Overview

The Civil Division provides services such as Service of Process, Evictions / Writs of Restitution, Decree of Foreclosure / Writ of Execution / Sheriff’s Sales. For more information on each of these services, please refer to the Civil page.

Definitions

Service of Process

The procedure employed to give legal notice to a person (such as a defendant) of a court or administrative body’s exercise of its jurisdiction over that person so as to enable that person to respond to the proceeding before the court, body, or other tribunal. Usually, notice is furnished by delivering a set of court documents (called “process") to the person to be served.

Eviction (Writ of Restitution)

A Court Order directing a tenant to leave a residence. After obtaining a court order to evict a tenant, a landlord wishing to pursue an eviction must serve the tenant or post a residence with a writ of restitution or court order. If the tenant has not moved by the date on the writ of restitution or court order, the SCSO can assist the landlord in evicting the tenant.

Decree of Foreclosure

A court-issued decree indicating that the piece of property held as collateral on a mortgage should be sold in order to pay for the outstanding mortgage debt.

Writ of Execution

A court order granted in an attempt to satisfy a monetary judgment obtained by a plaintiff. When issuing a writ of execution, a court typically will order a Sheriff or other similar official to take possession of property owned by a judgment debtor. Such property will often then be sold in a Sheriff's Sale and the proceeds remunerated to the plaintiff in partial or full satisfaction of the judgment.

Sheriff’s Sale

A public auction held to satisfy a court-ordered judgment, conducted under the authority of the Sheriff of the county or city in which the property to be auctioned was seized.

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