Process servers are responsible to make sure that every other party to a suit is notified when a lawsuit is filed and that legal action against them is due. A question begs, how does it go if, for instance, you are not served court papers? What amount of time is the process server tasked to serve legal papers in Riverside County, CA? This article seeks to explain to you important details about process servers such as but not limited to what a process server is permitted to do in comparison to what they are not permitted to do.
The process server may fail to find you. This does not necessarily mean that you have avoided the lawsuit. You might think that if you manage to dodge the process server or fail to physically touch the papers you have escaped the lawsuit altogether. Courts have enacted provisions such as substituted service as a measure to handle avoidant parties who are fond of evasive tactics. Therefore, it does not mean that you are off the hook if the process server cannot find you.
In every state, there are tailored laws that dictate what a process server is and is not permitted to do. These laws also indicate the duration of time that a process server has to serve papers. Therefore, an excellent process server should be essentially acquitted with their specific state laws. Good process servers should not choose to ignore or maneuver through the rules, to ensure that you are served court papers.
It is now appropriate to explore the ways that the law authorizes you to be served papers and what goes on in the event you are not served court papers. A process server can facilitate the process of sending you court papers via mail whenever a personal service has failed. Through permission sought from the judge by a process server, a substituted service can be used. Use of substituted service can take several forms but worry not as every state has found a way to allow service by email in their statutes. The process server is familiar with the specific statutes in a state and will advise you accordingly on what will happen next should it be impossible to locate a party in person.
Another form of substituted service is where a state allows the court papers to be left with a capable person 18 years or older at the residence of a party in a lawsuit. The good thing is that many states allow this kind of substituted service. This service aims to hand the papers to a competent adult who understands their significance to ensure that the summons reaches the party to whom they were intended. It also seeks to eliminate the chance of the party claiming they did not receive the summons. Such measures are taken since the papers at stake are legal documents crucial to a lawsuit.
Finally, there are certain things process servers are not allowed to do, and you need to be familiar with such things. Activities such as going through your mailbox, engaging in lies, trespassing on private property, breaking in and entering private property, and applying force while giving court papers are illegal, therefore, process servers cannot do them.