintiff a Writ of Possession the Plaintiff or if the defendant didn’t responded within seven days and a Writ of Possession was awarded, the plaintiff must bring that Writ to the Civil Process Section Office along with a $25 fee (check, cash or money order) to schedule an eviction date. On the day of the eviction, the plaintiff is responsible for gaining entry to the resident and the resident must be secure upon completion of the eviction. The plaintiff is responsible for the removal of all property inside the house. This is normally two people per bedroom. The defendant has 24 hours to remove the items placed outside of the resident and the plaintiff has 24 hours after that to remove the items from the property. Please remember that all evictions must be executed by a Deputy Sheriff.

TPO Information:To obtain a TPO (Temporary Protective Order) please contact Family Haven at 770-889-6384, extension 111 OR 770-887-1121. Our Victim's Advocates are also available and may be reached at 678-455-8458.

Fi-Fa's: We must have a current or last known address to investigate or Nulla Bona a FI-FA or it will be sent back to the plaintiff to provide us with that information.Fi-Fa's are worked as quickly as possible. Within 24 hours of being assigned to a deputy a The day a Fi-Fa is received a ten-day letter of demand is mailed to the defendant. A deputy will make a personal demand for money on or about the expiration of the ten days. If the debt is not satisfied, the deputy will make an appointment with the Plaintiff to go and levy on property owned by the defendant. Property that is levied upon is stored by the Sheriff's Office at the Plaintiff's expense until it can be sold at auction at a Sheriff's Sale. Other expense that may occur, but are not limited to: the running of the newspaper ad of the items for auction, transportation of the items from the scene to the storage location and to the location of the auction on the day of the sale, insurance on the items being stored. Sheriff’s Sales are held the first Tuesday of every month. If you are submitting a Fi-Fa for Nulla Bona it must be received by our office 45 days before it becomes dormant so we can make a diligent effort to execute it. Fi-Fa's become dormant seven years after the judgement date or from a previous Nulla Bona. We do not forward FI-FAs to the clerk of court. The re-recording of FI-FA’s is the plaintiff’s responsibility. 

Fees:The processing fees for a Nulla Bona on a Fi-Fa is $20 payable to the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office. There is also a fee payable to the Clerk of Court of Forsyth County. Please contact them at 770-781-2120 for details. Service of Subpoenas to the public is $10. Most other services are All other processing fees are $50 payable to the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office. We accept cash, checks and money orders.

Please see section 1-42 and 1-43 of House Bill 1055 for a complete list of fees.