Good day and Welcome to Lafayette Process LLC podcast. I’m your host today, Miranda, today’s topic we are going to dissect a very important topic, the various reasons why one can be served papers.
It is a thing of worry to most of us, scary even when we are served papers by strangers in business attire and out of the blue. There are many reasons one could be served papers suddenly, from divorce papers to notice of court meetings, the range of reasons is quite a lot, hence the aim of today’s podcast is to carefully outline for you reasons why you could be served papers, so if none of these reasons are met, you can be able to differentiate between the genuine process servers and the fakers.
Our earlier episodes have been geared towards making you understand fully the concept of process service ranging from “What happens when someone avoids a process server” to “How to find out why a process server is looking for me” but for the interest of our new listeners we would go over the explanation of the concept of process serving.
CONCEPT OF PROCESS SERVING
This procedure is one where the giving party of a lawsuit provides appropriate notice of litigation to another party or administrative body.
This involves a lot of transfer of papers to the relevant persons both into or outside the courtroom. This work description is humongous coupled with the critical task that falls before attorneys, one that is stressful; this brought about the invention of Process Servers.
They play key roles in filing, serving legal papers, and keeping track of the documents’ retrieval.
CRITERIA TO SERVED PAPERS
You must first be at least of a legal age of 18 years and have a registered place of abode or work.
It is the job of a process server to trail you, serve papers and authenticate that you received them. It is necessary to note that being served papers does not necessarily mean you are guilty of the crime; all you have to do is take a breather, meet with a registered attorney, present the documents and respond to the lawsuit filed against you. A process server can attempt to serve you as many times as possible even come up with alternative options to ensure that the task is completed. In some states like Toronto, the process server will attempt to serve the respondent a maximum of three times before returning to the court for alternative or replacement services.
REASONS FOR BEING SERVED
I have earlier debunked most suspicions as to what the reasons may be why we were being serviced by process services. Here are the reasons why we could be served:
- Divorce
- Child support
- Small claims matter like restraining orders or any legal claim at all.
During a divorce, your spouse or soon-to-be ex-spouse is served with a copy of the filed complaint about divorce, a copy of summons which the court clerk rightly issues, a copy of the joint preliminary Injunction. Your spouse is to be served within 120 days after you file the complaint; if that does not occur, the complaint is dismissed, and you start all over again. Exceptions are made when you request that the court extend the time of service by filling out extension forms and submitting them to the judge to be reviewed. It is important that the papers are served by a neutral person or employ the services of a process service as family members and significant others are not allowed to serve the papers. You can only serve the defendant yourself in cases where the defendant is willing to waive formal service by signing a form and returning it to you.
In cases of Child support, after opening a custody case, you are required to serve the other parent with a copy of the filed complaint about custody, a copy of the summons with the clerk’s signature, and a copy of the Joint Preliminary injunction. The other procedures carried out during divorce are repeated and followed judiciously
While filing a restraining order, the matter should be reported to the sheriff of your county because they oversee protecting your life. It is also important to note that you do not have to pay to have the court forms served to the abuser except in cases where you hire a professional process server. Whoever serves the abuser will have to fill out a ‘proof of service form’; this form will let the judge know that the abuser was served with the forms.
There are also alternative methods of service like service by publication, which is when the summons are published in a newspaper and a copy sent to the abuser’s residence; you can also use Service by mail, which entails returned receipts served to the most current address of the abuser or finally, delivering a copy of the court papers to the respondent’s house or place of employment in care of someone that is legally above 18 years and then mailing a copy to the address where it was delivered.
In an event, the abuser does not make it to the court hearing, and you are able to convince the judge that you made a ‘diligent effort.’ The abuser is purposely avoiding service, it is now viewed as a crime, and the police are given the task to bring the accuser in for prosecution.
I hope that I have been able to enlighten you on the reasons for being served papers essentially. In any event, you are served papers, do not panic, meet with your attorney, present the papers, and respond adequately to the lawsuit that failed against you. In some cases, you may not be in the wrong as it might be a misunderstanding.
If there are any more questions you need to be answered concerning reasons one is served papers by Process Servers, you can contact Lafayette at (1-866-237-2853) or send an email to [email protected]
So, that concludes our time together today. We hope you enjoyed listening.
If there is anything specific that you need us to chat about in a future episode, please reach out to us, and we would love to cover it for you. We’ll be sure to respond promptly. Thank you again for listening, and till next week, thank you for tuning into our podcast!
The foregoing podcast has simply been presented for informational purposes only. He or those at Lafayette Process Servers LLC, are not attorneys. Laws and regulations vary among states and specific jurisdictions. If you seek further information about this topic, please make sure to contact an attorney in your local area.
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