Massachusetts has no clerk domestication. A subpoena is presented to a notary or justice of the peace, who issues a summons under G.L. c. 233, § 45, which requires no attorney. A Superior Court order needs a Massachusetts attorney for a represented party. Your quote names the route.
What to Send Us
Every Massachusetts Order Includes
Skip tracing is available if the address turns out to be bad.
Every Massachusetts County
The notary route has no filing county. For a court order, the county finder takes a town, city or ZIP code and names the county, and the office directory lists each Superior Court address. The Superior Court has a clerk’s office in all 14.
Need Documents Only?
Section 45 speaks only of a deposition and is silent on documents alone. A Superior Court order may command documents, and the calculator counts a records witness’s window to object. Hospital records have their own statute, G.L. c. 111, § 70. Send the subpoena and your written quote confirms the route, before you pay.
Massachusetts Subpoena Domestication Order
One written quote covers document preparation, any issuer’s or clerk’s fee and service if ordered.
The notary route starts with no court at all. The court route opens a Superior Court case. Section 45 speaks of a deposition and no text settles documents alone there; an order can command them in terms. You need not pick one yourself: your quote does that, before you pay.
| Point | Notary or Justice of the Peace Summons | Superior Court Order |
|---|---|---|
| Law | G.L. c. 233, § 45 | G.L. c. 223A, § 11 |
| Who Issues | A Massachusetts notary public or justice of the peace | A Superior Court judge makes the order |
| Court Case | None | A new civil action on the Accelerated track |
| What It Reaches | A deposition; documents alone are unsettled | Testimony, a statement, documents or other things |
| Fee | On your quote; whether a statute sets a notary’s fee is unsettled | The Superior Court entry fee, security fee and surcharge |
| Local Attorney | No attorney step named in § 45 | Rule 11(a) signature on a represented party’s pleading |
| Filing Channel | Nothing is filed | E-filing is permitted |
We prepare the papers for your route, and your written quote confirms which one, before you pay.
We prepare the summons or the court papers from your subpoena or letter rogatory and check them against the statute before anyone signs.
On the notary route a Massachusetts notary public or justice of the peace signs the summons, and we handle that signature.
If your case needs the court route, a Massachusetts attorney signs and files for a represented party, a Superior Court judge rules, and your written quote says how the attorney is handled, before you pay.
Our server, a non-party adult, delivers a copy, reads the paper to the witness or leaves a copy at the place of abode, and we advance any tender owed, on your quote.
Rule 45(d)(1) gives a records witness 10 days after service to object in writing, “or on or before the time specified in the subpoena for compliance if such time is less than 10 days after service”. Rule 6(a) counts the days. This applies under Rule 45 and a § 11 order following Massachusetts practice; neither text says whether it binds a bare § 45 summons.
Massachusetts has not adopted the Uniform Interstate Depositions and Discovery Act, so a foreign subpoena gets no clerk-issued mirror here. These two statutes do the work, and Rule 45 describes the subpoena itself.
A person may be summoned and compelled, in like manner and under the same penalties as are provided for a witness before a court, to give his deposition in a cause pending in a court of any other state or government. Such deposition may be taken before a justice of the peace or a notary public in the commonwealth, or before a commissioner appointed under the authority of the state or government in which the action is pending. If the deposition is taken before such commissioner, the witness may be summoned and compelled to appear before him by process from a justice of the peace or a notary public in the commonwealth.
Served 123 LLC prepares the Massachusetts papers for either route.
Get a Free Quote Online →A court of this commonwealth may order a person who is domiciled or is found within this commonwealth to give his testimony or statement or to produce documents or other things for use in a proceeding in a tribunal outside this commonwealth. The order may be made upon the application of any interested person or in response to a letter rogatory and may prescribe the practice and procedure, which may be wholly or in part the practice and procedure of the tribunal outside this commonwealth, for taking the testimony or statement or producing the documents or other things. To the extent that the order does not prescribe otherwise, the practice and procedure shall be in accordance with that of the court of this commonwealth issuing the order.
Every subpoena shall be issued by the clerk of court, by a notary public, or by a justice of the peace, shall state the name of the court and the title of the action, and shall command each person to whom it is directed to do the following at a specified time and place: to attend and give testimony; to produce designated documents, electronically stored information, or tangible things in that person’s possession, custody, or control; or to permit inspection of premises.
