According to legal procedure in the United States, all parties must be notified when facing legal action against them in a court of law or an administrative court. The notification, which is called service of process, is accomplished through the delivery of a set or series of documents describing the legal action. Examples of documents that comprise service of process includes summonses, complaints, subpoenas, writs, and other court documents. These documents are delivered to the individual whom the legal action is directed. Service of Process must be served by an individual who is not a party to the case.
What does a process server do?
A legal process server delivers (or serves) legal documents to a defendant or an individual involved in a court case. The process server must serve the documents in accordance with the legislation in the area of service. This may mean handing the documents to the defendant personally or performing substituted service to someone in the same household or business. Once the documents are delivered, the process serving agent must provide proof that the papers were served. This is done through a document call an Affidavit of Service, also called a Proof of Service, which must be notarized and given to the party who requested service.
Process servers will also file your papers with the courts, can do document retrieval and may offer various types of investigations: skip trace, people locates, surveillance, etc.