How Do I Know If a Subpoena Is Valid or Fake?

To know whether a subpoena is valid or fake, check five things: it was issued by a real court and signed by a clerk or authorized attorney, it references a case number you can look up, it identifies you by name and describes clearly what you must do, it was delivered to you in person by someone qualified to serve it, and it never asks for payment information or a Social Security number inside the document. A subpoena that fails any of those tests is either unenforceable, defective, or a scam.

Start With the Signature and the Court

The single most important marker of a real subpoena is who issued it. In federal civil cases, a subpoena can be issued by the court clerk or by an attorney authorized to practice in the issuing court. The clerk signs it blank and the requesting party fills in the details before service.¹ In federal criminal cases, the subpoena must be issued by the clerk under the seal of the court.² State rules vary, but nearly all require a signature from a clerk, a judge, or both.

If the document you received has no signature, no case number, or no identifiable court, that alone is usually enough to treat it as unenforceable. A subpoena signed only by an attorney should still name a real case and a real court where that attorney is admitted.

Verify the Case Actually Exists

Every legitimate subpoena connects to a specific lawsuit, and that lawsuit will have a docket number in a real court’s public records. Take the case name, docket number, and court from the subpoena and look them up. Federal cases can be verified through the court’s electronic filing system; state cases usually have an online docket search or can be confirmed by phone.

Call the court clerk to verify anything you cannot find yourself. Use the phone number listed on the court’s official website, not any number printed on the suspicious document.³ Scam subpoenas often provide their own call-back numbers that connect straight back to the scammer.

Red Flags of a Fake Subpoena

Fraudulent subpoenas are common enough that the U.S. Courts system publishes public warnings. According to federal court guidance, real federal courts do not contact you by phone or email to demand personal or financial information, and they do not threaten fines and jail in the initial communication.³ Treat these as immediate warning signs:

Requests for payment: a legitimate subpoena never asks for credit card numbers, wire transfers, gift cards, or bank routing details.
Requests for sensitive personal data: real subpoenas do not demand your Social Security number, date of birth, or similar information in the document itself.
No verifiable case number: every real subpoena ties to a docket you can find in court records.
Delivery only by email or phone from an unfamiliar sender, without any accompanying in-person service.
Urgent threats of arrest if you don’t respond within hours.

If any of these appear, stop and verify with the court directly before doing anything the document tells you to do.

Check How It Was Served

Even a subpoena from a real court becomes unenforceable if it was not properly served. Under federal civil rules, service means physically delivering a copy to the named person. The person delivering it must be at least 18 and cannot be a party to the case.¹ Federal criminal subpoenas can be served by a U.S. Marshal, a deputy marshal, or any non-party who is at least 18.²

Some state courts allow certified mail or electronic service in limited situations, but in-person delivery is still the default. A document left on your porch, slipped under a door, or handed to a random coworker may not qualify as proper service depending on local rules.

Witness Fees Must Be Tendered in Civil Cases

If the subpoena orders you to appear in person in a civil case, the requesting party must tender fees along with service. Federal law sets the attendance fee at $40 per day plus mileage at the rate the General Services Administration prescribes for official government travel.⁴ Federal criminal subpoenas issued on the government’s behalf do not require the fees at the time of service.² In a civil case, failure to tender the required fees is a legitimate ground to challenge enforceability.

What the Document Itself Must Contain

A subpoena missing key information may be defective on its face. Look for each of the following:

Your full legal name, or the correct name of your organization. A subpoena addressed to “occupant” or with the wrong name raises real questions.
The case name and docket number.
The name of the issuing court.
A clear description of what is demanded. Testimony subpoenas must state when and where to appear. Document subpoenas must describe the records with enough precision that you know what to produce. A vague demand for “all documents related to your business” is different from a request for “invoices between Company A and Company B from January through June 2025.”
A compliance deadline that gives you a reasonable window to prepare. A demand for compliance within 24 hours, absent emergency circumstances, may be challengeable.
A signature from an authorized attorney or court clerk, and in criminal cases usually a court seal.

