File and Serve Documents in a Special Education Case

Parties who want to file a document in their Special Education case or access instructions on how to serve a document on the other parties in a case can follow these steps.

  A complaint, which is also called a "request," as well as other documents sent to OAH, must be "filed" and "served" on all parties to a case. All documents used to communicate with OAH about the case must be “served” on the other party or parties in the case. All documents used to communicate with OAH about the case must be "served" on the other party or parties in the case. All parties must be served before a document is filed with OAH because OAH will only accept a document that has been served on the other parties.

Proof of serving a document on the other parties must be sent to OAH, along with the document you wish to file with OAH.  The proof of service shows that the other parties have a copy of the document. This is called either a “Statement of Service” or "Proof of Service." “Proof of Service” and “Statement of Service” are used interchangeably.

Information on how to serve a party is discussed below in the “Serve the Document” section. The Statement of Service lets OAH know that anything one side is saying to the judge, referred to herein as “ALJ,” has been told to the other parties.

“Filing” a document means that a document has been sent to OAH where a document is intended to be part of a case and seen by an ALJ.  Anyone who files a document with OAH must send a copy of the entire document, including any attachments, to all of the other parties involved in the case.  For example, if a parent files a complaint against a district, the parent must send a copy of the entire complaint to the district. If a district files a complaint with OAH, it must send a copy to the parent or parents.

Filing and Serving Documents

  1. Serving a document means sending an exact copy to another party. Serving may be done by U.S. mail or personal delivery such as a messenger service. You may also serve by fax or e-mail if the other party has agreed in advance to accept service in one of those ways. It is important to remember that you must provide a copy to the other parties before sending the document to OAH.  OAH will not accept a document for filing unless it has a completed Proof of Service included in the document you are asking to file with OAH.

  2. Once you have served the documents on the other side, you can file the documents with OAH. All documents have to be filed with OAH if you intend an ALJ to review them. 

    To file a document with OAH, the document should be sent to OAH in one of the following ways:

    • Sent via the internet using OAH’s Secure e-File Transfer (SFT) system,
    • Mailed,
    • Hand delivered, or
    • Sent by overnight delivery.

    The address for mailing, hand delivery, or overnight mail is:

    Special Education Division
    Office of Administrative Hearings
    2349 Gateway Oaks Drive, Suite 200
    Sacramento, CA 95833

    If a parent is unable to either e-file documents using SFT, to send documents by mail or overnight delivery, or hand deliver the documents, please call OAH at (916) 263-0880 for assistance.

proof of service, ALSO CALLED STATEMENT OF SERVICE - optional form

NOTE: As with all blank forms, please down load the blank form and save it to your desktop before filling in the form.

  To access the English language form click on the form's name below: 

For translations of this form please select "Statement of Service - Available Translations," below.  Once selected the section will expand showing the list of translations available with links to those forms.

If the language needed is not available, please use the Alternative Format or Language Request link on this page to request the language that you need.

 

Expand All

 Arabic
بيان الإعلان - العربية

 

Chinese - Traditional (Cantonese)

粵語（繁體中文）- 送達聲明

 

Chinese - Simplified (Mandarin)
普通话（简体中文）- 送达声明

 

Spanish
Español - Declaración de Notificación

 

Vietnamese
Tiếng Việt - Thông Báo về Tống Đạt

Contact

Special Education Division

Office of Administrative Hearings

2349 Gateway Oaks Drive, Suite 200
Sacramento, CA 95833
Main Contact Number:  (916) 263-0880

OAH Secure e-File Transfer System

The OAH Secure e-File Transfer (SFT) system allows users to send to OAH, and receive from OAH, electronic documents.

Secure e-File Transfer (SFT) System

Alternative Format and language Request

All forms and publications on this website are available in alternative formats or languages.  If you would like a copy of a form or publication in an alternative format or language, please contact us at DGSOAHFeedback@dgs.ca.gov.

 

SEND A REQUEST