You’ve filed your civil complaint in Volusia County and received the initial case summons from the Clerk of Court…now what? The next step in your legal journey is to serve the summons and complaint to every defendant named in your suit. Additionally, if you intend to call any witnesses during the case, you’ll need to serve them with subpoenas requesting their appearance. So is it time to make some copies and start knocking on doors? NO! Serving process is an essential part of the legal system with specific rules that must be followed.

Service of Process is Required

If you’re thinking about skipping serving the process in your civil case and just showing up on the scheduled court date, think again. Service of process is absolutely required before any court case can proceed in Florida. The Clerk of Court where the case was filed will keep an eye out for confirmation that all defendants have been properly served within the required timeframe, as proof of said service must be documented and should be filed with the court upon completion. If the clerk cannot verify that everyone was served, the case will be delayed (or worse) until everyone is properly notified. Continue reading →

If you’re an attorney handling multiple cases at once, you can easily start drowning in all the paperwork that is involved. Each case usually requires dozens, if not hundreds, of documents to be located, analyzed, and stored for easy reference. Depending on the size of your firm, you may even have to hire multiple people just to handle all the documents. That means extra labor costs, extra overhead costs, and extra stress managing additional employees. 

What is Document Retrieval?

You can avoid all that hassle by using a professional document retrieval company, like Accurate Serve of Daytona Beach. Document retrieval is quite simply the process of locating any type of document. There really is no limit to what type of documentation can be found with document retrieval. Continue reading →

There’s a lot of confusion out there related to what process servers are and are not allowed to do while serving process. Hollywood has played a part in distorting the public’s view about what a process server does, depicting servers in disguises sneaking up on unsuspecting victims. However, professional process servers, like those here at Accurate Serve® in East Central Florida, never behave this way. Additionally, the state of Florida also governs and oversees the process server industry here.

Process servers in Florida must abide by the following rules in order to serve process legally: Continue reading →

Who you use to serve your case’s process to defendants and witnesses matters. Florida has strict laws and regulations on who can and cannot be a process server in our state. Using a process server that doesn’t meet the required guidelines is a big no-no and could result in your case being delayed or even thrown out! In this post, we’ll review the qualities that you should be looking for when interviewing potential process servers.

Process Servers Must Meet Florida’s Minimum Requirements

Volusia, Flagler, Putnam, and St. John’s counties all belong to Florida’s 7th Judicial Circuit. The 7th circuit is a little different than most other judicial circuits in Florida. Instead of maintaining a list of approved process servers, servers in Volusia, Putnam, and Flagler must be individually approved to serve process for each and every case they work. In St. Johns County, process servers are approved by the Sheriff’s office. Continue reading →

If you’re preparing to file a lawsuit, you probably already know that you will need to have the court summons and complaint, collectively known as process, served on the case’s defendants. Serving process is simply delivering the court paperwork to the intended recipient or a suitable alternative. In Florida, you’re not allowed to serve the process in your own case yourself…you must use either your local sheriff’s office or a private process server. In this post, we’ll discuss four reasons why you’ll want to opt for a private process server for your case. Continue reading →

Process servers are an essential component of the legal system in the United States. Without process servers, court cases would come to a halt as individuals frequently failed to appear, most likely due to a lack of knowledge that they were required to do so. But there’s a lot of misinformation out there about what process servers do or why they are necessary, so we’re here to explain.

What do Process Servers Actually Do?

Process servers notify individuals and companies about court cases filed against them as well as future court dates. Individuals and businesses would likely not even realize they needed to appear in court if these notifications were not provided. Process servers are also responsible for making sure that the notification is delivered on time so that the defendant(s) may prepare fully for their case, as required by law. Continue reading →

If you’re being served with legal papers, it’s important, to be honest with the process server. Lying to a process server can only make your situation worse and will not help you avoid having to appear in court. So, if you’re served with papers, plan to appear in court as scheduled. 

There are some serious consequences to lying to a process server, including:

Extra Expenses

On each service attempt, a process server incurs additional costs, extra court time, and attorney expenses associated with rescheduling times. If the judge believes you are maliciously avoiding the process server, you will be made responsible for any extra expenditures incurred due to the delays. This also includes paying increased attorney fees for the claimant! Continue reading →

It may sound crazy, but there are actually people out there who pretend to be process servers. They see it as a quick way to make a buck, but hiring a fake process server in Florida can mean big trouble for your court case. Before you slip up and hire a phony server, read through our tips on spotting these imposters:

Tip #1: Ask to See Past Orders

In Volusia County, a private process server must be appointed to each and every case in which they intend to serve process by a circuit civil court judge. Experienced process servers should have no problem showing your copies of past orders where they were appointed to cases with the client’s information redacted. Continue reading →

Volusia County handles appointments of process servers differently than most Florida counties. While Volusia County, along with Flagler, Putnam, and St. Johns, are all part of Florida’s 7th Judicial Circuit. The 7th Judicial Circuit allows each county to decide how they want to handle certifying and appointing process servers (other than law enforcement). St. Johns is the only county in the 7th circuit that has chosen to allow the Sheriff’s department to appoint these “special process servers”. In Volusia, Putnam, and Flagler counties, private process servers are appointed on a case by case basis by a judge with the county civil court. Continue reading →