About



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

According to Massachusetts General Law c.37, sections 11&12, the High Sheriff of the County is mandated to serve civil process. MGL c.37, section 3 empowers the Sheriff to appoint Deputy Sheriffs to perform official acts of process. In Massachusetts, as in most states, the service of process is carried out by the Sheriff, through deputies as public ministerial offices to the judicial branch. Appointed Deputy Sheriffs are trained to properly deliver important court and non-court documents and are held to the high standards as law enforcement officials in the Commonwealth.

The Civil Process Office 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. Our Business Office staff and Deputy Sheriffs are committed to a high standard of 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.

Here at the Norfolk County Sheriff’s Office, we are constantly looking for ways to improve our civil process operations. In 1996, the Civil Process Office became a fully accountable public agency under the direction of the Sheriff, an agency that has always been fully dedicated to serving its county, and a valuable part of the public safety community. We are initiating new technology to service the legal community including the commencement of Deputy Sheriff services initiated and interfaced with Tablet technology in the field resulting in real time email notification of service results. The Norfolk Civil Office is the first civil office in Massachusetts to initiate this new technology.