How Do You Deal With Someone Avoiding Process Service in Florida?
When attempting to notify someone of pending legal action, you may need to serve them with documents. However, when someone wants to avoid dealing with legal action, that person might try to dodge the service process. Process service in Florida can become easier when you hire a process server.
Even when individuals are attempting to evade the process service, professional process servers have strategies they can deploy. Learn more about the strategies and actions that the process server may take on your behalf for a successful outcome.
Using Substitute Service
Florida allows substitute service when serving recipients with legal documents proves difficult. Process servers can leave the documents with anyone over the age of 15 in the recipient’s home to meet the legal requirements of substitute service.
State law requires process servers to perform a genuine search and make an effort to locate the individual before using a substitute service. They must keep records of these efforts, including any skip tracing efforts performed.
Although most process servers attempt to perform direct service whenever possible, substitute service is a possible solution to someone evading the process service.
Managing Hours for Process Service in Florida
Process service in Florida must follow a few rules regarding the time of day for performing the action.
Florida is less restrictive about when process servers can serve documents than other states. Process servers cannot serve documents on Sundays without a court order exemption. Outside of this restriction, they have no limitations on the time of day service can occur.
When dealing with evasion of service, a server in Florida may attempt to provide service at an unusual hour, hoping to catch the recipient off guard.
Taking Steps To Prepare
When someone is evading the serving of the legal documents, the process server can take several steps to try to complete the action.
- Studying the person’s habits and travel patterns
- Monitoring the person’s social media presence
- Running a background check to learn important information
- Using technology like GPS tracking
In some situations, the process service may require performing stakeouts. However, because stakeouts require time and expense, process servers try other steps first.
An experienced process server can use a mixture of experience and creativity to take steps to prepare to find the recipient in a legal manner.
Following Laws for Process Service
Legal compliance is vital for any process service in Florida. Steps your professional process servers take to maintain the legality of the process include the following:
- No trespassing: Process servers cannot trespass to deliver legal documents without permission from the court.
- Service by publication: If the process server cannot locate the individual, Florida courts may allow service by publication. The process server must publish a notification of the service in a local newspaper.
- Completion of process service: Upon completion of the service, the process server must write out an Affidavit of Service. This specifies the time and date of the service, as well as the recipient.
Any process server you select must understand the legal boundaries related to this process. A process service that violates legal rules could result in delays or a dismissal of the claim.
We Can Help With Your Process Server Needs
No matter how complex you expect the process service action to be in your case, we can help.
We have experience with challenging process service scenarios, finding ways to complete the job successfully and in a timely manner. You can trust us to follow the legal requirements in Florida, including holding the proper certifications to do this job. Call Professional Process Servers & Investigators, Inc. today at (844) 722-8835 for process service in Florida.










