New York Process Server Forum

Crisis Among New York City Marshals?

I have received three calls in the last four weeks from New York City marshals located in Bronx, NY and Brooklyn, NY asking me to join them to serve process in New York City housing projects at $9.00 per apartment served. So the City Marshals assume that New York City licensed process servers will go to, say, a high crime Bronx project apartment complex, and serve Jane Doe 1, John Doe 1, Jane Doe 2 and John Doe 2 for a fee of $9.00?

According to the City Marshals, the low fees for process serving are mandated by statute. I have done bulk service of process in the past but serving four respondents at $2.25, per respondent, is a most ridiculous proposition in New York. It is most preposterous if it comes from New York City marshals. How do these guys make money, considering that process service operation costs have increased with gas prices and the New York City Dept. of Consumer Affairs new regulations? No licensed process server could serve process for $9.00, not even in Montana.

No wonder there must be a money crisis among City marshals because just the cost of postage (which cannot be excluded from service) surpasses the actual payment they are offering to pay prospective process servers to serve process upon NYCHA tenants. As an experienced process server, I know that serving four defendants, if substituted service is required -as it is needed most of the times- will cost $13.16 in postage alone.

So how can the City Marshals make a profit out of serving New York City housing projects, even if they serve 30-100 apartments per day? No matter how much bulk business they get, something is definitely not right. Now I understand why my process serving agency receives unwanted misdirected mail, including notices and holdover proceedings petitions, from process servers which was intended to be served upon New York City Housing Authority controlled housing projects. Poor NYCHA tenants!

New York City to Process Servers:”Drop Dead”

In light of the new rules, laws, impositions, fees and restrictions placed upon NY process servers by the New York City Department of Consumers Affairs as of 2011, I believe that municipal bureaucrats who do not seem to be familiar with the process service business, are sending a clear message to process servers in New York City:”Drop dead”. Indeed, the idiots of the Department of Consumers Affairs who sit behind a desk most of the time have no idea of the true consequences of dictating that process servers in Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island, Bronx and Manhattan comply with the following:

1- Take Exams to become a process server. Even if you have had a process serving license for the last ten years, you will be mandated to take exams. Usually the dates for the exams are sent to you about one week before said exams. They mailed me my exam date just two days before my exam, so go figure. Of course you need to learn the “educational materials” provided by said city agency within the short period they give you. The educational materials are a set of laws and rules (Many of which have been adopted and “unadopted” within weeks) which would take a regular law student at least one month to digest.
2- Get GPS Devices and Reporting Tools.
The City of New York is also demanding that all process server carry state of the art mobile phones with GPS devices with expensive software capable of tracking, processing, registering and reporting the process server’s whereabouts in real time to a third party agency, which will charge $75.00 a month for the service if you are a process server who does few jobs. For process servers who do many jobs, the fees will be much higher. Logically the process server must secure the license to use said process serving software and the hardware equipment, probably a G4 Droid device.
3-Carry Surety Insurance.
Most process servers must give the City of New York $1000.00 per year, non-refundable fee to cover some sort of City sanctioned insurance fund or else they must buy surety insurance in the amount of $350 per year, if their credit is good. For process service agencies the surety insurance bond will cost $1750.00 or more per year. The City will not accept agencies to join its City sanctioned insurance fund.
4-Carry the Process Serving Logs in secure servers, dedicated specialized software and off-site computers From now on your process serving activities must be registered on PDF files which cannot be altered. Said files must be generated from Microsoft Excel sheets with multiple fields, which include, but are not limited to, time of service, date of service, type of service, court action -index number-, defendants, plaintiff, court name, attempts -one single entry for each service attempt-, defendant’s height, defendant’s weight, defendant’s skin color, defendant’s age, defendant’s eye color, defendant’s hair color, defendant’s other identifying features, defendant’s sex, description of the premises and surrounding areas and access areas, etc. With some many fields, the spreadsheet is technically unreadable and unmanageable from all practical purposes. Needless to say it, the nincompoops and politicians of the Dept. of Consumers Affairs and the City Council had a great brainstorm, a party at finding out ways to make it look that they care for the public. In the process they found ways to make record keeping for process servers a very difficult, time consuming, expensive and clumsy task. They simply did not analyze the consequences of implementing these new rules. Basically they are telling all process servers: “Our interests are to please voters. As for you, process servers:’Drop dead’”.

