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Do's and Don'ts of a Process Server:
Do's:
Serve documents from Mondays – Saturdays at 6:00 AM – 10:00 PM.
Wait for the defendant outside their home, place of employment, or usual haunts. Process servers must exhaust all legal means possible to personally serve the defendant, and that includes following the defendant around the city on their known schedule.
Post the legal documents on the defendant’s front door at home or at their place of employment.
File court papers on behalf of the plaintiff and their attorneys.
File subsequent legal documents and retrieve court documents.
Notarize and file a return of service affidavit
Don'ts
Serve documents on Sundays or during a religious holiday observed by the defendant.
Attempt substituted delivery by leaving the documents with someone who is not a family member or a colleague at work.
Receiving only one set of papers which you got in the mail, found on your doorstep, or received from a family member or colleague whom the process server asked to deliver legal papers to you. This is a failed process of service because both substituted and conspicuous deliveries require process servers to (1) mail a copy of the documents to the defendant and (2) leave the documents with a qualified individual (substituted delivery) or leave it where the defendant will most likely find it (conspicuous delivery).
Force the defendant to open the door. If the defendant tries to evade service by hiding, the process server must try a few other methods before resorting to either substituted or conspicuous delivery.
Trespass or force their way into the defendant’s property after being told explicitly not to.