Why You Need a Process Server in Florida

If you have friends and family that live out of state, they may try to convince you that you don’t need to pay a private process server to handle service of your court papers. While many states allow a third party unrelated to the case to serve papers, Florida is not one of those states. Here’s what you need to know about why you need to hire a private process server in Florida.

The Florida Statutes

The Florida state statutes about service of process are very clear. Only the local sheriff’s department or a private process server registered with the courts is able to serve papers in a court case. Private process servers must go through a registration and certification process, be over the age of 18, and have no legal handicaps. You cannot register as a private process server just to help a friend with one case, and there are almost no exceptions to this rule.

The One Exception

There is one exception to this rule of service of process in Florida. Eviction notices, either three-day notices or seven-day notices, can be posted to the door of the tenant or delivered to their hand by yourself or by any party that you appoint to the task. However, once the eviction period is over and you have to file with the courts to have the tenant removed, those papers have to be served by a private process server. The difference is that the three-day and seven-day eviction notices are not filed with the courts.

If you have court papers that need to be served for your case, don’t make the mistake of trying to handle it yourself. Contact us today for more information about Florida’s laws about process service or to get started with our service today.