Personal service means that someone serves the defendant with the relevant documents. You have several options regarding who performs this task. Of course, if you use someone who does not know the defendant personally, the server must take special care to serve the right person. these are your options about who can serve the defendant.
- bailiff, bailiff, or bailiff. All states allow law enforcement officers to serve personal service, although not all officers will serve civil citations. the use of this method is often valuable for its sobering effect. the fee may be added to your judgment if you win.
- Private Process Servers. Many states also allow service by private process servers, who you’ll find listed on the Yellow Pages. fees charged are generally based on length of service.
- service by a disinterested adult. some states allow service by anyone who is at least 18 years old, except the person filing the lawsuit. anyone means exactly that: a relative or a friend is fine. however, many states require that this person be approved by the court.
A mailbox is not personal enough. No matter who serves the papers, if personal service is used, the Complaint and Summons must be served on the Defendant. you can’t just leave the paper at the defendant’s work or home or in the mailbox. If the server locates the right person, but the person refuses to take the paper, acts hostile, or tries to run away, the server should simply drop the paper and walk away. a valid service has been performed. The server should never try to use force to get the accused to take any document.
certified mail
In most states, you can serve papers by sending them to the defendant by certified mail, return receipt requested. In some states, delivery by certified (or registered) mail is one of several ways you can deliver documents. other states require that you try service by certified mail first, before any other method of service. Typically, the court clerk does the mailing for you and charges a small fee. this is recoverable if you win. the mail method is cheap and easy, but in most states the defendant must sign the letter for this type of service to be effective. (In some states, service is served even if the defendant refuses a certified letter.) most businesses and many people routinely sign to accept your mail. however, some people never do, knowing instinctively, or perhaps from past experience, that nothing good ever comes by certified mail. the consensus in an informal survey of court clerks is that about 50% of court documents delivered by certified mail are accepted. If you try to use the mail to serve your papers and it fails, and you end up paying a process server, let the judge know as part of your filing and your costs will likely be added to the judgment.
A minority of states allow documents to be delivered by first class mail. States differ, however, on what you must do if the defendant does not respond to your complaint within the time limit. Check with your court clerk to see if this method is available in your area.
substituted service (or “nail and mail”)
It can be difficult to serve certain people. some have developed their ability to bypass process servers into a fine art. in some states, avoiding service no longer works, as there is now a procedure that allows “superseded service” if you make “reasonable efforts” to serve the defendant and fail. Often the slang for this type of service is “nail and mail,” because in many states, if you can’t personally serve the defendant, you don’t have to leave the claim with a living person. instead, you can simply pin one copy to the defendant’s door and mail the second copy.
In a typical state, the replaced service works like this:
- 1. small claims documents may be served by an adult who is not named in the lawsuit by leaving a copy at the person’s place of residence in the presence of a competent household member who is at least 18 years old (and who must be notified what are the documents). are dealt with) or at the person’s place of work during normal working hours with the person in charge (who should be informed of what the documents are about).
- 2. the same day, a copy of the documents must also be sent to the defendant by first class mail.
service is completed ten days after shipment. Make sure all steps, including mailing the additional copy, are done by an adult who is not named in the lawsuit.
serve someone with a post office box
If you don’t know anything other than the individual defendant’s P.O. box, you’ll need to get a mailing address to serve the person. To do this, you must give the post office a written statement that you need the address only to serve legal papers in a pending lawsuit. this should work, but if it doesn’t, refer the post office clerk to the post office administrative support manual § 352.44e(2). there is no fee for the post office that provides this information. 39 cfr § 265.6(d)(4)(ii).
proof of delivery
If you have asked the court clerk to serve your papers by certified mail, you do not need to do anything else. the court clerk sends the certified mail for you, and the signed post office receipt returns directly to the clerk if the service is performed. it’s as simple as that.
However, a court has no way of knowing if papers have been successfully served by personal service, substituted service, or first class mail, unless you tell them to. then you are required to do so. Service is accomplished by filing a form known as proof of service with the court clerk after service has been made. the proof of service form must be signed by the person actually performing the service. A proof of service is used by both the plaintiff and the defendant if the defendant files a lawsuit against the defendant. must be returned to the clerk’s office.