Mass. R. Civ. P. 45(a), first sentence
Official texts: Mass. R. Civ. P. 45, Rule 4, Rule 6, Rule 11, Rule 26; Superior Court Rule 29; E-Filing Rule 3; S.J.C. Rule 3:15; G.L. c. 233, § 1, § 2, § 3, § 40, § 45 and § 79; G.L. c. 223A, § 11; G.L. c. 221, § 46A; G.L. c. 4, § 7; G.L. c. 111, § 70; G.L. c. 262, § 1, § 29 and § 41; St. 2022, c. 127 and St. 2025, c. 16; 45 C.F.R. § 164.512. General information, not legal advice. The official text controls.
Served 123 LLC prepares the papers, and your written quote names the route, before you pay.
Get a Free Quote Online →These cards set out who may serve, how, what the witness is owed and how a motion runs. Rule 45 cards describe Massachusetts actions; its reach to a bare § 45 summons is unsettled, and a § 11 order may set its own practice. For a summons or other court papers, see process service in Massachusetts.
“A subpoena may be served by any person who is not a party and is not less than 18 years of age.” G.L. c. 233, § 2 allows service “by an officer qualified to serve civil process or by a disinterested person”, in any county. The Law Libraries note that many litigants use a deputy sheriff or constable, and neither text requires one.
Rule 45(c); G.L. c. 233, § 2“Service of a subpoena upon a person named therein shall be made by delivering a copy thereof to such person, or by exhibiting it and reading it to him, or by leaving a copy at his place of abode; and, if the person’s attendance is required, by tendering to him the fees for one day’s attendance and the mileage allowed by law.” Section 2 lists the same three.
Rule 45(c); G.L. c. 233, § 2G.L. c. 262, § 29 covers courts, other bodies and “any other occasion for which no express provision is made”. The fee “shall be six dollars a day, and ten cents a mile for travel out and home”, reckoned from a usual place of business or employment when that lies in the city or town of the trial or hearing. “Each witness shall certify in writing the amount of his travel and attendance.”
G.L. c. 262, § 29Rule 45(d)(1): “No subpoena for the taking of a deposition shall be issued prior to the service of a notice to take the deposition.” A subpoena for documents alone before trial goes to each party before it is served. Section 45 has no notice clause, and G.L. c. 262, § 1 lists a justice’s fee “for notice to the adverse party” without imposing a duty.
Rule 45(d)(1); G.L. c. 262, § 1“Unless the court orders otherwise, other than for a hearing or trial, a resident of this Commonwealth shall not be required to attend an examination or produce documents, electronically stored information, or tangible things at a place more than 50 airline miles distant from either his residence, place of employment, or place of business, whichever is nearest to the place to which he is subpoenaed.” “Other than for a hearing or trial, a nonresident of the Commonwealth when served with a subpoena within the Commonwealth may be required to attend or produce documents, electronically stored information, or tangible things only in that county wherein he is served, or within 50 airline miles of the place of service, or at such other convenient place as is fixed by an order of court.”
Rule 45(d)(2)“The court upon motion made promptly and in any event at or before the time specified in the subpoena for compliance therewith, may (1) quash or modify the subpoena if it is unreasonable and oppressive or (2) condition denial of the motion upon the advancement by the person in whose behalf the subpoena is issued of the reasonable cost of producing the documents, electronically stored information, or tangible things.” Rule 26(c) lets “the court in which the action is pending or alternatively, on matters relating to a deposition, the court in the county or judicial district, as the case may be, where the deposition is to be taken” act on protection in a Massachusetts action. A § 11 order follows the issuing court’s practice unless it says otherwise. For a bare § 45 summons, no text names the court.
Rule 45(b); Rule 26(c); G.L. c. 223A, § 11G.L. c. 233, § 3 requires no one to attend as a witness in a civil case “unless the legal fees for one day’s attendance and for travel to and from the place where he is required to attend are paid or tendered to him.” A command to produce documents with no attendance needs no tender. We advance any tender owed, on your quote.
G.L. c. 233, § 3; Rule 45(c)Rule 45 and G.L. c. 233 set no return form or filing for a subpoena. Rule 4(f) has the server make written proof of “the process”, by affidavit if the server is no sheriff, and no text settles whether that reaches a subpoena. A § 11 order may prescribe its own practice. The server signs the proof we send you when service is ordered.
Rule 4(f)Served 123 LLC handles the service, any fee the witness is owed and the signed proof of service.
