Problems with International Process Service

In today’s global marketplace, it is becoming common for lawsuits to involve companies and individuals from other countries. When you sue someone in another country, you still have to serve them notice of the lawsuit and give them the opportunity to respond. This is more easily said than done in many cases.

When You Can Serve an Agent

If the company you are filing a lawsuit against is headquartered in a foreign country but has operations in the United States, you may not need international service at all. Unless you are suing a specific individual in the company who resides in another country, you can have the papers served to an agent of the company at one of their local locations. Accurate Serve can serve papers to company representatives local to Florida.

When Papers Have to Go to Another Country

When the papers have to go to another country, there are several considerations to be made. If you don’t need the defendant’s local government to help you enforce the judgement, you can sometimes make service through the mail or by other means. An experienced process service company can help you determine if this is an option.

If you do need the defendant’s local government to enforce a judgement, you will need to go through very specific channels. If the country of the defendant is part of the Hague Convention, an agreement of countries for service of process, an experienced process server can go through the appropriate channels to make sure that papers are served successfully and accurately. If they are not, you have to go through a much lengthier process called Letters Rogatory, which is more expensive and time consuming. Again, an experienced process service company will be able to assist you.

If you are needing to serve papers internationally and aren’t sure what method will be appropriate, contact an experienced Florida process server for more information.