Deep down the general public will be adversely affected by the new rules and restrictions on process servers, because, in order to survive, all process service businesses will make process serving in New York an expensive proposition. Just wait and see. After February 2012, the pricing for litigation in New York City, because of the Department of Consumers Affairs, will surely increase. Many consumers who can’t afford a process server will NOT be able to seek justice, all thanks to the New York City Department of Consumers Affairs and the New York City Council.

All Worked Up and Serving Sara: Process Servers At Wrong Places

Judging by what has been publicized about the legal process service industry by films such as Serving Sara and cable TV reality shows such as All Worked Up, process servers are aliens from outer space seeking to endure pain and suffering.

After watching the 2002 film Serving Sara, starring Matthew Perry, a romantic comedy about a disoriented process server who falls in love with the recipient of a divorce summons, I wonder where Hollywood directors get ideas to make crappy films like this. It appears that the consultant who guided the producer for this parody misdirected him repeatedly in terms of how process serving is effected. Indeed, the director of said film portrays Mr. Perry as a process server serving papers but puts him in scenes where he acts more like a clown than as a process server. Then again you might say: “It’s a comedy! It’s a parody of the job!”

Well this parody resembles a drama when we learn that the star of the film has no other choice in life but to work as a process server, making silly maneuvers in order to serve papers on evasive defendants such as a Mafia Kingpin he meets at the start of the movie. Eventually comes Sara who turns out to be just another evasive defendant, an elusive divorcee who by the end falls in love with the process server himself or should we say “the big time loser” who is attempting to serve her with divorce petition from her current husband?

On truTV, I have watched Byran McElderry, another process server in New York City on a new reality show called All Worked Up, doing everything possible in order to get assaulted, attacked or berated by the people he intends to serve. The strange part is that McElderry, who claims to be a Bronx process server with 20 years on the legal business, behave about 99% of the time as an actor and perhaps 1% of the time as an actual process server during the show.

McElderry, who coincidentally has a voice for radio announcer, gets locked up on a building roof top allegedly while chasing a slum landlord whom he intended to serve. On another senseless scene, while serving a child support petition in Queens, New York, he argues with a respondent whose dog McElderry fed with his breakfast-a sandwich- in order to allegedly calm it down. Though the dog definitely does not look threatening, the process server attempts to imply that if he feeds the dog he will gain access to the premises. If this is not an attempt to create comedy what else could it be? Reality? It is not. In real life process servers don’t act like these “actors”. How stupid can producers be? I wonder how many viewers will regard process service after taking a look at All Worked Up.

Indeed, here’s a hint about how ignorant the producers are, in their own words, at truetv.com, where they claim that: “His (McElderry’s) job is doubly hard due to the fact that McElderry has to issue papers face-to-face. Without physically putting the papers into a defendant’s hands the documents don’t count as served”Nothing is further from the truth.Haven’t they heard about substituted service, service by mail or service of process by nail and mail. For instance, in the case of the tenants against the landlord, substituted service would suffice.

In reality (People from TruTV, listen up!), process servers must avoid confrontation or getting “physical” with evasive defendants. Most court papers can be served without chasing the defendant or forcing him to take papers in hand. In fact in New York (where McElderry, the process-server-turned-actor comes from), divorce papers and child support petitions must be served in person but there is no need to chase defendants around. It’s enough to personally confirm the identity of the defendant and to place the papers within Defendant’s reach where Defendant is physically present. Using tricks, deception, threats, harassment and stalking is totally unacceptable under New York laws and it can lead to sanctions against the litigant who hired the process server in New York City. So no smart process server in New York City will behave like McElderry does. Indeed under rules established by New York City laws, McElderry actions constitute harassment. The litigants whom he is allegedly serving, if it was true TV, can easily file charges against him and complaints for his antics and unprofessional conduct. But then again, let’s not forget:it is just a show. Probably even the alleged recipients of process are also paid actors too.