Get a Free Quote Online →These cards cover a request for documents: what each route says, the written objection, hospital records, the custodian’s affidavit, the federal HIPAA rule and the bar on protected health care discovery. Rule 45 governs Massachusetts actions. Whether it reaches a summons with no order behind it is unsettled.
Section 45 speaks only of a “deposition” and says nothing of documents alone, and no text settles whether a notary or justice may issue a documents-only summons. A § 11 order may command a person “to produce documents or other things”, which reaches a records request in terms. In Massachusetts actions, Rule 45 allows a subpoena for documents alone.
G.L. c. 233, § 45; c. 223A, § 11; Rule 45The Rule 45 Reporter’s Notes describe an older Massachusetts-action “practice of noticing the deposition of a keeper of records together with a deposition subpoena that required the production of documents at the deposition”, with the requester agreeing to “waive” the appearance once the documents came in.
Rule 45, Reporter’s NotesA person commanded to produce “need not appear in person at the place of production or inspection unless also commanded to appear for a deposition, hearing, or trial.” “Other than for a deposition, hearing, or trial, unless the production of original documents is requested, the producing party may produce copies of the documents”. The serving party gives each party a copy of any objection, and notice or a copy of any production.
Rule 45(b), (d)(1), (f)(1)“a hospital or clinic served with a subpoena for such records of any party named in that proceeding as shown by the case caption appearing on the subpoena, shall deliver certified copies of the subpoenaed records in its custody to the court or place of hearing designated on the subpoena.” For anyone else the statute points to other paths, including “upon proper judicial order”.
G.L. c. 111, § 70For a hospital record “required to be produced in court”, G.L. c. 233, § 79 says it “shall be certified by the affidavit of the person in custody thereof to be a true and complete record”, and it goes to the clerk of that court. The custodian signs. The section speaks of a Massachusetts court.
G.L. c. 233, § 79A § 11 order is an order of a court, and the entity discloses “only the protected health information expressly authorized by such order”. A § 45 summons has no order, so (e)(1)(ii) applies to a “subpoena, discovery request, or other lawful process, that is not accompanied by an order of a court or administrative tribunal”, and it asks for one of two assurances.
45 C.F.R. § 164.512(e)(1)(i)-(ii)One path on a § 45 deposition summons with documents: “The covered entity receives satisfactory assurance, as described in paragraph (e)(1)(iii) of this section, from the party seeking the information that reasonable efforts have been made by such party to ensure that the individual who is the subject of the protected health information that has been requested has been given notice of the request; or” The requester backs that up, per (e)(1)(iii), with “a written statement and accompanying documentation demonstrating that:” “The party requesting such information has made a good faith attempt to provide written notice to the individual (or, if the individual’s location is unknown, to mail a notice to the individual’s last known address);” “The notice included sufficient information about the litigation or proceeding in which the protected health information is requested to permit the individual to raise an objection to the court or administrative tribunal; and” “The time for the individual to raise objections to the court or administrative tribunal has elapsed, and:” “No objections were filed; or” “All objections filed by the individual have been resolved by the court or the administrative tribunal and the disclosures being sought are consistent with such resolution.”
45 C.F.R. § 164.512(e)(1)(ii)(A), (iii)The other path on that summons: “The covered entity receives satisfactory assurance, as described in paragraph (e)(1)(iv) of this section, from the party seeking the information that reasonable efforts have been made by such party to secure a qualified protective order that meets the requirements of paragraph (e)(1)(v) of this section.” Here (e)(1)(iv) calls for that same kind of paper, demonstrating that: “The parties to the dispute giving rise to the request for information have agreed to a qualified protective order and have presented it to the court or administrative tribunal with jurisdiction over the dispute; or” “The party seeking the protected health information has requested a qualified protective order from such court or administrative tribunal.” By (e)(1)(v), the protective order is “an order of a court or of an administrative tribunal or a stipulation by the parties to the litigation or administrative proceeding that:” “Prohibits the parties from using or disclosing the protected health information for any purpose other than the litigation or proceeding for which such information was requested” and “Requires the return to the covered entity or destruction of the protected health information (including all copies made) at the end of the litigation or proceeding.”
45 C.F.R. § 164.512(e)(1)(ii)(B), (iv)-(v)“A person commanded to produce documents or tangible things or to permit inspection may within 10 days after the service thereof or on or before the time specified in the subpoena for compliance if such time is less than 10 days after service, serve upon the party or attorney designated in the subpoena written objection to inspecting, copying, testing, or sampling any of the materials; to inspecting the premises; or to producing electronically stored information in the form or forms requested.” “If objection is made, the party serving the subpoena shall not be entitled to inspect, copy, test, or sample the materials or inspect the premises except pursuant to an order of the court from which the subpoena was issued.” The calculator counts the 10 days from the service date. Whether this window applies to a § 45 summons is unsettled.
