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How Process Servers Find an Evasive Person

Process recipients aren’t usually too hard to find, but occasionally we’ll get one that just disappears like a ghost. To find recipients like this, we really have to dig in our heels and use all the tools in our belts. Some techniques we use to find extra difficult process recipients are outlined below:

Skip Trace

If the regular tactics for locating process recipients don’t work, then we’ll escalate up to a skip trace. A skip trace provides many details about a person’s background and can be a great jumping-off point to finding someone evasive. Some of the information discovered in a skip trace includes contact information, criminal reports, known associates, real estate holdings, asset holdings, and more. Continue reading

What Qualities Do You Want in Your Process Server

Are you trying to hire a process server in the Sarasota area? Most civil court matters in Florida require a certified process server by state law. Using an illegitimate process server can have big consequences for your cases. When looking for a process server to hire, be sure to check on the following qualities to avoid issues in the future:

Proper Certification

All process servers in Sarasota, DeSoto, and Manatee counties must be certified by Florida’s 12th Judicial Circuit. To be certified, process servers must: Continue reading

Do Process Servers Wear Disguises?

What People Think About Process Servers

When people think of process servers, the first thing that comes to mind is someone peeking around corners in full costume in an effort to surprise the recipient. When the recipient is “served,” they become violently enraged and the disguise-clad process server runs off, ready for the next performance.

The Truth About Process Servers

However, this is far from the truth. While wearing disguises might make for interesting stories, it is unethical and frowned upon by experienced process servers in real life. In some areas, it’s outright prohibited! Continue reading

How Many Attempts Will A Process Server Make?

When you need legal papers served on someone, it’s important that the service go as smoothly as possible. There are several factors to consider when it comes to how quickly the service goes and how many attempts the process server must make.

In this blog post, we’ll look at some of those factors that determine how many service attempts will be made:

When is the Court Date?

The clock starts ticking as soon as a process server is assigned to a case. To be valid, service must be completed at least two weeks before the scheduled court appearance. If there isn’t enough time, the process server won’t be able to make as many service attempts before looking for an alternative. Continue reading

Common Questions Frequently Asked About Process Serving

What is Service of Process?

Service of process is the act of officially delivering court-related documents, known as process, to relevant parties. Defendants are typically served with a summons and complaint, while witnesses and experts will receive a subpoena. 

What is a Process Server?

A process server is an expert trained to deliver legal processes to its intended recipient. In Florida, private process servers must be certified by the court system for their work to be valid. Process servers typically receive assignments from legal firms and plaintiffs. They then deliver the assigned process and attest under penalty of perjury that it was delivered to the correct person. Continue reading

Why Are Process Servers Important?

When you think of a process server, you probably visualize someone sneaking around in a disguise trying to catch an unsuspecting target unawares, then proclaiming “You’ve been served!” as they hurl a pile of documents their way. While movies may portray process servers like this, it couldn’t be further from the truth.

What do process servers do?

Process servers are an integral part of the U.S. legal system. Without process servers, the flow of court cases would come to a standstill as people constantly failed to appear, most likely due to not knowing they needed to be there. Continue reading

April Newsletter 2022

Message from the Founder

We have great news in the process serving world in regards to service of process originating from the great state of Michigan.  The Governor signed Senate Bill 244 into law on March 23, 2022.  The law will go into effect 180 days from that date, so September 20, 2022.

What does the Bill say and what changes will take place? The main change in this Bill is the change of the current requirement of needing Affidavits of Service to only requiring a written Statement of Service, or a Return of Service that does not need to be notarized. A Return of Service is without notary and an Affidavit of Service has a notary block on it.

If you are an Attorney in Michigan, this article is a Heads Up for you. If you start seeing Returns of Service for MI cases now, that is not good. But, if you start seeing them closer to the end of the year, just know that it is proper at that point (after 9-20-22).

The entire Bill is attached for your viewing pleasure.

Beau Charlet
https://www.theaccurateservefranchise.com/

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FRANCHISEE: PLANTATION

Bring on the sunshine! Spring is here and as it does every year it brings a change of seasons. Out with the old and in with the new for 2022! This year Accurate Serve® Plantation has a big change to share as well. There has been a change in ownership and management for the Plantation office. Moving forward, when you reach out to our Plantation office you will be greeted by myself and my team. I personally have over 8 years of experience in the industry and operating Accurate Serve® Offices. My team oversees offices throughout Fort Myers, Port St. Lucie, Dallas and Houston and I am excited to extend our customer services into the Miami area.