For those who have not been process servers and who enjoy the above shows, I must inform you the truth behind the industry. First of all process servers in New York and any other place in United States are trained to avoid hassles. When service of process is effected, there is very little talk between defendants and the person serving legal papers. In fact smart process servers tend to only ask the required basic information from the persons served: Name, military status, age, position and place of abode. So the real life process servers will quietly and politely just ask a few questions and leave the scene ASAP. If the respondent does not answer his questions, the process server will just leave. But McElderry won’t.

There is no such thing as a process server running after people who must be served. That does not work in this industry! If the process server meets an evasive defendant who chooses to argue or to run, the process server must not reciprocate. For elusive recipients, the process servers must just drop the court papers within the Defendant’s reach and LEAVE. If this is not an option, then the process server must use other steps to counter evasion of service such as a reporting it to the court (Affidavit of due diligence).

In summary the TV and film depictions of process servers doing unusual efforts to serve evasive or loud respondents are simply not a reflection of reality. Those antics are a far cry from what they taught me at my job as a process server at www.subpoenadelivery.com. So don’t believe that the above shows are good reality TV. They are just comedy attempts filled with actors intended to get you to laugh. Like the old saying goes: don’t believe everything you see in the Big Screen or the Little Screen.

Escape a Process Server in New York?

Nowadays, many individuals have sunk themselves in hard economic times and cannot pay their mortgages, child support, alimony, credit cards, car loans, their landlords, or money they owe friends. When it is time to face the debt collector or to face the law because they have failed to pay, sometimes (Or too many times), they hide behind pretexts, excuses or just behind the door in order to avoid the imminent legal action against them.

Can I escape the process server?

Is this the eternal question of the guy who owes child support? Or is it the fantasy of the guy who believes he can get away with a outstanding credit card debt? Is it the pipe dream of the abusive spouse who beat up his wife? Or is it the hope of many fellows who wish to escape the legal system? Don’t count on dreams, wishful thinking, hopes or illusions for the legal system will get you sooner or later. The sooner the better sooner. And to put it bluntly:

You cannot escape the process server

The reasons why you cannot avoid getting served is because certain laws has been created to face individuals like you who think that keeping a door locked is the best way to avoid the legal system. When the process server comes to your home and knocks on your door, the smartest thing you can do is open it and accept the court documents being delivered to you. Otherwise, there are many chances that the process server will document your behavior and relay that information to a judge in the form of an affidavit of attempted service or an affidavit of due diligence. And that, my friend, is just the beginning of a chain of events that will cause you to:

Get your driver’s license suspended
Get your professional license suspended
Become the target of an arrest warrant
Get a default judgment
Get an unwanted “hold” on your bank account
Damage your credit seriously or permanently
Get blacklisted by certain agencies
Get evicted from your home
Lose your home in a foreclosure proceeding
Lose your parental rights
Get arrested

No wonder why popular culture brings about the idea that a process server knocking on your door is not good news for you. If you have seen Serving Sara, a film about a process server who deals with evasive defendants and the reality TV show Worked Up, another process server dealing with evaders, you may think that evading process servers is an acceptable thing. However only people who theorize that evading the process server helps them (By gaining additional extra time, perhaps) or leads them to escape their predicament will refrain from accepting process. The best way to deal with legal problems is facing them, not running or hiding from the process servers assigned to deliver court notices to you.

How to Effect Process Service on Evasive Defendants (Or Difficult Defendants).

Definition of “Evasive Defendant”.

