Serving essential court documents to all case participants is a compulsory part of the legal process. This regulatory step follows the stipulation of the right of due process stipulation, which states that you must notify a person that you filed a lawsuit against and let them know when and where they need to appear to defend themselves.
However, serving paperwork isn’t as easy as it sounds, as many frustrating elements require the experience and expertise of a qualified law professional. Dealing with similar scenarios is why you need the help of a legal process server to help with the proceedings.
In this article, you’ll learn what process serving means and some of the most crucial rules and regulations guiding the server of legal papers in 2022. You’ll also learn how to outsource the task to qualified law professionals to avoid getting into legal trouble during the process service.
What Is Process Services?
Process service is the process of notifying an individual or organization that you’ve filed a lawsuit against them. The notification is necessary to help the defendant prepare for the court proceedings as quickly as possible. A professional process server or anyone else not involved in the case can always serve the papers.
While any individual who is above the age of 18 and that isn’t involved in the case can technically be a process server, you should consider employing the service of a qualified server. This step is necessary because the defendant might use different legal tactics to frustrate the server, which a professional server can only understand and tackle.
Moreover, there are complex rules that the server of legal documents should follow to avoid breaking the law while trying to uphold the law. While anyone can understand these rules, most people don’t even know about them, giving the legal process server the upper hand.
Process Serving Rules
A process server shouldn’t break the law when trying to serve papers, even if the recipient of the documents fails to cooperate. Instead, they should follow every legal means to deliver the documents as enshrined in the right of due process.
Below are some vital process serving rules every party should know.
1. Breaking is Illegal
Most process servers will naturally take the court papers to the individual’s residential address. However, if the person they’re serving refuses to answer the door, it’s illegal for a server to gain access forcefully. Forcefully gaining access by entering a locked building without permission will be counted as unlawful trespassing.
When faced with scenarios like this, you either wait till the person answers the door or come back at a more appropriate time. Alternatively, you can serve the documents at other places like their workplace, where it’s almost impossible to evade the process server.
2. It’s Illegal to Use Threat to Serve Papers
It’s illegal to use threats or force to serve papers, and you can’t force them to open their door or force them to accept the document against their will. This rule is one of the key reasons to consider hiring a professional server instead of random individuals.
3. It’s Illegal to Disguise as a Law Enforcement Agent
Under no circumstances should servers pretend to be law enforcement agents to coerce the person to be served into accepting lawsuit papers. It’s also illegal to serve documents accompanied by a law enforcement agent in most states of the United States.
4. It’s Illegal to Leave the Papers With a Minor
Court documents are for sane adults directly involved in the case due to their confidentiality. Therefore, it’s illegal to leave the papers with anybody below 18 in the US. Understandably, servers can be tempted to drop the documents with anyone who answers, especially when dealing with an evasive person, but they should respect the law.
5. Stakeout Is Legal
It’s legal for a server to wait outside the house of the person they’re serving so they can deliver the documents when appropriate, as long as they aren’t using any force or causing inconvenience. Servers can also wait at a friend’s home or anywhere they think the person to be served may visit so they can deliver the documents.
There are other process serving rules. However, these are the most significant bits that everyone involved in a lawsuit should know, whether you’re a server, a defendant, or just a concerned third party.
How Many Times Can a Process Server Come to Your House?
Frankly, there are so many rules guiding the activities of a legal process server in the United States that it’s easy to break one of them inadvertently. If you think a process server is too desperate, you may want to ask: how many times can a process server come to your house?
There are no official limits to the number of times a process server can attempt to deliver the court documents. Also, waiting at your door until you come around is legal, provided they’re not causing any inconvenience.
Why Should You Hire a Process Server?
Process servers are legal experts who focus mainly on serving documents. Their expertise, reliability, and professionalism are unmatched. They dedicate their time to studying and understanding rules and strategies that will enable them to operate under the best possible standards without breaking any laws.
To avoid getting into trouble for serving court documents, you need the help of an experienced process server like D&R Legal Process Service.
Conclusion
A legal document server isn’t allowed to gain access to your apartment forcefully, and you’re not legally required to allow them entry either. You can always notify appropriate law enforcement agents if a process server is trespassing. However, trying to evade a process service will not help you escape the lawsuit.
The server will hint the court of your action, and the court may decide to serve you publicly or use alternative serving methods. It’s essential also to note that different states have differing laws for serving legal documents, which is why you need an experienced process service firm like D&R Legal Process Service to help you handle your process serving.