You may have heard about process serving before, but do you know why it plays such an important role in legal proceedings? The fact is that without efficient and compliant process serving, a court case may not only be delayed but also lead to potential legal disputes, violations of due process or case dismissal. This article will break down what process serving is, the purpose it serves and why you should care about it if you want your case to proceed as smoothly as possible.

What is Process Serving?

Process serving refers to the act of delivering legal notices such as summons, bankruptcy notices, subpoenas or other legal documents to their intended recipients. Its purpose is to ensure that all involved parties in a case are given official notification of any legal proceedings involving them (thereby providing due notice to any legal obligations they may have e.g. court appearances).

It’s a critical component of the legal process because notifying individuals of legal action provides them with the opportunity to respond and participate in proceedings – failure to provide timely notice can set your case’s progress back significantly because doing so is a legal requirement that must be met. To process and serve as per the legal requirements, you have to “serve” the correct documents through an approved method and within the given limitation period. This is the limit within which the documents must be served, and it differs depending on your specific case type and jurisdiction.

There are a variety of methods you can use and the one you opt for will depend on what contact information you have on the recipient, the amount of time you have and any previous contact attempts you may have made. In some cases, the documents may require a signature and in others, postal or electronic delivery may be enough – be sure to check if your state has specific requirements that must be met. 

The process serving itself can be carried out by anyone over the age of 18 who is not a party to the case, however, this may differ based on your specific state or territory so be sure to check if there are specific qualifications your process server must have.

Even when it’s not a requirement, many employers opt for licensed and trained process servers who are well-versed in legal requirements and procedural rules. They provide a greater level of certainty and credibility in comparison to an informal service which may involve a friend, family member, or anyone without process serving training. The time limit within which the documents must be served is referred to as the limitation period, and this differs depending on your specific case type and jurisdiction.

Another important part of process serving is ensuring you obtain evidence of doing so via Proof of Service. This is a document that shows that legal documents were properly served by detailing when, where and how the serving occurred. This prevents issues like potential delays in your case progress or case dismissal. As you may know, one issue process servers face is that people can sometimes try to actively avoid being served legal documents. As a result, process servers make use of practices like skip tracing to deal with such situations and locate individuals efficiently. 

The Importance of Process Serving

As mentioned above, process serving is an essential component of the legal system in that it ensures legal documents make their way to the intended recipients. It’s pretty clear to see why this is so important – case proceedings wouldn’t be able to proceed if an involved party weren’t aware of any obligations on their end. However, process serving means more than just a procedural checkbox you have to tick off for the case to continue. 

To begin with, process serving allows for due process by giving the other involved parties a fair opportunity to think over and respond to legal notices.  This fairness prevents either party from having an unfair advantage simply because they were unaware of legal action against them. On the same note, process serving is also necessary for legal compliance, without which the validity of the case would be questioned. 

process serving

Additionally, process servers aid you in risk management by lowering the chances of possible complications and a drawn-out legal process. They have the professional skills to deal with challenging process serving cases and have tactics and techniques to make sure documents get served accurately within the limitation period. Disputes over whether a person was properly “served” are less likely in the hands of experienced process servers. Process servers also provide detailed and verifiable proof of notice that also protects against claims of incorrect process serving.

Finally, process serving supports the judicial system because lawyers, corporations and debt collection agencies all rely on it to make sure communications of legal notices occur as expected. Without process serving as the mechanism that ensures people receive legal notice correctly, there would be no reliable way of confirming that individuals were all on the same page regarding case status and what actionable tasks there were. The increased risk of delays and disputes this would cause will harm the legal system’s ability to function efficiently. Ultimately, the integrity of the judicial process depends on a reliable and consistent method of communication, which is precisely what process serving provides.

Supporting Process Serving with Skip Tracing

To ensure the success of process serving, accurate and timely delivery is essential—this is where Polonious can transform the way you work to be faster, easier and more efficient. Our newly launched TraceEngine software ticks all the boxes when it comes to your skip tracing needs. Designed specifically for skip tracing, TraceEngine is the quickest and easiest way to gain access to our industry-leading investigation management system. It’s perfect for solo investigators or small to medium teams, with powerful, ready-to-go workflows designed for a range of industries and use cases. 

With TraceEngine in your toolkit, you’ll:

  • Save time: Our process automation helps you complete more jobs with greater efficiency. From report generation to maintenance work, we automate the background tasks so you can focus on solving investigations.
  • Get quick hits: TraceEngine lets you easily access subject history so you can identify individuals you’ve located before. Instead of starting each case from scratch, you can leverage your previous findings to accelerate the investigation process.
  • Experience less frustration: Our pre-configured skip-tracing workflows are designed to make your life simpler. From case allocation to generating reports, our intuitive system ensures you can hit the ground running on day one.
  • Stay secure: With secure cloud infrastructure, malware protection and encryption in transit, we’ll keep your data secure at all times.
  • Cut costs while growing your business: With TraceEngine, you get enterprise-level features at a fraction of the cost. You’ll get all the core case management tools you need with no hidden fees or complicated pricing structures—just one low price for all the essentials.

Check us out here to get started!