As a process server in southern Florida, we often get asked about the importance of service of process. Many people don’t understand the legal concept behind it, and why it is crucial in the legal system. In this post, we will discuss what the service of process is, why it matters, and what it entails.

What is Service of Process

Service of process is the legal term used to describe the process of delivering legal papers to someone who is involved in a legal case. The papers may include a summons, a complaint, or a subpoena, and they must be served on the person in question to notify them of their legal obligations. The purpose of service of process is to give the person notice of the legal action being taken against them and to give them an opportunity to respond. Continue reading →

Serving child support papers in Florida is a critical part of the legal process. Child support papers are legal documents that notify a parent of their responsibility to financially support their child. Proper service of these papers ensures that the parent is aware of the legal proceedings and has the opportunity to respond to the allegations. Let’s look at the steps to properly serve child support papers in Florida:

Step 1: File the Order

The first step in serving child support papers in Florida is to file the case with the Florida Department of Revenue. This can be done online or by phone. Once your case is filed and approved, you will be provided with documents to serve to the parent or other person responsible for financially supporting the child in question. Continue reading →

At Accurate Serve of southern Florida, serving Miami, Key West, and Plantation, we understand the importance of hiring a reputable and reliable process server. Unfortunately, there are many fake process servers out there that are running scams to defraud unsuspecting clients. In this blog post, we will discuss some of the most common scams used by fake process servers and offer tips on how to protect yourself.

Scam #1: No Verifiable Reputation + Upfront Payment

One of the most common scams used by fake process servers is posing as a process server with no verifiable reputation that asks for payment upfront. If the process server has no website, social media, Google listing, etc. where you can verify their reputation via online reviews, plus they ask for payment upfront, beware. This is a classic setup to scam you out of some cash. Continue reading →

Custody cases are almost always tense and emotional, so it’s important for any process server tasked with serving custody case-related papers to be very cautious and calculated. The server should avoid escalating the situation by discreetly serving the custody papers to the recipient.

What to Avoid When Serving Custody Papers

One of the worst case scenarios while serving custody papers involves serving the papers when the recipient is around the children in question, the significant other who filed the papers, or other family members. You never want to involve children in a custody situation any more than what they have to be. The recipient of the custody papers may be caught by surprise by the papers, leading to a hostile or aggressive reaction, which wouldn’t be good if the person who filed the papers is present. Finally, the recipient will likely feel ashamed or embarrassed if served around family members. While we can’t always worry about a process recipient’s feelings, in highly-sensitive cases like custody battles, it doesn’t hurt to have some discretion. Continue reading →

There’s a lot of confusion out there about exactly what a process server does. When process servers are portrayed in movies and TV shows, they’re always dressed in disguises and sneaking around, trying to trick an unsuspecting victim into admitting their identity. Once they’ve done so, the process server declares, “You’ve been served!” and quickly clears the scene. But is this really how process servers behave? In this post, we’ll separate reality from fiction when it comes to what process servers are allowed to do.

Fiction: Process servers get to wear disguises to trick people

Reality: Process servers are held to strict ethical standards that include many rules for their conduct or behavior. 

In addition to not being dishonest, process servers are specifically mandated in Florida not to be deceitful about their identity while working. Furthermore, wearing impersonating certain other professionals such as police officers or public officials is expressly forbidden. So no, you won’t find any reputable process servers running around with empty pizza boxes…that’s for the movies only. Continue reading →

If a process server is trying to find a defendant and is having difficulty, they have a few options at their disposal. However, if the process is not served within a certain amount of time, the case will be dismissed and must be refiled. So it’s important for the process server to act fast to keep the case intact and moving forward.

Process Must Be Served Within 120 Days

Once a civil case is filed, the plaintiff has 120 days to serve the process on the defendant(s). If the process is not served within that time frame, a motion to dismiss may be filed. However, if the plaintiff can provide a good reason as to why they were not able to serve the defendant, the deadline can be extended by a judge. Continue reading →

Anytime a civil, or sometimes criminal, case is filed in Florida, the documents related to that case must be properly served to the named litigants and witnesses in the case to notify them of their mandatory upcoming appearance. This is not just a requirement of the state of Florida, but it is a guaranteed right provided in the U.S. Constitution. This notification gives the defendants and witnesses named in the case time to adequately prepare their defense and/or testimony. Without this notification, the legal process could not operate fairly for all parties involved.

But what if those court documents, known as process, are not delivered, or served, correctly? What implications could improper service of process have for your court case? In this post, we’ll explore the possible consequences of different improper service of process scenarios in Florida. Continue reading →

Legal firms deal with hundreds or even thousands of cases each year. Just think about the amount of paperwork that involves! Who has time to go out and track down each of those documents? Well, you don’t have to. Accurate Serve® offers professional document retrieval services for your law firm that will take the burden of hunting for records off of your attorneys so they can focus on strategizing for their cases.

Legal firms that use our document retrieval services save money on labor and run more efficiently.

Let us show you how our document retrieval services benefit law firms by: Continue reading →

What is Process?

According to Cornell Law School, a process is a collection of papers relevant to a specific court case that are to be served to the case’s defendant. These papers typically include a court summons and the plaintiff’s complaint. When a process is for a witness or subject matter expert, the process is usually a summons or subpoena.

What is Service of Process?

Cornell also states that service of process is the procedure by which defendants in court proceedings are given proper notification of those upcoming requested appearances. This procedure is related to the Due Process clause of the U.S. Constitution and ensures people have adequate time to prepare for a legal case against them. Continue reading →

Are you looking for someone, but have no idea where to even start? Maybe you need to find out more about someone’s current whereabouts or background. Or maybe you’re searching for your long lost high school sweetheart. Or maybe you’re trying to find a biological parent you never knew. In any case, skip tracing may be the solution for you. But what is skip tracing, and how do you do it? Keep reading to learn more!

What is Skip Tracing?

The term “skip trace” simply refers to tracing someone who has skipped town. A skip trace is a process used by individuals and investigators to find a person’s current whereabouts. It can be used to find someone who has gone missing, to track down someone who may have information relevant to an investigation, or to collect a debt. The skip trace process usually begins with a search of public records, such as telephone directories, voter registration rolls, and social media profiles. Continue reading →