Chatsworth Courthouse
Bail Bonds Guide

9425 Penfield Ave., Chatsworth, CA 91311. The courthouse is open 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, with the clerk's office open 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., except court holidays. Departments generally sit from 8:30 a.m. to noon and 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

No. Chatsworth is a distinct west-San Fernando Valley courthouse on Penfield Avenue, several miles from the Van Nuys Civic Center. Van Nuys Courthouse East and Van Nuys Courthouse West are separate buildings at the Van Nuys complex. Check the courthouse name and department on your notice — arriving at the wrong Valley courthouse is the most common mistake we hear about out here.

It serves the western end of the San Fernando Valley — the Chatsworth, Northridge, Canoga Park, Winnetka, West Hills, and Porter Ranch side of the Valley. Those are all City of Los Angeles neighborhoods, so LAPD Valley division bookings are the usual source of cases here.

No. Courthouses do not accept bail bonds. On an LAPD Valley arrest, the bond is posted at the divisional jail holding the defendant or at the county facility they are transferred to. We post at Valley jails and at the downtown county facilities, 24 hours a day.

Usually at an LAPD Valley divisional jail first — Devonshire, Topanga, or West Valley on the west side of the Valley — then transferred into the county system if bail is not posted. Men transfer to the Inmate Reception Center and Twin Towers on Bauchet Street; women go to Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood.

Usually bail is already set at booking under the county bail schedule, and it can be posted immediately without waiting for court. The court's role is review — at arraignment or on a later motion a judge can keep, raise, or reduce bail, or grant own-recognizance release, under the bail hearing rules cited above.

The judge can order the bond forfeited and issue a bench warrant the same day. California allows a limited statutory window to bring the defendant back before the court and set the forfeiture aside before the surety faces summary judgment, so the call should happen the day it is missed.