Legal Question in Family Law in California

The rules governing service of a summons and complaint are different than the rules governing service of motions. For example, service of a summons and complaint are personally served by leaving a copy with the person to be served. Personal delivery service, however, is governed by Code of Civil Procedure section 1011, and can be left in the party or attorney's office, even if they are not there, or delivered to the party or attorney's home.

Unlike other statutes, the personal delivery does not have to be accompanied by a proof of service. The proof of service, however, must be filed with the court.

The short version of Mr. Roach's correct answer is that you can always serve someone by personal service, but once the other party has appeared in the action you don't HAVE to personally serve them. The exception is in Family Law. Once a case has gone to final judgment, motions to modify custody and/or support orders have to be personally served again as if a new case was starting. One other point is you say you were personally served "by the other party." If you meant the service was "on behalf of the other party" by someone not a party to the action, then the service is good. If the other party is actually the person who served you, the service is no good. Parties cannot ever serve anything in a case themselves.