Getting an individual served with legal papers is crucial to the success of any legal proceedings. However, some individuals tend to evade service, making it difficult for process servers to effectively carry out their jobs. As experienced process servers, we at Central Florida Process understand the importance of a successful serve and have compiled a list of tips to assist in completing the serve on an evading individual. In this blog post, we’ll discuss some practical tips that will enable you to complete your serve successfully.
When an individual avoids service, it’s easy to get discouraged. However, it’s important to keep trying. Utilize all available resources to locate the individual. One step you can take is attempting to confirm their location with family, neighbors, or co-workers. You can also try to find them on social media or run a background check. Exhausting all avenues before moving on to the next serves well in this situation.
Individuals who evade service may have irregular schedules or be trying to avoid the process server altogether. Try serving during different times of the day, like early morning, afternoon or evening, or even on weekends. Once you have identified their patterns, try to complete the serve when they are most likely to be available.
Sometimes evading individuals are cautious and therefore may spot a process server quickly. This makes it tricky for the server to complete the serve. For this reason, it’s important to think outside the box. You can dress like a non-affiliated citizen or pretend to be a deliveryman. Disguising yourself to appear like someone carrying out unaffiliated business can make a person easier to serve.
Sometimes a person who evades service can be found somewhere between when the lawsuit is filed and when the case is closed, especially if you’re dealing with a jurisdiction where the time between the court filing and the case hearing is much shorter. You should follow up on the information you gather to keep last known addresses relevant because some people move around a lot.
Attempting to serve an evading individual can be very frustrating. If you’re not getting any headway or getting nervous about the case proceedings, you could consider hiring a professional process server. They have more experience and are familiar with different types of evasive behaviors. Additionally, they have access to databases you may not have giving you the upper hand in completing a serve.
Attempting to complete a serve on an evading individual can be daunting, but it's not impossible. Using all available resources, trying different times and days, using ingenuity, letting the time between court dates and service be your ally, and hiring a professional process server in Orlando, FL could increase your chances of a successful serve. To ensure that you have the best chance of success, reach out to Central Florida Process today. We have a team of experienced process servers who can assist you in completing your serve successfully. We are always available to answer your questions, give advice, and provide guidance. Contact us today, and we’ll be happy to help.