Residents of South Carolina who want to serve an out-of-state subpoena can go through the process fairly easily since the state is part of UIDDA-compliant U.S. states. In South Carolina, citizens are allowed to serve legal papers instead of a county clerk or a peace officer conveying the action.
Namely, if you’re over 18 years old and are not involved in the subpoena case, you can act as a process server and serve a summons to the person(s) of interest. Besides South Carolina residents, the sheriff, their deputy, and the court clerk are the legal parties allowed to serve the summons in South Carolina.
Continue reading below to understand better how an out-of-state subpoena is served in South Carolina. Moreover, we’ll suggest a trustworthy legal aid firm to handle all your process-serving requirements.
How to Obtain and Serve an Out-of-State Subpoena in South Carolina
As we mentioned, other than the sheriff, their deputy, and the court clerk, civilians can also serve legal papers in South Carolina. To do so, they must be over 18 years old, not be an attorney or related to the case at hand in any way.
In addition, the South Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure (SCRCP) govern subpoenas for proceedings in other states that comply with South Carolina’s Uniform Interstate Depositions and Discovery Act.
The Content of a Subpoena
When it comes to the issuance of the subpoena, the court is the legal entity that responds to the motion. The following information must be included in the subpoena:
- The name of the court
- The title of the proceeding
- The civil action number
- The names, addresses, and contact details (phone numbers of all counsel of record and any party not represented by an attorney)
- The command for each involved individual(s) to attend, deliver, or allow inspection and/or copying of documents, books, or other tangible objects that are of interest to the case
- The command that each person adheres to the outlined terms in the subpoena by allowing the premises to be examined at the time of the subpoena issuance
Before serving the subpoena, the court clerk must deliver the document, signed and sealed but otherwise blank, to the requesting party for further completion with the needed information.
Subpoenas can request the presence of a person in a trial, a hearing, or a deposition. However, since South Carolina is one of the U.S. states that have adopted the UIDDA guidelines, responding to an out-of-state subpoena does not necessarily mean being physically present in court.
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