Thank you for your purchase of “The Art and Science of Process Serving”. This book is not only for people who are considering starting a business in process serving, but also people who are already in the business. This ebook deals with many of the lessons-learned through serving thousands of people many different types of documents. So, whether you are new to process serving or an experienced server, you will find new ideas to make you safer and more successful.
Michael Williams has worked as a process server dealing with civil matters for private business, owned his own company that included civil and criminal process serving, and now works for a government agency serving documents related to criminal cases.
Mr. Williams has a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Information Systems from Regis University, and worked as a software engineer for almost 20 years prior to becoming a Process Server. Prior to that, he had experience in law enforcement, and was in the US Air Force.
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Table of Contents
I have often said that being a Process Server is the hardest, easy job there is. I think that by the time you finish this book, you will have an understanding of what I mean.
There are many misconceptions about what a process server does. Many people think of it as a shady, almost criminal endeavor. Others confuse it with bounty hunting. Indeed, there are similarities between the work of Bail Enforcement Agents (or bounty hunters) and process servers, but they are separate activities. In both cases, you are “hunting” people, but with process serving, you are not arresting them. I have found that a very small percentage of the general public understands what a process server does and how it relates to the legal system.
So, what is it that a Process Server does? In general, it is the Process Server's job to give a person legal notice of something. This is known as the “Serving of Process”. That notice could be that they are being sued, and when they need to be in court. It could be that they are being called as a witness in a criminal or civil case, and they are being given notice of when they need to be present in court. It could be legal notice that they are restrained from something – in other words, a Restraining Order that tells them to stay away from a person or location. It could be an eviction notice. It can be just about any notice that a person gets regarding legal actions of any kind.
You will probably learn fairly quickly that some clients don't pay very fast. There will probably be a few who don't ever seem to get their bills paid. I want to address these issues.
First, always get paid up-front for non-clients from outside the area. You are liable to get someone who calls you late Friday and needs something served right away. They want to FAX you the documents, and they will “put a check in the mail.” I would highly recommend that you insist on a credit card payment before you do the serve.
You may want to work for a process serving business prior to starting your own business, or instead of starting your own business. Obviously, you can grow your income more if you own the business, but you also have a lot more responsibilities and obligations.
If you want to work for someone else, you can do it as an employee or a contractor depending on what arrangements a potential employer may want. If you work as a contractor, you will normally be responsible for your own expenses and taxes. But, as a contractor you can also work for multiple companies if you would like. That can help you increase your income because of the efficiencies of scale of having more serves in each particular neighborhood you work.
Whatever way you work as a process server, you will typically have a great deal of autonomy. That is one of the nicer parts of the job. You can often set your own hours and work when you want to. I have been able to go fly fishing on a Tuesday, when there were fewer people on the stream, instead of having the normal Saturday & Sunday weekends off. That can also mean having to work part of the weekend, but that is a good time to catch people at home.
You can set up your office in your home or get a small office space. If you opt for some office space get something near the courthouse to make it more convenient to file papers and go to client's offices (which will also probably be near the courthouse). If you do set up an outside office, it doesn't need to be very big – large enough for a couple desks and some office equipment.
One tool that you will need is a computer. You may want to get a reasonably powerful laptop/notebook computer. Make sure that it has a large hard drive (i.e., 40GB minimum) and at least 256MB of memory. A laptop is a good choice because it's easier to take in the car if you want to have that capability, or if you maintain an office and want to be able to take it to/from the office and home. I'll touch on the use of a laptop computer for GPS as well when discussing field equipment.
There are several tools that I have found useful when serving. Some are safety related, some are for efficiency, and some are for your own personal benefit. I'll touch on personal safety first since many people have that as a major consideration when deciding to start process serving.
When I started this project, I had no plans to do anything beyond just this ebook. It has evolved as I tried to put more and more value into it. Now, it includes the consideritserved.com website for everyone to advertise on the internet and have a nationwide network to work with. It now also includes processserversource.com where I have attempted to get good deals on brand name products that could be used by process servers. As a purchaser of this ebook, you will get notice of special sales and product news that won't be available to anyone else. The price listed for every item on that website includes shipping, so the price your see is the total price to have the item delivered to your door.
One thing that you need to make sure you have is a company identification card (or one from your governmental agency). The more professional these look the better. Usually, if you work for a private company and are showing your ID to someone, it is the result of being challenged in some way. If that's the case, you need it to look as credible as possible. If you own your own business, this is one area where you should spend a little extra money.
An ID card should have basic information to identify you, and the business you work for, as well as a photo.
I have been asked by people if they should carry a badge. This is an area where I won't say yes or no specifically. You can easily get a “Process Server” badge on the internet or elsewhere. If you do show an ID card with a metal badge, you will have some people who will react better to you because they consider you to be more “official.” But, if you show a badge of any kind you run a big risk of having someone claim (rightly or wrongly) that you impersonated a police officer. If you were to identify yourself to a police officer by showing your ID card and a metal badge, you will probably find the reception is not very good.
Some jurisdictions have rules regarding the display of a metal badge, so make sure that you know them for your area, and comply with them.
If you work for a government agency that issues you a badge, then its use would be “official” and appropriate, as long as you make sure you don't actively give the impression that you are a police officer (unless you are one).
There are basically two types of documents that are typically served. These types are Civil and Criminal papers. There are some that I consider in a gray area, such as a Restraining Order. Usually, a restraining order is a civil document, which is the result of a criminal case (usually domestic violence of some type).
As silly as it may sound, one of the best things you can do before you start serving people is to do some role-playing as practice. When you get out in the field, you need to be confident in what you are saying. By doing some role playing, you can start to get the confidence you need to project. There is an Appendix to this book that is devoted to role-playing. It provides you with scripts that you can use to practice various scenarios. You can have someone read the subject's parts to you, or just read them to yourself, but either way, you need to reply for your part out loud. You need to hear yourself and your inflections and get to where the responses are at least somewhat comfortable. You should pay attention to both your words and your body language.
If you work as a Process Server for any amount of time you will at some point have some type of car trouble. It's best to plan for it before it happens. That may be getting a membership in an auto club like AAA. I carry the business cards of a couple companies who specialize in emergency road service. One that I like to use will actually come out and repair a flat tire on the spot and put it back on the car. If you are driving your employer's car, make sure that you know the after-hours procedures for car trouble.
You can make yourself less vulnerable to car trouble. You can do that by getting a reliable car in the first place, then make sure that maintenance is done when it should be and that your tires are in good shape. That will also improve your gas mileage, so it is doubly important.
One of the things you can do to expand your business is add more services beyond the basic process serving. You need to make sure that anything more you do doesn't require a license you don't have. For example, some activity may be legal for a Private Investigator, and to do that may require a separate Private Investigator's license.
The additional service of waste examination has already been covered, and is an excellent way to get information about someone.
Most process serving businesses offer a rush or expedited service for an additional fee. In the normal course of business, you will try to serve things based on geographic area, and try to serve things in one specific area during a single day/session. When someone wants rush service, you abandon this approach, and work that one item even if it is in a totally different area than you had been working. That costs you both extra gas and lost efficiency by leaving the current working area. It probably will require a special trip back to the office to get the document as well. Those extra expenses justify the extra fee. Usually, with rush items you try to serve them the day they are received. You may make multiple attempts during that day.
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Table of Contents