Like many private detective agencies, EJM Investigations will undertake the serving of court or other legal documents on parties involved in legal proceedings. Process in this sense means the documents setting out the case and the procedures to be followed. The service or serving of these documents upon a person means ensuring that they are delivered to the person named in a manner that complies with the rules laid down by law and the courts. Not only must the documents be served upon the person to whom they are addressed, the court needs to be satisfied that the person named has indeed received them. Wherever possible this means personal service, placing the documents in the hand of the intended recipient once the process server is satisfied as to the identity of the recipient although some other ways of service may be allowed. The person serving the document will then certify that the document has been properly served. Should the intended recipient refuse to accept the document, simply touching them with it before leaving it with them may be accepted by the court as personal service.
Having successfully verified the identity of the recipient and served the documents upon them, there is still work to be done. The private investigator or other process server must carefully complete the appropriate certificates of service or other documents which may be required in order to confirm good and proper service. That means more than simply confirming that the documents were placed in the hands of the person named. It also means that the process server can verify that such service was carried out in compliance with all the rules governing the service of legal documents. As we will see at another time, these are numerous and detailed.
The certification required may consist of a fairly simple certificate of service on the back of a copy of the document. It may require the server to prepare a signed statement confirming legally sound service. It may be necessary for the process server to swear an Affidavit of Personal Service before a Commissioner for Oaths. It all depends on the particular document.
What also vary considerably according to the nature of the documents are the methods of service that can be employed. These range from posting by First Class mail being acceptable to those documents where strictly Personal Service only will satisfy the court. Clearly anyone undertaking the task of serving court papers or other legal documents really does need to know what they are doing after proper training and, preferably, some experience. In civil cases the solicitors involved usually take on the responsibility, usually devolved to professional process servers. That is where private detective agencies like EJM Investigations come in.
One of the great benefits of using private investigators to undertake process serving is that detectives have the expertise, experience and local knowledge needed to track down those respondents who attempt to avoid being found and having court papers served upon them. EJM Investigations’ Process Serving services operate throughout the UK for solicitors, private and commercial clients.
They and agencies of similar standing are able to provide these services nationwide through their network of local private investigators in all areas of the UK. For a respondent to decamp to another part of the country to avoid service is usually futile. The net spreads very wide, far beyond the shores of the UK.