Strategies & Other Ways To Deliver Court Documents
Process serving is a legal procedure in which the plaintiff of a lawsuit formally gives notice of their legal action to the defendant. This gives the defendant official notice of the reason for the lawsuit and when they need to appear in court, so that they have sufficient time to work with a lawyer to prepare a defense. This is an important part of the justice system, and a lawsuit cannot move forward until the process serving has been completed.
Of course, people don’t like to be sued, so sometimes a person will try to evade a Mesa process server, thinking that they cannot be sued if the court documents cannot be delivered. However, an experienced process server has training and skills that enable them to track down and complete the serve, even if the defendant is making the situation difficult. If all means have been exhausted and the court documents are undelivered, there are ways that the judge can enable the case to move forward.
Process Serving Strategies
Most of the time, people are not expecting a lawsuit and quickly accept the court documents to avoid embarrassment. But sometimes, a defendant knows that the lawsuit is coming. When this happens, there are many ways that a Goodyear process serving company may go above and beyond to find a defendant who is avoiding them.
Information From Client
When a client has done their best to provide their Phoenix family law process server with relevant information about the defendant, it’s not difficult to locate most individuals. The process serving company will collect information such as the defendant’s name and known aliases, their work and home addresses, phone numbers, and basic identifying information such as a photo, physical description, and information about their vehicle, if it is relevant. Depending on the situation, clients can provide other helpful information, such as the defendant’s route to work, whether they use public transportation, addresses of their friends and family, and frequently visited locations such as gyms, coffee shops, restaurants, and convenience stores. All of this information will make your process serve faster and easier.
Stakeouts
Process servers sometimes conduct stakeouts in order to familiarize themselves with the defendant’s daily routine. When they become aware of the daily pattern of the defendant, it becomes much easier to “catch” the person than coming across them by chance. Stakeouts are both an information gathering tool and a window of opportunity to make contact with the defendant so that the court documents can be legally delivered.
Use Social Media
Sometimes, a defendant is evasive and your Scottsdale divorce process server needs to get creative. They may use information from social media to help them find the defendant at a concert or public event. A process server may even go to extreme measures such as waiting at the airport if they have learned from social media that the recipient is returning home from vacation.
Use Props
If the defendant becomes aware of the process server and refuses to answer the door, the server may pose as a delivery person attempting to deliver something such as flowers or pizza. It’s important to work with a trained and experienced Tucson personal injury process server because state laws place limitations on how court documents can be delivered legally. For example, the process server cannot wear a disguise or impersonate a police officer, but they can carry a pizza box. Illegal process serving procedures can get the case thrown out of court, forcing the plaintiff to start over.
Alternatives To Delivering Documents
If the process server has exhausted their attempts to deliver the court documents, and the person is either unresponsive or simply cannot be tracked, the judge may allow alternatives to in-person document delivery so that the court case can move forward.
Substituted Service
If the target cannot be tracked, some jurisdictions allow for substitute service, in which the court documents are delivered to a roommate, employer, or even a teenager. This alternative can only be used once all other options for document delivery have been fulfilled.
Newspaper Notice
In some jurisdictions, an alternative to in-person document delivery is placing a notice in the local newspaper. However, the Surprise process server must demonstrate that all other legal options have been exhausted and that every attempt has been made to deliver the papers in person.
Mail Delivery
Sometimes, a jurisdiction requires that the defendant receive the legal notice by mail in addition to substituted service, but this can be a challenge if the person has made frequent moves or their current address is unknown.
Get Your Court Documents Delivered with Mesa’s Top Rated Process Server
ASAP Serve’s team of experienced and professional process servers are ready to deliver your court documents quickly and legally. Our service is fast, reliable and effective, and we keep things easy for you with electronic document acceptance and status reports. Contact us and get your documents where they need to go when you work with ASAP Serve!
