In the United States, when legal action is taken against you in a court of law, it is a must that all parties should be notified. Various cases require legal process service such as delivery of subpoenas, summons, complaints, writs and other court order documents that need to be served by a third party.
This is important especially if you are running a law firm. You will need a legal process service company that values the importance of serving documents in a timely, efficient and legal manner.
Why You Should Work With a Good Legal Process Service Company
Hiring a process service company can help strengthen your case. This is important so all parties involved are notified of the legal action. This will give them time to subpoena evidence, to call on witnesses to testify and more. Without a legal process services agency, your case may be delayed or even derailed.
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Below are top reasons why you should work with a legal process service company:
Enjoy top-notch quality service
When you establish a good working relationship with a legal process service company, you are assured that the task is carried out efficiently. One important consideration is finding a company that aligns with the core values of your firm.
Enjoy timely delivery of necessary documents
Look for a process service company that already has an established delivery timeframe. You want to ensure that the court documents are sent out within twenty-four hours and even offer expedited service when needed. This will help move your case forward. A sheriff’s office can serve papers in case an accident or crime occurs but serving papers will not be their priority.
Enjoy wider scope of service
Don’t look for a company that only serves within your general location. Work with the best Legal Process Serving company that also caters to other states and territories. They have broad knowledge and understanding of the law and adhere to unique rules and regulations for every state and county.
Take advantage of member perks
Once you establish a relationship with a legal process service company, you get to enjoy a seamless submission process, discounts in pricing, having one point of contact and a lot more. A good process service company offers these perks to their loyal members.
How To Find the Right Process Server
The one who delivers these legal papers is called a process server and they play an important part in ensuring the success of your case. However, not all process servers offer top-notch service. Without proper research, you may end up with inexperienced servers that could mess up the documents or even fail to file an affidavit of service. You don’t want to compromise your case, that is why finding the right process server is crucial.
Below are the top 6 questions you need to ask before you hire a process server:
- How much will it cost? Depending on your location, the amount may vary. For instance, if there could be travel or parking fees needed or if multiple attempts are needed to serve the papers to the defendant or you want the delivery of documents expedited.
Look for process servers that are transparent and straightforward about the costs and be wary of the no-serve, no-pay pricing scheme.
- What tools are used to locate individuals? Not all defendants are easily found and it falls on the process server to find them. They conduct web and social media searches as well as their database to find defendants. Look for a process server who knows how to exhaust all resources that are both efficient and legal. Beware of process servers who have records of crossing legal or ethical boundaries as their service may not hold up in the court.
- How can you check your service progress? Keeping in touch is an important part of process service. Efficient process servers will not keep you in the dark about what’s going on. They will provide you with timely updates by text, phone call or email.
After serving the documents, they will provide an Affidavit of Service to the attorney of record. In case they cannot locate the intended person, they will also provide an Affidavit of Due Diligence, allowing you to try other means of service.
- How long does it usually take to complete the service? Plenty of variables are at play and all of these may affect the time it takes to complete the process. In some cases, certain jurisdictions prohibit serving the defendant at their residences during Sundays or holidays.
There are times when they need a little more time to track down a defendant especially if the said defendant aims to evade service. It is worth mentioning that international process service usually takes much longer than domestic service.
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- How long have they been in business? When it comes to legal process service companies, experience plays a vital role. Take a look at their track record of locating defendants that are difficult to track or any international or cross-state service on their portfolio. Work with a process server who knows the ropes and has been in business for more than 30 years like D&R Legal Process Service in Berkeley, for instance.
- What do they do in case the receiving person is evasive? Visiting a defendant’s home to serve documents has no limit and each process server follows certain guidelines as to how many times they will try to serve legal documents. In most cases, they will make three attempts at various times of the day and on different days. However, if they fail to serve the documents after multiple attempts, the process server has several legal options:
- Substitute Service – Some states permit the Process Service to deliver the papers to a different person other than the defendant provided that due diligence is done and all other means to locate the defendant is exhausted.
- Drop Service – Sometimes, a process server simply leaves the legal documents near the defendant if the recipient declines acceptance of the legal papers. Some states require for the paperwork to be placed face-up and should not be inside an envelope. When this is done, even if the defendant chooses not to pick up the documents, they are considered served.
- Posting – This is usually applicable to landlords or tenant cases. They use posting as a means of serving documents to the defendant. In various states, it is deemed acceptable if the server will ‘post’ the document at the front door of the individual’s home. Then a follow up is done through mailing court papers.
To Sum it Up
Knowing what questions to ask the process server will help you hire a legal process server with confidence. Finding legal process outsourcing services is now made easier with the above pointers.
If you need help understanding what a service process is and its related terms, connect with us on our blog to learn more!