An “evasive defendant” is an individual or entity that willfully behaves in a way that will hurt the ability of the process server to serve process on that individual or entity easily or in a timely manner. Sometimes evasive defendants may effectively evade process service by building a barrier of circumstances, actions and decisions that practically leave the process server powerless, at least for the time being. The typical process service evader is the guy who has a locked gate without intercom or bell, gets assisted by his co-worker to tell the process server that he is not in, does not answer the door or uses several evasive maneuvers. But some examples of service of process evaders tend to be more complex:

1- Jane Doe is a federal employee whose home address is unknown but whose work place is at 12 Center St., New York, NY 10001. When the process server calls her at her work place she answers and identifies herself but as soon as she is informed that the process server is at the lobby of the building and that he intends to serve her a child support summons and petition , she hangs up. When the process server approaches the front desk security guard or her supervisor, the server is informed that they will not allow service on Jane Doe because she is a federal employee or because “our policies prohibit service of process at our employee’s work place”.

2- John Doe works at a smoke cessation center as a therapist. He has repeatedly refused to open the door of his home in order to accept divorce petition from the process server. The process server makes an appointment “to kick his smoking habit”( A ruse intended to gain access to Defendant in order to serve him because otherwise defendant will not allow anybody to come to his Center unless he/she is a real patient). But John Doe suspects that he will be served on the Friday he has the appointment with the ” chain-smoking” process-server-turned-patient so he chooses not to work that day and assigns a colleague to care for his patients.

3-Jane Doe has a locked fence around her detached home, no bells, no intercom. An order of protection must be served on her personally. The only way to get to the front door of the premises is by going though the locked gate which , despite not having intercom or bell buttons, has security cameras checking all visitors who stand at the front of the house.

4-John Doe has a pending civil court complaint but he has a dog, without a leash, who will jump on anybody who attempts service on him. He walks with his dog and sends it to the entrance door whenever a stranger approaches. He has threatened to call the police on anyone who knocks on his door.

5-Acme Failing, Inc. is a corporation involved in securities fraud. Its managers know that hundreds of lawsuits filed by cheated investors will arrive at its corporate headquarters. When the process server approaches security guards at the front desk and announces his intentions to serve a summons and complaint against the corporation, he is allowed to call a “company” number where a woman plainly says : “We don’t accept summonses at this location”. The process server, aware that they are evading service, leaves a copy of the court papers with security guards and leaves the building. The security guards chase the process server ,who has already been threatened with a trespassing complaint, and try to force the process server to take back the court papers.

6-John Doe knows that his ex-wife is seeking full child custody . Whenever the process server knocks on his door with the Family Court petition, she gets the feeling that the house is vacant: No one answers her door knocks.

7-Jane Doe is approached by the process server as she leaves her home. Previously, she has evaded the service of a divorce complaint against her by telling the process server that she would not open the door. “Are you Jane Doe?”, the process server asks as he prepares to hand her the divorce summons and complaint. Jane Doe replies: “No. Leave me alone or I’ll call the police and have you arrested for harassment “.

8-Police officer John Doe’s only known address is his work place at 1 Police Plaza. There is a personal lawsuit against him and the summons must be given to him in person. When the process server approaches the main entrance of the building, security officers inform him that they do not allow process to be served there on police officers and that the process server should use anther office in “another location”. But it turns out that the office “in the other location” originally told the process server a similar story -that they do not accept process but it is “another office” at 1 Police Plaza.

9- A major corporation that does business in New York has been subpoenaed but when the manager of one of its local branches where the subpoena was sent to is approached he says: “Serve the subpoena in Georgia because we don’t accept court papers here”. The process server leaves the subpoena with the manager even though he has called security to throw him out of the premises and he has called the police in order ” to have the process server arrested”.

How to Cope with Evasive Defendants.

