Process servers are tasked with the job of personally delivering documents as instructed by lawyers or legal teams. Normally this means delivering papers on behalf of claimants to defendants much of the time. This can be a challenging job and there are a number of obstacles that process servers will often have to overcome. Here we will look at some of the most pressing.
Finding the Recipient
In some states, it is acceptable for papers to be served by mail. This means that they can be posted to the defendant rather than delivered in person and this of course makes the job of the process servers considerably easier.
In other states however this is not legal and here it will always be necessary for the documents to be physically handed to the defendant. The reason for this is that it ensures that they actually received them and are definitely aware of their impending hearing.
In this case then, the process servers will be tasked with tracking down and finding the person who needs to receive them. This can sometimes be difficult and may involve them having to do lots of research in order to track them down.
Dealing With Difficult Individuals
Another challenge fro process servers is dealing with people who may not be happy to receive the documents they are being served. Sometimes a recipient may physically try to avoid getting served and thus might try to evade the server! It is cases like these that have in the past resulted in process servers going as far as to use disguises, though this is generally uncommon and is no permitted in some states.
Dealing with difficult individuals may also entail being shouted at and verbally abused or even physically assaulted. The best servers thus need to have good people skills in order to deliver the papers in a way that will keep the recipient calm.
