The Inheritance Papers
By J.T.R.
During the career of a process server, he or she will encounter just about everything you can imagine, and then some. It is only on rare occasions when legal documents come through which are an absolute joy to serve. I am talking about the grand daddy of all assignments. I am describing the 'Inheritance Papers.'
It was a normal afternoon here in Indianapolis; Marion County; Indiana when an attorney from the deep southern United States called our company office. He spoke at a pace which was easy to understand. He expressed an urgent inclination to hire a private process server. While the court papers had already been mailed, his home state required personal service be perfected upon the individual who resided in the city of Indianapolis. It was obvious from our conversation, he knew Hoosier Process Service was the company for the job.
This is the part that I love the most. It was like something out of a movie, which was then edited and relegated to the deleted scenes in the special features. I approached the home and knocked on the door. A man answered by opening the door. He did not say anything. I asked him for his name, and he confirmed that the legal papers matched his name as the recipient. I personally handed him the legal documents. He wanted to know where I came from. I proudly informed him of process service and left the property.
Sometimes when I tell people I serve court documents, the first thing they think of is divorce papers, or a summons. As you can see from this inspirational story, that does not always have to be the case. Process service can take many shapes and forms. Civil court documents cover a wide variety of legal cases. Isn't that is why you want to call our private process service company to take care of you!
The Refusal
By J.T.R.
Every day of the week, Indianapolis process servers traverse the metropolitan area to ensure due process is maintained. This article examines the procedure for serving an unwilling participant of the process. Like it or not, there are going to be recipients who do not behave diplomatically. It is the process server's duty to serve the documents, and it is not the process server's battle to fight. Rule number one is to be diplomatic regardless of the recipient's actions.
Lets take an instance which occurred in Indianapolis Indiana.
The process server approached a residence to serve court documents to a defendant. After knocking on the door, there was no answer. The process server knocked a second time and still there was no answer. After realizing that no one was going to come to the door, a note was placed on the front door with explicit instructions on how to reach the respective process server.
Approximately five minutes after placing the note on the front door, the process server received a phone call from a female resident of the house. The resident alleged that the defendant did reside there. The resident claimed that she was the sister of the defendant. So far so good. All of the process servers in Indianapolis will have routine situations like this example has been so far. The abnormal part is yet to come.
The process server made arrangements with the resident to return within five minutes to get the summons served. When the process server returned in a timely fashion, he knocked on the door once more, and no answer. This was strange since the resident had just spoke with him on the phone. He went around to the side door, which was fully open, and verbally called for anyone who was home. He was greeted by an irate female resident, and likely the same individual he had spoken with on the phone five minutes earlier.
The resident was not helping the process server at all. However, the process server was persistent in asking the resident questions in between rants when she was taking a breath. He determined that the disgruntled resident was the sister of the defendant and got the summons served. The resident promptly took the documents and threw them on the ground. A misconception among many folks is that one has to accept the summons for summons to be valid.
In this instance, the process server did his job correctly and the angry resident was properly served in spite of her throwing the summons on the ground. If an individual does not accept service, the documents may be placed on the ground at their feet. It is just that simple. Since it was not this process server's battle to fight, he promptly advanced to his next serve without giving it a second thought.
What's the Difference?
A Question from the Doctor...
I recently had the pleasure of speaking to a retired urologist. It was a spectacular conversation, and he made an inquiry about my process service business located in Indianapolis Indiana. His question was this: How does process service differ from certified mail? This is an excellent question. The answer could only be known by a professional process server. There are many chief differences. We will examine a few right here.
A process server talks to neighbors. There are plenty of cases when the neighbor can help find a defendant. The neighbor is also going to have a good idea of whether or not the property is vacant. There are times when the process server goes to an address, and the neighbor will inform he or she that the defendant is incarcerated. It is always a bonus when the neighbor aids the serve with information that can be easily verified. One could describe the process server as an investigator of sorts.
The process server wants to find the defendant. Any resident who answers the door of the the defendants last know abode will be asked if the defendant lives there. If the defendant does live at the abode, the next necessary steps will be taken with respect to the type of serve. If the defendant does not live there, the resident of the abode will be asked if they know how to reach the defendant. The process server will also leave a note if the resident confirms the defendant visits intermittently. The whole idea is to find the defendant and hand them the court documents.
The last quality to mention with regard to differentiating process service from parcel service is that the process server will get a description of the person being served. This is a key piece of information. The attorney, company, or individual who hires Hoosier Process Service, LLC is going have an affidavit with all of the necessary information to identify the person who is being served. There you have it Doctor and thanks for the question!
Bill Called
By J.T.R.
People who know Hoosier Process Service, LLC are aware that the leadership takes feedback from our clients very seriously. We are also curious as to what the general public knows about process servers. Sometimes these conversations happen with everyday people when they first call us. The caller is looking for an Indianapolis based process server, and the first call can come with a whole host of questions. We intend to take time with every caller and show them our price with a completion date for their job.
Bill called and wanted to talk about advertising Hoosier Process Service LLC in an online directory. He had so many great ideas on how to tell our clients what we do. Bill's knowledge about the process service business was limited, so I asked him about what he knew. He immediately said that he had seen process servers on Law and Order, his favorite television program. That is mostly how the public perception has been molded. An individual sees a process server on television, or in a popular movie, and that is all they know.
I finally asked Bill what he would be looking for in a process service company if he had a civil matter which required service of process. Bill thought for a moment. He was certain that he would want the process server to have serving decorum. That makes sense because so many of the process servers we see on television behave without serving decorum. Bill was most concerned with making sure the serve was done without making waves.
The good news is that Bill and everyone else can hire us do do a job their way. As an Indianapolis based process server myself, decorum is important to me as well. Proper etiquette and diplomacy come with every job we do. We are do grateful for feedback from people like Bill. If you have anything you would like to share, just give us a buzz or send an email!