Every evasive defendant has a reason to be evasive. Perhaps he would rather continue living as a squatter and ignore the eviction petition or perhaps he’d rather not support his children by evading the child support petition or perhaps he wants to still be endless tied to his former wife by evading her divorce summons. Whatever the circumstances are, there is always a solution to deal with evasive defendants. For example this is how we managed some real life cases successfully.

Employee Hiding Behind Job to Evade Child Support Papers.

We attempted service three times at her work place and issued an affidavit of attempted service. The State of New York Family Court judge hearing the case issued an order allowing substitute service (Also known as “nail and mail”).

Divorce Petition Evader Who Could Not Be Served at Work.

The process server waited at the entrance door of his apartment till Defendant left for work. As soon as he shut his door and turned towards the elevator the process server served him with the divorce papers.

Respondent with Locked Gate Who Did Not Want to Receive Order of Protection.

A stakeout was effected in order to serve Defendant. On a day she was not expecting service of the order of protection, a Sunday, she was served as she headed to church.

Dog Owner Who Threatens Process Servers.

The process server waited outside of Defendant’s home and checked for Defendant’s car and just waited till Defendant left for work.(You don’t bring your dog to work and this individual was no exception). At that point he served Defendant the civil court complaint. Defendant got enraged and threw the documents onto the street but it was too late. By law he was served and there was nothing he could do but get himself into more trouble by reacting in an uncivil way at the moment he got served. (The process server duly documented Defendant’s reaction in the corresponding affidavit of service).

A Corporation That Willingly Evades Service of Process of Summonses.

The process server upon being confronted by the security guards informed them that he was a public officer and that touching him or trying to force him into retaking the summons he had just served on the corporation was a serious violation of local laws. Upon hearing this the guards left quietly. If the guards had continued with their initial actions, the process server would have called the police and documented the circumstances of service upon this elusive Defendant.

A House That Seems Vacant.

In order to serve the child custody petition, we did some research and concluded that indeed the house had been vacated recently. Upon interviewing a neighbor and doing Internet research the process server located and served Respondent. In this case, the Respondent was not actively evasive of the process server but he was actually evading due process because he failed to report his most recent address to the court so the Family Court petition still bore Respondent’s old address.

Respondent Who Tried to Evade Process by Threatening Process Server.

In this case, for a Respondent who thought that by telling the process server to leave or by indicating she would call the police she was getting rid of the impending divorce summons and complaint, the process server just touched Respondent with the papers and left them within her reach (Defendant did not accept the divorce papers in her hands but she was legally served). If a process server behaves in a professional manner, she does not have to fear Respondent’s threats to call police.

Law Enforcement Individuals and Agencies That Support Process Service Evaders.

Even though Law Enforcement agencies and legal firms should be strong upholders of the Law, some police agencies and lawyers actively evade service by instructing their front desk attendants or officers to refuse process service attempts on the agency’s employees or on the attorneys themselves. In this case, the process server did not take no for an answer and demanded to see a supervisor or officer in charge who eventually allowed the service of process to be effected on the police officer.

Corporate Witness That Requests Service to Be Effected in Another State.

The process server served Witness at exactly the same place the subpoena was directed to, despite Manager’s words and threats. By law if you do business in the State of New York, you must allow service of process to be effected on you in the State of New York. It is important that the process server be acquainted with many local laws in order to properly effect service even against the opinions or suggestions of a large corporation that was just trying to evade service of a subpoena.

General Steps to Counter Process Service Evasion in the State of New York:

Landlord/ Tenant Cases, Service of Holdover Petition, Three Day Notices, Ten Day Notices, Thirty Day Notices, Notice to Quit, Eviction Notices, Non-payment Petitions, etc.

Solution: The process server must document the circumstances that keep her from effecting personal service and she must make at least three attempts at different times and different days. Normally substitute service (Serving a cotenant, fro example) or nail and mail (Affixing the petition and notice at the entrance door) is acceptable in most cases if personal service cannot be effected.

