Seeking Advice About Serving Legal Papers to Outside CA

A., I'm a retired police officer and have some experience in this area. Some orders state that the papers have to be served by a process server while others can be served by anyone. If it says they are to be served in person it means just that. Certified mail will not work.

All counties have process servers. You could contact the Civil Division of your local Sheriff's Office (the Sheriff's Office serves cvil papers in my county.) or the court and they should be able to give you a phone number for the court in Pennsylvania. Or you can call the Sheriff's Offic or the courthouse in the county in which your ex lives and they will tell you who to contact.

If you ask they will also explain the process to you so that you'll know what is going to happen.

There are also private process servers. I'm not sure how to find them. If you were working with an attorney they would have one or more in their employee. And a local attorney could have a contact in PA. But I think this route is more expensive.

1 mom found this helpful

I had this problem years ago...I believe you can have him served by a police officer..you would prob.need to call them and get specifics..and there are also court servers again would need to contact court house for details..hope this helps you and good luck.

cant you call the family or civil court house where hes at and have a sherrif serve him papers i know that in nevada you can have a sherrif or deputy do it but you have to pay years ago it was like 17.00 i would call and ask because not everyone has the money to go to another state just to serve someone also try calling the sheffifs dept where he lives

You can contact the sherrifs depart there and you can mail the papers to them and they will serve the papers on him. You will have to pay a fee though. If they will not do it they can give you a number to someone who will.

Contact the county in which he lives, their child support division and ask them who to use to serve a modification order.

I'm not totally sure but I think served in person means that any qualified person, not necessarily you, has to hand the papers directly to your ex. I would think that the court system in PA can send someone to serve the papers to your husband. A good place to start would be contacting the court offices in the city where your ex lives and asking them if that is possible. Good luck.

It sounds like you must not be using a lawyer for the modification so if that is the case you should contact a process service company to have the documents served. Most process service companies have contacts throughout the United States and they can forward the documents for service to a process server in PA, or anywhere for that matter. It will cost a bit but definitely a lot less than you actually going there. From a legal standpoint, you should not be the one serving the papers anyway, it should be done by a third party who is not involved in the actual court proceeding. I have been a legal assistant in Washington State for 12 years and I hope this information is helpful to you.

You can contact the court in PA and ask them if they know of a company who serves papers. Contact the company and they will serve him the papers or if you know some in PA to do it for you (someone he dose not know. That will be the only ways to do it.

A.,

Hello, my name is A. and I am looking into this for you. It would be more helpful if I knew a little more about the situation. PA is Pennysylvania right? Do you have access to legal council of any kind or our you eligible for any type of assisstance in filing the paperwork or our you attempting to do these things on your own? He doesn't have to be served by you he just has to be served by someone in person that witnesses he received it such as an officer or personal friend. Sometimes they charge a small fee to serve him with the paperwork. I don't know the laws in his state but here the county department can do it for around $25. There are also agency's that do nothing but serve people with all different types of paperwork. I hope this helps a little. Get on the phone and make some telephone calls. You could call the court house in the city he lives in and tell them what you are doing and ask them how you would go about doing this also.Good luck and god bless.

Hi A., when I served my ex in another state i just sent it certified by mail with a conformation reciept and it held up in court just make sure you keep all original reciepts for everything. you do not have to be the one to serve him it can be anyone. or call the state he lives in ask for that division to see what they recomend. just remember they are there to help you so trust me they will give you the anwsers. and when you call tell them right up front that you are calling from another state ,or you will be put on hold for a long time.if you have to leave a message do so with your state and all. good luck .mine was done when i lived in california and he moved to arizona.

You might want to try to contact the sherrif's office in the area your ex is in, typically they are the one's that serve whatever needs to be served. Hope that helped!

if you send it certified mail then he has to sign for it. the delivery person can be the one who serves him in person. when he signs for it then you have proof he recieved it

Does 'in person" include certified mail where HE and ONLY HE has to sign for it??? There are also agencies that will handle things like this for a fee... here in Oregon, our sherrifs offices will do it for like $25. It is considered in person that way. It doesn't have to be you.

If you have an attorney, they send the papers that need to be served to the local Sheriff's office. There is a fee.
Good luck!

Yes, call a process server in your exes area. They can serve the documents to him and do a legally binding document called a certificate of service. Are you filing in CA?
Good luck,
:)

Contact the Sheriff's department in the county he is residing in. Ask that they serve the papers on him (fax the documents to the Sheriff). They will charge you about $50 for "legal process". He can either be served at home or at work. Good luck!
C., paralegal