4 Reasons You Need a Professional Process Server
SPEED OF SERVICE
In many jurisdictions, the requirements for someone who can serve process are as lax as the server must be at least 18 years old and not a party to the action. Many people, decide to bypass a professional process server and send documents to the local sheriff for service. Though using a sheriff’s office for service can be less expensive and requires less research than finding a dedicated process server, this move isn’t necessarily as effective. Here are 4 reasons you need a professional process server:
Getting your documents served promptly is important. This is especially true if your service relates to an impending court hearing or deposition, where there may be rules that a party was served within a particular time period before the event for your case to proceed properly. Service of process is a large portion of what professional process servers do. Sheriffs’ offices, on the other hand, have a whole host of other duties – transporting prisoners, finding suspects in crimes, providing protection to the general population – and serving your documents may not be high on that list. In Serve Now’s 2011 survey of 100 legal professionals, 90 percent said professional process servers were quicker at serving papers than sheriffs’ offices.
KNOWLEDGE OF LAWS
As mentioned above, sheriffs’ departments have to shoulder a lot of duties. Their knowledge of the law must be broad enough to cover a multitude of possible violations. Process servers, on the other hand, deeply study the Rules of Civil Procedure and the laws surrounding proper service of process. They know how to properly serve people in multiple jurisdictions, and they know how to properly fill out an Affidavit of Service that shows they did their due diligence. Additionally, process servers can provide service in local, state, and federal cases, while many jurisdictions restrict sheriffs’ departments from serving papers in federal cases.