There will be no changes to the way that you send us work. You can email the documents for service to serve@accurateserveplantation.com or submit the work through our websites ‘send work’ tab here www.accurateserveplantation.com/sendwork

What you can expect moving forward is, friendly and professional customer service, timely responses to emails/phone calls and updates on jobs. Quick turnaround on signed returns/affidavits.

Accurate Serve® Plantation is revamped for the 2022 year and I am excited to work with our current and new clients down the road. My office is here for any of your processing serving needs, no matter the location of service you can email us the documents. My team will always confirm receipt of your emails and we will keep you updated on our progress for each job.

If you are a current customer, THANK YOU! Your business is greatly appreciated and I have enjoyed meeting you through phone and email conversations. If you have used our services in the past, please contact us the next time you are in need of service in order to meet our new team. I look forward to assisting Attorneys and Paralegals alike with your process serving needs and earning your business.

Thank you,

Brandon Muscato
Need our help?
Call (954) 770-9997

or
Email serve@accurateserveplantation.com

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QUICK TIDBIT!
Did you know that FL courts started e-filing on 4-1-13?  That was close to 9 years ago. Before e-filing, we would walk stacks of cases into the Clerk’s office and let them stamp and file everything with hard copies. Those sure were different times.
Word of the Month: Intersperse – to insert or place at intervals
M A R C H
3/13 – Daylight Savings Time
3/17 – Happy St. Patricks Day!
3/20 – First Day of Spring
Office Anniversaries
Tampa, FL
February 2022 Job Statistics

February 2022 Job Count – 4,045
Average Number of Days from Receiving Paper to Paper Being Served* – 6.04

*This includes jobs that may be on hold or waiting for new info. There is no way to take those jobs out of the calculation. So, if a job is placed on hold for 2 weeks, that’s 14 days on that job which factors in to this average. So, we’re even better than what the eyes see, LOL. Some papers get served same day, some next day and some take multiple attempts/addresses to effect service. All we do all day and every day is serve papers. We’re good at it and we love what we do. Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to continue to serve your papers.

CLICK HERE TO FIND YOUR ACCURATE SERVE LOCATION
We Are Proud Sponsors of:
Copyright © 2022 Accurate Serve, All rights reserved.

Qualities to Look for in a Process Server

Hiring a certified process server to serve process on most civil court matters is required by Florida state law. Not using a credible process server can have serious consequences for your legal matters. When searching for a process server to hire, always be sure to check on the following items to avoid any problems down the road:

Certification

All process servers in Sarasota, DeSoto, and Manatee counties must be certified by Florida’s 12th Judicial Circuit. To be certified, process servers must: Continue reading

February Newsletter 2022

Message from the Founder

Fore!!
One of the 2 official Accurate Serve® golf teams were in full swing last week. We had the privilege to play in the 7th Annual Lakeland Bar Association Golf Tournament.  The AS team consisted of Beau Charlet (me), Ty Hurner, Derek Keating and Cameron Cole.
The AS team was 1 of 12 teams that competed that day.  We were proud to shoot a 67, 5 under par.  This was a best ball tournament so I contributed more in the laughter department rather than the skill portion but I did put a great team together that could really swing the clubs.  Our team fell 4 strokes off the lead, see below results:
1st: Drew Moody; Taylor Rogers; Barrett Sumner; and Robbie VanDruten
2nd: Kevin Albaum; Zach Brown; John Lancaster; and Brad Stainsby
3rd: Zach Sellars; Tony Allen; Steve Runfeldt; and JP Runfeldt

And the Long Drive Award went to: Dave Dismuke

This was the 2nd year our team competed in this tournament.  Although we have yet to win, we have never failed to have a great time.
Cheers!!

Beau Charlet
https://www.theaccurateservefranchise.com/

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FRANCHISEE: HOUSTON

As we get through the late stages of our winter months Accurate Serve® Houston would like to continue providing new clients with a warm welcome and a team that is on fire when it comes to serving process.

For the month of January our office had an average of 4.5 days from when we received a job to when it was served. Our routine service is attempted every 2-4 days, so this average shows that the majority of our jobs are served within 1-2 attempts. Once a job is served our team is getting the signed returns back to our clients within a day, on average. These are numbers that I am proud to share as our team works hard to provide the best service possible. Even then, we will continue to work on getting these averages lower.

