Process Server Vs Sherriff’s Office: Who’s the Fastest?

No matter the type of law you practice, you’re sure to have put dozens Process server of summonses out to individuals for a wide variety of different types of cases. From witnesses to defendants to evictions, summonses work to keep the justice system moving. By placing a piece of paper in a needed participant’s hands, you’re binding that person to a certain courtroom at a certain date, assuring that cases keep moving without clogging up the courts. When it comes to the act of serving those papers, you need to make sure they get into the right hands under the right deadline and within the bounds of the law.

Your Process Server Options

When it comes to having papers served on individuals, you have two distinct options. No matter if it’s a notification, subpoena, summons, or complaint, there are two services you can use to get them into the right hands on time. Of course, you always have the local Sherriff’s office whose duty it is to serve court papers in their territory. You may be attracted to this idea since it’s a free service, but there’s a problem with going this route. Sherriff’s offices nationwide have been experiencing severe budget cutbacks and staff shortages which have slowed down their ability to effectively serve papers within the time limit you need.

Unlike Sherriff’s offices that lack the staff, time, and budget to get your papers into the right hands, a professional process server agency has only one duty and that’s to serve papers all day, every day. A professional process server always makes sure papers are delivered to the correct individuals within whatever deadline has been assigned by the client. And while Sherriff’s offices are too bogged down with other important duties to spare the time to track down difficult to find individuals, a process server assigned to the case will use all their legal means to track down those who may not want to be found.

For the small price you pay to hire the services of a professional process server, you’re buying the peace of mind of knowing your papers will be served to the right individual within the timeframe you need.

The Bounds of the Law

One of the most important aspects of process serving, even more than deadlines, is staying within the law. If your process server violates any local regulations in serving papers, this will not only reflect badly on your practice but could also null and void your papers. When you use a process server agency, you know you’re hiring a service that’s fully trained and up to date on all aspects of local law.