Rule 45(d)(1)Since 2022, § 11 says a court “shall not order” discovery for a foreign proceeding “concerning legally-protected health care activity”, “except as required by federal law”. § 45 has no such clause. A business entity that “operates in the commonwealth and provides electronic communication services or remote computing service to residents of the commonwealth or to a business entity organized under the laws of the commonwealth” “shall not comply” with process it “knows relates to a resident, health care provider or business entity in the commonwealth in connection with” that activity, “except as required by a valid federal law”, unless “an attestation, made under penalty of perjury” states the process seeks nothing on an investigation into, or the enforcement of, “another state’s law that asserts criminal or civil liability” for care lawful in Massachusetts.
G.L. c. 223A, § 11; G.L. c. 93, § 115For a records request, your quote says which route and which papers fit, before you pay.
Get a Free Quote Online →Each of these points comes from a Massachusetts statute or rule. Where a trap rests on Rule 45 alone, the entry names that rule.
Before service, we compare the papers we prepare with the statute and rules and raise anything that needs your input.
Each Massachusetts county has a Superior Court clerk’s office. That is the court-route office, not an issuer on the notary route. Type a town, city or ZIP code to find the county.
The Massachusetts Superior Court locations list each office under its county.
A witness may sit just over the line, so the route changes with the state. “No” reads the law’s text alone; “Check” marks a state whose filing rules leave open how an out-of-state requester proceeds.
| State | Act Adopted | Local Attorney Required by the Act | Who Issues |
|---|---|---|---|
| Massachusetts | None: G.L. c. 233, § 45 and c. 223A, § 11 | By route: none named in § 45; a signing rule on a court filing | Notary or justice of the peace; or a Superior Court order |
| Connecticut | C.G.S. §§ 52-655 to 52-660 (P.A. 22-26, 2023) | Check | Clerk of the Superior Court, judicial district of discovery |
| New Hampshire | RSA 517-A:1 II until 01/01/2027, then the Uniform Act in RSA 517-A | No | Justice of the peace or notary; from 01/01/2027 the superior court clerk |
| New York | N.Y. CPLR 3119 (2011) | No | County clerk, discovery county (or a New York attorney) |
| Rhode Island | R.I. Gen. Laws ch. 9-18.1 (P.L. 2019, ch. 190) | Check | Clerk of the superior court, discovery county (or a Rhode Island lawyer) |
| Vermont | V.R.C.P. 45(f), adopted by court rule | No | A judge reviews, then the clerk signs |
Each answer cites Massachusetts law. For questions that apply in every state, see our Subpoena Domestication FAQ. General information, not legal advice.
H.5056 would add the Uniform Act to chapter 223A, but that bill has stopped at House Ways and Means and has not been enacted. Until that changes, the two routes for an out-of-state case stay a summons under G.L. c. 233, § 45 and a court order under G.L. c. 223A, § 11.
Yes, for a deposition. G.L. c. 233, § 45 lets a witness be summoned to testify in a cause pending in another state, on process from a Massachusetts notary public or justice of the peace. No Massachusetts case opens and no court signs it. Whether the same paper works for documents alone is unsettled.
Not always. Under G.L. c. 233, § 45 the witness can testify before a Massachusetts notary or justice of the peace without a commissioner, and G.L. c. 223A, § 11 lets any interested person apply with no letter rogatory. A commission matters when you want your deposition taken before the commissioner it appoints.
Not for a summons under § 45, which asks for no counsel. A § 11 court filing differs: Mass. R. Civ. P. 11(a) has a represented party’s pleading signed by counsel admitted in the state, while pro se filers sign for themselves. Should your case go that way, the quote tells you who signs before you pay.
Not as a copy of your foreign subpoena. Neither G.L. c. 233, § 1 nor Rule 45(a) gives a foreign paper a clerk’s step. Under G.L. c. 223A, § 11 a judge decides the application, and under Standing Order 1-88 the clerk’s part is the tracking order once the case opens.
The notary route has none, because G.L. c. 233, § 45 involves no filing. For a § 11 order the statute names no county, and the finder names the county for a town, city or ZIP code so you can see its Superior Court office. Boston addresses, including its neighborhoods, fall in Suffolk County.
