Process Serving: What Is It And How Do You Do It?
The legal procedures in the United States of America require that each party involved in a case needs to be duly notified of any action that can be taken against them in a court of law, or be duly notified when any action needs to be taken regarding their case in the court. This is a mandate and part of the Due Process of Law and known as process serving.
Since different states have different Rules and Regulations, and Procedures regarding the methods by which parties may be notified, it’s advisable that you find out the details relating to your own state.
Whenever a person is sued or involved in some legal issue, he/she has the right to be notified about it, so that he/she can defend themselves. Usually, most states notify civil defendants by serving them with a Complaint and some form of a Summons, requiring the person to present himself in the court of law. And if the defendants don’t respond to the summons, they can lose their case. Also, most states require the Complaint & Summons to be delivered or served to the civil defendant ‘In Person’ and only to him/her. In cases, where the defendant is not served in person, the judge can rule whether or not a default judgement should be entered against the defendant.
A Complaint & Summons can’t be mailed to a defendant for they can then claim that they never received the court summons. So how can you prove that they received the summons? This where process serving and process server plays an important role. During the proceedings of the court, the process server can testify whether the defendant was served or not. Earlier the process serving was performed by law enforcement officials and agents of the court. However, now most states allow American citizens above the age of 18 and residing in the state to do the process serving.