Check the Geographic Limits

A subpoena is not a blank check to compel your appearance anywhere in the country.

The 100-Mile Rule

Under federal civil rules, a subpoena can only require you to attend a trial, hearing, or deposition within 100 miles of where you live, work, or regularly conduct business in person. Parties and their officers can be compelled to attend anywhere within the state where they reside or work, but only if compliance would not cause substantial expense. Document production is subject to the same 100-mile radius.¹

Federal criminal subpoenas reach farther. A subpoena for testimony at a criminal hearing or trial can be served anywhere in the United States.²

Subpoenas From Another State

A state court generally cannot reach beyond its own borders to compel a witness in another state. Due process requires that a court establish sufficient minimum contacts with a person before exercising jurisdiction over them.⁵ Forty-six states plus the District of Columbia have adopted the Uniform Interstate Depositions and Discovery Act, which lets a party present an out-of-state subpoena to a clerk in the discovery state, who then issues a local subpoena enforceable under local rules. If you receive a cross-state subpoena and your state has not adopted the UIDDA, jurisdictional grounds for challenging it may be stronger.

Medical Records Get Extra Protection

If the subpoena seeks medical records, a subpoena alone is not enough under HIPAA. A healthcare provider can only release protected health information in response to a subpoena if one of these conditions is met:⁶

A judge has signed a court order specifically authorizing release.
The requesting party gives satisfactory assurance that reasonable efforts were made to notify the patient, and the deadline for the patient to object has passed.
The parties have agreed to a qualified protective order limiting how the information will be used, or one has been requested from the court.

Even with a court order, providers must follow the minimum necessary standard and release only the specific records described, not the entire chart.⁶ A subpoena for medical records that arrives without one of those safeguards should not result in disclosure.

If It Looks Valid but Overreaches, Object in Writing

A subpoena being real does not mean every demand inside it is enforceable. You have the right to object, and for privileged material you often have a duty to.

In federal civil cases, a written objection to a document subpoena must be served before the earlier of the compliance deadline or 14 days after the subpoena was served.¹ Miss that window and you can waive the right to challenge. This is where people get into trouble. A subpoena arrives, sits on a desk for three weeks, and by the time someone realizes they should have objected, the deadline has passed.

Common grounds courts accept include undue burden (the cost or disruption outweighs the value of the information), irrelevance, overbreadth, and privilege. Attorney-client privilege protects confidential communications with your lawyer for the purpose of legal advice. Doctor-patient confidentiality applies in most states. The Fifth Amendment protects you from compelled testimony that could incriminate you in a criminal matter.

The formal mechanism for pushing back is a motion to quash (cancel it) or a motion to modify (narrow it). File before the compliance deadline, which usually means acting within days of service rather than weeks. Some courts will condition denial of the motion on the requesting party paying the reasonable costs of production, which can be a workable middle ground.

Don’t Ignore a Valid Subpoena

Once you confirm a subpoena is real, do not simply throw it away. A court can hold you in contempt for failing to comply. Under federal law, willful disobedience of a lawful court order can result in a fine of up to $1,000 and up to six months in jail.⁷ Civil contempt sanctions can include daily fines that accumulate until you comply, and fines against organizations can run substantially higher.

Even if you believe the subpoena is defective or overreaching, respond within the required timeframe. File a written objection or a motion to quash. Courts treat silence very differently from a timely challenge: someone who objects in writing has legal protection, someone who simply fails to appear or produce documents does not. If you are unsure whether what you received is valid or whether your objections have merit, talk to an attorney early. The window closes fast.

1
Legal Information Institute. Rule 45 – Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure Rule 17 – Subpoena
3
United States Courts. Federal Court Scams
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1821 – Witnesses – Per Diem and Mileage Generally
5
Library of Congress. Constitution Annotated – Minimum Contact Requirements for Personal Jurisdiction
6
eCFR. 45 CFR 164.512 – Uses and Disclosures for Which an Authorization or Opportunity to Agree or Object Is Not Required
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 402 – Contempts Constituting Crimes