It may be e-filed: the Superior Court says eFiling “is permitted”, and no rule makes it mandatory. E-Filing Rule 3 sends an attorney outside the Massachusetts Bar to a self-represented account unless otherwise ordered, and Rule 11(a) still calls for a Massachusetts attorney’s signature on a represented party’s pleading.
No. Rule 45(c) reaches any non-party who is 18 or older, and G.L. c. 233, § 2 adds a disinterested person alongside officers qualified to serve civil process. A deputy sheriff or constable is a common choice, never a requirement of either text. Our server carries it out when you order service.
No. Under Rule 45(c) and G.L. c. 233, § 2, leaving a copy at the witness’s place of abode counts, and so does exhibiting the paper and reading it to the witness. Attendance is a separate matter: a command to attend also needs the day’s fee and mileage tendered under the same rule.
Yes. G.L. c. 233, § 2 says a summons “may be served in any county”, so the place the notary or justice sits does not limit where the server goes. How far the witness can be made to travel is a different limit, set for Massachusetts actions by Rule 45(d)(2).
No text in Rule 45 or chapter 233 calls for one. Mass. R. Civ. P. 4(f) requires written proof to the court for “the process”, and whether that covers a subpoena is unsettled. A court order under G.L. c. 223A, § 11 could set its own requirement. On a notary summons there is no Massachusetts case to file in.
Yes, in Massachusetts actions. Rule 45(d)(1) puts the deposition notice ahead of issuance, and a documents-only subpoena before trial goes to each party before service. Section 45 is silent, so whether that binds a bare summons remains unsettled. Rule 45(d)(1) is set out here. Under a § 11 order, the order’s terms control, and Massachusetts practice applies where it is silent.
A G.L. c. 223A, § 11 order can say where; if it does not, the motion follows the practice of the court that made it. For a bare G.L. c. 233, § 45 summons, no statute or rule names the court, so that is unsettled. Rule 26(c) allows the court in the county of the deposition in Massachusetts actions; no text extends it to that summons.
Rule 45(b), not Rule 45(c), is the Massachusetts quash provision, and its test is a subpoena that “is unreasonable and oppressive”. Relief can be quashing, modifying, or denial on condition that the requester advance the reasonable cost of production. Rule 45(c) covers service, and whether Rule 45(b) reaches a summons under § 45 is unsettled.
In a Massachusetts action, a resident cannot be required to go beyond 50 airline miles from the nearest of home, work or business, unless the court orders otherwise, and the limit excludes a hearing or trial. Rule 45(d)(2) sets a separate test for a nonresident. No text extends that limit to a § 45 summons or rules it out.
No text settles that for a summons. The words of G.L. c. 233, § 45 speak of a deposition, and a § 11 order can command documents in terms. The records section covers both routes, and your written quote states the one for your subpoena, before you pay.
Ten days at the most, under Rule 45(d)(1), and less when the time for compliance falls sooner. The calculator counts the 10 days under Rule 6(a). That timetable governs Massachusetts actions and § 11 orders following Massachusetts practice; its reach to a bare G.L. c. 233, § 45 summons remains unsettled.
Yes, where G.L. c. 111, § 70 applies: a subpoena for the records of a party named in the case caption brings certified copies to the court or place of hearing it designates. Federal privacy rules add conditions. No text settles whether a records-only § 45 summons does the same; a § 11 order can command records in terms, and your written quote names the route before you pay.
It depends on the route, and your written quote states one total for it. The court fee card sets out what the Superior Court fee schedule and G.L. c. 262, §§ 4A and 4C charge on the court route. A justice on the notary route charges by the G.L. c. 262, § 1 schedule.
Six dollars a day and ten cents a mile each way, under G.L. c. 262, § 29. The section also has a general clause for occasions with no express fee, and the tender card explains when that money must be paid or tendered before attendance is owed.
No minimum notice period for a non-party appears in Rule 45, so the subpoena’s own date carries the weight. A witness may move at or before that date under Rule 45(b), and may object to a documents command under Rule 45(d)(1). Those terms run in Massachusetts actions and § 11 orders on that practice. Section 45 sets no period, and no text says whether they bind a summons under it.
Only if it is enacted. Section 2 of H.5056 sets January 1, 2027 as its effective date, but the bill has seen no action since its February 9, 2026 referral to House Ways and Means. Until it passes, a § 45 summons and a § 11 order are what the route table shows.
One written quote covers document preparation, any issuer’s or clerk’s fee and service if ordered.
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