The Areas of Specialization of Process Servers
It is the duty of the process servers to hand over the legal documents (the lawsuit) filed by the plaintiff (the party filing the case) to the defendant (the party the plaintiff is filing the complaint against). The plaintiff cannot serve the defendant; the service of process must be carried out by a third-party individual for the service of process to be valid. The service of process must be carried out as soon as the case is started; otherwise, the judge might rule a dismissal without prejudice and order the plaintiff to start their case all over again.
It is, therefore, imperative that process servers serve the legal documents to the defendants as promptly as possible.
Duties of a Process Server
A process server can serve documents for all kinds of lawsuits. They are also tasked with serving papers for:
- Divorce
- Child support
- Personal injury claims
- Property damage claims
- Subpoenasfor documentary evidence
- Subpoenas for witnesses
- Subpoenas to appear in court (court summons)
- Landlord-tenant notices
- Collection notices
Given their skills and resourcefulness in navigating new places and finding people, process servers are also called to do different tasks. Hence, process servers may also specialize in these areas:
- Service of subsequent papers –The service of process only refers to the first time that a defendant is notified that someone has filed a legal proceeding against them. Lawyers can still hire process servers afterward, this time for the service of subsequent papers, like pleadings, motion papers, and discovery documents.
- Skip tracing– A natural part of the process service, finding someone to jump-start the litigation process is another specialty of process servers. They have the resources, skills, and instincts to locate someone who cannot be found at their latest known address or their usual haunts. Skip tracing usually kicks in when defendants learn that someone is suing them, so they evade process servers on purpose to delay the litigation.
- Court filing – Filing a case in court is tiresome work. You need to submit documents to various offices like the family court, district attorney’s office, city civil court, and the Supreme Court. You also have to visit the court clerk and pay the filing fee at the treasury.
Do You Need to Hire Professional Process Servers?
In a nutshell, yes. Although the law doesn’t require licensed process servers to serve legal documents, they are the best option because they know the procedures best. A small mistake in the service of process can nullify a case, which is a massive waste of time and money for the plaintiff. So if you are the one to file a case, you need to make sure that the process server knows how to carry out the task correctly and quickly.
Serve Index LLC caters to plaintiffs, attorneys, law practices, individuals, and organizations in New York. Our licensed process servers work in Bronx, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island, as well as Long Island’s Nassau and Suffolk counties. We can mail you the original affidavit to prove that the paper has been served successfully.
If you need our services, call 1 888 994 6339 or contact us to get a quote or schedule a consultation.