If you have worked with our team and enjoyed the experience there are two things you can do that would be a huge help to our office. First, google review. Your positive feedback would be greatly appreciated and allows us to share with the world the 5 star service we want to provide all of our clients. A Google review can be left here – www.accurateservehouston.com/review

Second, refer us to a friend/colleague. We would love the opportunity to speak with any Attorney, Paralegal or Pro Se that you know and have the opportunity to earn their business. The best way to refer to our office is, have them call and let us know that you sent them our way, or make an email introduction. Both of these methods provide a great way for my office to introduce ourselves and let the potential client know about our services and how we can help them.

P.S. – Accurate Serve® Houston is looking for a local Paralegal Association to sponsor. I have had no luck contacting anyone from the association I have reached out to. If you know of someone I can reach from the Houston Metropolitan Paralegal Association or another association in the area please send me that contact information.

Knock knock knock… You’ve been served!

Brandon Muscato
Need our help?
Call (346) 226-3111
or
Email serve@accurateservehouston.com

FRANCHISEE: DETROIT

Accurate Serve® of Detroit opened for Business October of 2020 coming up on 16months. It was off to a tough start in the Motor City having a lot of business with the Law Firms and the Courts being done from home on ZOOM calls. We have grown and adapted with our clients and as a company since that time. While the Courts houses are still closed indefinitely in some of our locations we are able to combat that with appointments, emails, and phone calls. The Courts have worked really well with us getting out of state subpoenas for these cases. Being able to mail them in and being able to have a server go pick them up. Our clients have recognized that we are able to overcome, adapt, and be successful during these difficult times with COVID-19. We will continue to use all of our available resources moving forward to accomplish the task at hand.

Another key to the success of the Detroit Office lies in our 40 plus franchises that are operating prior to opening this office. The wealth of knowledge, experience, and integrity have helped shape the values and success of Accurate Serve® of Detroit. Rest assured If I do not have the answer, I will be more than happy to let you know I don’t, but I will get you the answer from the correct and reliable sources.

We have grown a lot in the last 16 months and look to continue to spread our wings into the future. We look to be more involved in Wayne and Oakland county with our clients. We are looking forward to understanding these needs in a constantly changing future to better serve you.

Take care,

Erik Devlin
Need our help?
Call (313) 385-3703
or
Email erik@accurateservedetroit.com

Visit the Detroit Website
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QUICK TIDBIT!
Did you realize that we had 2 days in the month of February where every digit of the date was the same number? 2-2-22 and 2-22-22. These dates are also referred to as palindrome dates. A palindrome date reads the same backward or forward.
Word of the Month: Yen – A strong desire, urge or craving for something.
F E B R U A R Y
2/14 – Happy Valentine’s Day
American Heart Month
Black History Month
Office Anniversaries
St. Augustine, FL
Orange Park, FL
January 2022 Job Statistics

January 2022 Job Count – 4,047
Average Number of Days from Receiving Paper to Paper Being Served* – 5.9

*This includes jobs that may be on hold or waiting for new info. There is no way to take those jobs out of the calculation. So, if a job is placed on hold for 2 weeks, that’s 14 days on that job which factors in to this average. So, we’re even better than what the eyes see, LOL. Some papers get served same day, some next day and some take multiple attempts/addresses to effect service. All we do all day and every day is serve papers. We’re good at it and we love what we do. Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to continue to serve your papers.

CLICK HERE TO FIND YOUR ACCURATE SERVE LOCATION
We Are Proud Sponsors of:
Copyright © 2022 Accurate Serve, All rights reserved.

Important Rules Process Servers Must Follow

The State of Florida has strict laws related to process servers, and counties or judicial circuits are even legally permitted to impose even stricter laws, at their discretion. The process of following all local and state laws is extremely important as any deviation could pose devastating results for a client’s case. 

By not adhering to the laws, process servers in Sarasota County, which is part of Florida’s 12th Judicial Circuit, it can easily damage your client’s reputation, add extra expenses to the case, waste court resources, and ultimately lead to an end of your relationship with the client. This will undoubtedly affect your revenue and tarnish your own reputation, resulting in future clients passing you by.

At Accurate Serve®, we require that all of our servers closely follow all laws at all times. We have a zero-tolerance policy for any server who uses unethical or dishonest tactics to do their jobs, and we strongly discourage these practices across the entire industry. 

There are two main areas where process servers must maintain legal compliance to retain the legal right to practice in the field. Continue reading