What You Need to Know About Self Representation and Process Service

Are you representing yourself in a lawsuit, divorce, or other civil matter? If so, there is much more effort needed than simply showing up to court and stating your case. There are many steps that may be required depending on the type of case that you have. If you want to make sure that your case is strong and follows court rules, you’ll need to enlist the aid of a few professionals. One of those professionals is a private process server.

What Process Service Is and Why It’s Necessary

Process service is the act of hand-delivering legal documents to involved named parties in an official capacity. The state of Florida requires that this is done by a sheriff, their deputy, or a certified process server. This is to ensure that an unbiased third party is handling the delivery, ensuring that it is accurate and can be backed up by evidence.

You absolutely must notify anyone that you name in a civil suit through certain legal papers that are also filed with the courts. This notification is necessary to ensure due process of any defendants or respondents, which is a constitutional right. As such, your case will not be able to move forward until process service occurs.

When Service of Process Fails

Sometimes there are situations where a party to a case cannot be found or accessed in order to be served the papers. When this happens, you will need to ask the judge to grant an alternative method of service so that your case can still move forward. Usually, this involves placing a classified ad in the appropriate category in the local newspaper for a specified number of days, containing a minimum amount of information.

However, you will need to have evidence that every reasonable attempt was made to serve the papers according to law. If you are working with one of our professional and experienced process servers, they will be able to provide you with any documentation that you need to prove your case.