Divorce Summons and Petition

Solution: Service must always be personal upon the named Respondent but if documented attempts prove that this is not possible, then an affidavit of attempted service will suffice for the hearing judge to rule in favor of Plaintiff or to issue an order allowing service by publication or another form of substitute service such as posting or affixing the court summons at Respondent’s place of abode.

Federal Subpoenas and Civil Court Subpoenas.

Solution: Service must be effected in person but if Witness or Recipient refuse to accept the subpoena, the circumstances must be documented and in most cases the process server must ensure that the Witness gets a copy by regular mail and by certified mail.

Family Court of the State of New York, Child Support Summons, Child Custody Petition, Paternity Summons, Child Visitation Summons, Order of Protection, Order to Show Cause.

Solution: Family Court allows substitute service and it will allow nail and mail in most cases in which Respondent willingly refused to accept process. For order of protection, child custody and order to show cause, the process server must do diligent attempts to serve in person. In most cases, substitute service on Respondent will not be accepted by the Court unless a judge has previously ordered it.

Civil of the City of New York and Supreme Court of the State of New York Summons, Complaints and Orders to Show Cause.

Solution: If service cannot be effected in person, the court may issue an order to allow substitute service. However most summonses and complaints come with specific instructions as to how they can be served. In many cases, they can be served by leaving them with a person of suitable age willing to accept process on behalf of Defendant, or leaving them with an agent or affixing them at the entrance door of the premises (Defendant’s place of abode or work place). Mail service must be effected whenever substitute service is done.

Process Servers Must Respect the Law and Litigants’ Rights and Privacy. But Evasion of Process Service Usually Works Against Defendant’s Interests.

Though it may sound redundant, it should be noted that all professional process servers must respect defendants and plaintiffs equally. No matter how difficult a Respondent may be, the process server must never engage in activities intended to harass or to press the Defendant such as stalking, illegal surveillance, touching Defendant’s mail or other property, knocking or ringing Defendant’s door too many times,telephoning Defendant too much or verbally or physically assaulting Defendant. If the process service job cannot be effected because Defendant is not willing to accept process, the process server must leave the premises and document the circumstances of evasion of service for a future affidavit of attempted service. In the end evading service may provide additional breathing time to Respondent but it may hurt his credibility at trial. So evading service only works against the service evader.

Failing to comply with local laws and common sense may subject the process server and whoever hired him to sanctions, jail or civil lawsuits. Under extreme circumstances, process servers have been attacked or even killed allegedly because of trespassing into private property. Federal laws, State laws and local laws allow process servers to visit Defendants and to attempt service on them even if Defendants are unwilling to accept process. Also anybody who interferes with service of process may be subject to civil and/or criminal penalties.

I Can Do It Myself. Why Hire a Process Server?

I have often heard the comment: “I can do it myself…Why should I hire a process server in New York to serve my wife?” My reply is always: “No, do not do it yourself”. Serving process in New York and in most states involves strict procedures, rules and laws to be obeyed and/or followed. Attempting to skip process serving procedures because you want to save a few dollars by not hiring a licensed process server may prove costly in the long run. It is indeed more likely that the process server you do not wish to hire knows the rules for serving process more than you do; therefore, she will make fewer mistakes than you when it comes to following local process service rules and procedures. Furthermore it is absolutely unacceptable to serve process if you are a party to a case unless expressly authorized by a court clerk or judge.

Indeed, one of the major mistakes you,as a litigant, may make is taking the summons, petition or complaint and personally delivering it to your opponent. Though it may cause you great satisfaction to take a look at the “helpless”, “worried” and “stunned” face of your opponent when you hand him/her a summons, if he/she is smart, she can have your entire case thrown out because of improper service. She probably will. In fact, the first line of defense from most summons recipients is to claim:“I was not served” or ” I was not served according to law”.

So if your opponent uses the “improper service” subterfuge and you cannot prove that you hired a duly licensed process server, then we should ask: “Who is winning?”: You (The person who has to go back to court to re-enter your complaint or petition probably after being scolded by an angry judge) or your opponent (Who laughs at your wasting more time and money after failing to serve her/him properly)?

