What is a Process Server?
Process Server. What does it mean? Many may be Process servers unfamiliar with the term, and unaware of the indispensable role that such a person fulfils. That is, of course, until you need one.
A process server is the person responsible for delivering all your legal documents. They are the person whole helps your court case to run smoothly from the start. Your process server goes into dangerous territory, putting themselves on the line for you.
The list of legal papers they deal with for you is endless. A few examples alone show how important the role is: papers served include witness summonses and subpoenas, divorce papers, bankruptcy and winding-up petitions, and non-molestation orders. These are all important documents. They need to be dealt with by a professional to ensure their validity.
Besides serving the papers, one of the most vital elements of the job is the completion of proof of service documents and sworn affidavits. These crucial papers prove that the recipient received the legal papers and cannot deny their existence when the court date arrives.
These are the basics of a process server’s work. You should already be getting a sense of just how important they are. If you need papers serving for any reason, they will be your most important friend and ally. If you are the person being served, they will be the face you dread to see at your door.
Process Servers as Person Tracers
As you can probably imagine, service of process is not always as simple as it sounds in the passages above. The job includes encounters with many dangerous and undesirable people, who will often be purposely difficult to find. This is not an easy job. There are few things in life that a person will try and avoid as much as they will try to avoid receiving legal documents.
Although some process servers are simply that and nothing else, others specialise in tracing recipients to their exact location, no matter how hard they try to hide. At the very top level, the work goes hand-in-hand with that of the investigative industry. Some of the best available have experience as private detectives. A process server with this string to their bow can offer more than your average enquiry agent. With expertise in person tracing, they can dig deeper and discover anyone who tries to avoid detection.
Found out all you can before you decide who should serve your papers; make sure you are choosing someone who possesses the skills needed to get the job done.
International Process Servers
And then there are those who really go that extra mile. What is to say that your papers needed to be served here at home in Britain? What if you need service to States, or discovery in the deepest jungles of Africa? Debtors, defendants, and unwilling divorcees will do anything to avoid being caught and served with papers. They will go anywhere to hide.
The best in the business know this, and they know how to deal with it. Tracing people is a specialised skill that takes years to perfect. It takes more than just a trawl of a few databases to ensure the recipient of your papers will be found. It takes knowledge, it takes dedication, and it takes hard and sometimes treacherous work.
Whether your papers need serving in England, Spain, Brazil, or Outer Mongolia, do your research. Choose a company that is going to benefit you. One that has the dedication and the expertise to finish the task you set them.
Check what they offer to you, and what they bring to your case. See how many times they attempt to serve your papers before they give in and move on to their next case. Be sure that they will go the extra mile if needed and that they will do all they can to track down a respondent.
Although you may never have heard of them before, a process server may one day be very important to you. When they are, make sure you choose the right one.
Fran J Slater
PTA Process Servers are a company with years of invaluable experience. Having started out decades ago as a private detective agency and process serving company, they developed all the skills and knowledge needed to provide the perfect service to you.