If you file a case against a reckless driver to claim damages to your car for negligence, the driver needs to be served with legal papers and documents. This legal procedure by which a notice is served to the intended party(s) against whom legal action has been taken in an administrative court or the court of law is known as process serving.
Process serving, also known as ‘service of process’, is used to intimate the party on whom the legal action by delivering official documents such as notices. The person who serves these documents is called a process server.
Who is a process server?
A process server is a professional who has the expertise in serving legal papers to a particular individual or a group of them. A process server has to follow the law while delivering legal documents in the United States. A process server may be anyone who has completed 18 years of age and is not a party to the lawsuit filed in court. It may be an attorney, employees of lawyers, and even a Private Investigator in Knoxville TN.
A licencsd Private Investigator in Knoxville TN is not required to file a registration for becoming a process server.
Various legal documents that a process server can serve
- Divorce papers
- Bankruptcy petitions
- Notice of Actions
- Writs
- Subpoena
- Court judgments
- Summons to witnesses
- Affidavits
- Custody case documents
- Complaints
. . . and many others
Process serving is a complex task
Process serving is not as easy as it appears. In many cases, people don’t want to be served legal documents and avoid them by fleeing from the town or city. Some may directly refuse to accept the documents upfront. In such scenarios, it is best to hire a professional and expert Private Investigator in Knoxville TN.
Process serving is a complex task
Reasons why you must hire an expert and experienced process server
- A process server has in-depth knowledge about all the rules associated with serving legal documents.
- A process server has various surveillance techniques to find the person if they go missing.
- It can be really dangerous to serve notice to the person(s) against whom you have filed a lawsuit.
- It may be a mandatory requirement for the court process to be served by a third-party.
- You may not want to confront the person against whom you have filed a suit.
What a Private Investigator in Knoxville, TN, can do and cannot do as a process server?
Staking out a person
The process server can stake out the person to whom the document is to be handed over. They can wait outside the door of the home or business premises. A process server can even visit and wait at a friend or family member’s place if they feel that the person is going to visit there.
Break and Enter
A process server cannot break and enter a door or the company gate in order to deliver the document. Forced entry, whether at home or office, is illegal. If a person avoids process serving, the Private Investigator in Knoxville, TN, can hand over the documents at a public place in front of eye witnesses.
Threats and Harassments
Process serving is tough if the defendant does not want to get served a legal notice or document. Even in such a scenario, the process server has to develop innovative ways to serve the papers. Using threats and harassing the defendant is illegal, for which the process server can be sued.
Pose as a law officer
Can a process server impersonate a law officer? Of course not. Even if the defendant refuses to accept the documents or does not open the door, the process server cannot mimic themself to be a law officer like a police official. This is completely against the law.
Leave the paper with a minor
A process server cannot leave the official document with someone in the family under 18 years of age. If the defendant is not at home or unavailable, a process server can hand over the legal documents to someone else on their behalf, of course, who is 18 years or more in age.
If you need to serve any legal documents to anyone, it is advisable to seek help of a professional and ace Private Investigator in Knoxville, TN, to make process serving convenient and easy.
Uncover the truth!
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Ken Shull served as a Special Agent with the FBI for almost 25 years and was head of the FBI Polygraph program until his retirement in 2001. At that time he set up the Kendall Investigations practice as a private investigator in Knoxville, TN offering Polygraph services, private investigations, and security guards. Ken is a member of the American Polygraph Association and The American Association of Police Polygraphists.
The Truth is Still the Truth Even if No One Believes it, A Lie is Still a Lie Even if Everyone Believes it.