Instructions For NY Process Servers for Divorce Cases

1. For serving divorce cases (matrimonial cases) you must be over 18 years and a resident of New York State. If the service will be effected by a process service agency in New York City, it must use a duly licensed New York process server. Serving legal documents is regulated by the New York City Department of Consumers Affairs. For more process serving rules and process service laws for Brooklyn, Queens, New York County, Staten Island and Bronx, visit www.subpoenadelivery.com/legal-document/process-service-laws.html

2. You must not be a party to the action.

3. The summons cannot be served on a Sunday or legal holiday.

4. The words “ACTION FOR DIVORCE” (OR “ANNULMENT”) must be printed on the summons. This is required by law.

5. Do not place summons in wrapper or envelope.

6. Just hand the summons to the person to be served. The party needs not sign a receipt or otherwise acknowledge receipt. Do not take it back from party. Do not pick it up if it is dropped or discarded.

7. If the party refuses to take the summons in his/her hands, lightly touch the person with the summons and drop it in front of the person, announcing that “This is a summons”. Do not pick it up even if the party refuses to take it. Just drop it where it can be seen.

8. If you do not actually know the person to be served, you must take a photograph with you for identification; or the party bringing the action must be present to point the person out to you. If you use a photograph, it must be filed together with the affidavit of service.

9. Make a note of all these things about the person served:
Height
Weight
Age
Color
Hair color
Identifying marks (such as scars)

10. You must also a note of:
Date, time and place where the summons was served.

11. You must also ask the person served whether he/she is in the military service of the United States. This must be done even if the person is not obviously in the military service.

Serving Family Court Petitions in New York

Service of process of Family Court summonses and petitions is more demanding than it seems. By law in New York, for instance, you must not affix a New York State Family Court summons. Furthermore in many cases you may be forced to attempt to get a responsible relative who is willing to accept process if Respondent is unavailable or plainly evading service. So altogether, the need to serve these court papers in person adds extra burden at serving child support petitions, child custody petitions, orders to show cause, orders of protection and paternity petitions.

When Respondents cannot be served, then the process server must issue an affidavit of attempted service (due dilligence affidavit) in order for the petitioner to ask the presiding judge to issue an order allowing substitute service:nail and mail. In the meantime, between the day you decide to fight for your child support and the day you actually get an evasive Respondent to appear in the court hearing a long, long time may pass. It’s the legal system’s fault, not the process server’s.

The Problems of Last Minute Process Serving

Many clients postpone using profesional process service till the last few available days when service can be effected. Many callers say:
“I need this document served today”
“I need this divorce served yesterday”
“Can you serve my complaint tonight”
“Will you serve this summons within one day?”

The logical answer from us:”Yes. For an additional fee”. But it should be noted that we do not enjoy rush process service because it cannot always be accomplished but we always have to charge for it.

The ideal situation would be that clients who need our NY process service plan for processing serving in order to allow the process server enough time to seek defendants in order to effect service.

There are many problems related to doing rush process serving in a big city like New York. Here most adults spend considerable time in school and at work -places where process service is very hard to do. So the process server has to wait for a window of opportunity for the recipient to be back home, sometimes after 9:00 P.M.

Here in NY many persons know that they can evade service by not opening the door and many of these evaders tend to be people who have to be served on the last minute. Wouldn’t it be more practical to allow time to go after defendants by planning for process service, thus saving money by not having to pay the rush process service fees? We would love to see at least 80% of our clients taking advantage of a $55.00 flat process service fee (For process service in NYC within 2-5 business days).

Welcome to the New York Process Server Organization Directory

Welcome to the New York Process Server Directory Blog where you will have a chance to comment on all legal affairs affecting New York attorneys, New York process servers, notaries and paralegals. All comments are welcome as long as you show professionalism and respect to visitors. Profane language and defamation are unacceptable.

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