Finally! Straight talk about what you should know about Process Serving and a Professional Process Server.

How to find a qualified Woodland Hills Process Server.

In the State of California the law requires that a Los Angeles County Process Server be at least 18 years of age and not a party to the action in which he/she is the process server. A party to the action is defined as the plaintiff or defendant. The Woodland Hills process server must be a disinterested person and have no legal or financial interest in the lawsuit in which he is the process server. The Woodland Hills process server after he completes the service of process must swear under penalty of perjury that the service of process was executed in a proper manner and that the defendant was provided due process and the service of process was made in a calculated manner designed to give the defendant actual notice of the proceeding.

The Los Angeles County sheriff as well as other County Sheriffs throughout California have a civil process division and provide process serving for the general public on a limited basis. Some sheriff’s offices serve only mandated process, such as writs requiring the physical taking of property. For a list of Los Angeles County Sheriff Offices that maintain process serving departments refer to appendix.

In Los Angeles County and most other California counties there is an alterative to the County Sheriff for your Process Serving needs…A Registered Process Server.

As previously stated, California law requires that a Woodland Hills process server be over the age of 18 and not a party to the action. If the person/process server serves more then ten services in one calendar year he or she must register as a Process Server. Attorney’s, employees of attorneys, licensed private investigators, sheriffs or governmental employees who is acting in the capacity of their employment and professional photo copiers whose only process serving relates to subpoenas for the production of records are exempt from registering as a Process Server. This exemption does not make the person a registered Process Server. It only exempts them form having to register as a Process Server.

In Los Angeles County a person registers as a Process Server by posting a $2,000 process server bond and filing of a certificate of registration with the County Clerk. The certificate of registration states that the registrant /process server has not been convicted of a felony.

The Woodland Hills Process Server registrant must also provide 2 finger print cards for a State and Federal background check to insure that the process server has no felony convictions.

The statutes give the Registered Process Server authority to serve certain documents such as:

+ Writ of Attachment

+ Writ of Execution

+ Earnings Withholding Order

+ Order of Examination of Judgment Debtor

+ Pre-Judgment claim of right to possession

The Registered Process Server also has special legal status in regard to the manner in which he conducts himself as a registered process server

+ Assault on a Process Server while performing a service of process is a felony

+ Limited exemption from trespass

+ Proof of service has rebuttable presumption status

+ Must be provided access to a gated community when performing a service of process

+Service, locate and stakeout fees are recoverable costs.

California registered process servers are not limited to when a service of process can be made. Generally speaking service of process may be made 24 hours on any day of the week, provided that the process to be served originates in a state that allows process to be served without restrictions. Please note that certain states do not allow process service on Sunday.

As stated there is no hard fast rule as to when service of process can be made (other than on Sunday) however, a good Woodland Hills Process Server should use some discretion when serving process late at night or too early in the morning. A rule of thumb that most Woodland Hills Process Servers use is not to serve process after 10 pm or before 7:00 am, unless specifically requested by the client to serve the process at a time outside of those hours.

Other states have varying rules for service of process. A Woodland Hills professional process server should certainly stay informed in that regard to avoid an improper service. Which could cause serious delays to a court case if the Woodland Hills process server failed to perform his duty to properly serve legal documents.

Serious problems can arise out of improper service of process. For example when a Process Server makes an improper service or the Process Server lies on a proof of service declaration, the court has no jurisdiction over the person served. Usually when an improper service is made it is not discovered for many months often times after a default judgment is entered. In that event the defendant may have a cause of action against the plaintiff and the process server for abuse of process and emotional distress to mention a few.

The professional Woodland Hills Process Server is obligated and has a legal duty to know the proper manner for service of process. His registration could be revoked for performing an invalid service of process.

When hiring a Woodland Hills Process Server, it is important to know whether or not the Process Server is qualified to handle your assignment. The following is a list of questions for you to consider it that regard.

Is the Process Server registered and bonded?

1) Is the Woodland Hills Process Server a full time Professional Process Server or part time Process Server trying to earn a few extra dollars in his/her spare time?

2) Does the Process Server live and work in the area in which you need a process server? If he lives 50 miles away from your subject’s address, how many times a day or even a week is he going to try to serve your paper? To assist you in determining the distance to and from various Los Angeles County Communities, we have provided a mileage chart. Always make sure that the Process Server you hire resides a reasonable distance from where you need process serving etc.

3) Is The Woodland Hills Process Server or Process Service Company available 24/7? Do they work nights and weekends? Remember the Sheriff only works early am and some times early evenings…NO weekends! What if your subject is only home on weekends?

4) Does the Woodland Hills Process Server or Process Service Company provide Skip Tracing in the event the subject’s address is bad or maybe he or she moved, who is going to find the new address for you?

5) How many attempts will the Woodland Hills Process Server make to serve defendant for your service fee?

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