Professional process servers & investigators
How they differ, how they work together…
By Angie Heath
VP 360 Legal, Tampa Office
Certified Process Servers and Licensed Investigators provide two different services, requiring different skill sets for each.
Per Florida Statute 48.011, a civil process server is a professional charged with delivering “summons, subpoenas, and other process performed in civil actions throughout the state.” In essence, a process server sets out to effect service on a witness or individual by locating the address on the documents provided and serving the individual those documents.
Every process server must abide by sets of rules, and each state has its own specific set of rules. Therefore, a server must be familiar with the laws in their state before effecting service on an individual.
Process servers may use different tactics to obtain service on someone, such as interviewing neighbors, friends, family members, or a subject’s place of employment. Therefore, their communication skills must be at a level where they are comfortable asking questions and knocking on doors of someone unfamiliar to them.
A licensed investigator is different than a process server in that they require specific skills to conduct comprehensive interviews, write thorough and detailed reports, take pictures, and conduct surveillance. They also need to be creative at solving the puzzle of locating individuals for various cases such as missing persons, foreclosures, collections, and family law.
Professional investigators also conduct searches to locate assets of an individual or company for a potential investor, take videos of crash scenes after an accident, and interview witnesses to determine liability. They generally bill hourly or per case, while process servers generate their revenue by charging per document. Therefore, process servers must be thorough and efficient with the number of papers served as they typically earn the same fee whether they go out once or have to go to an address four or more times.
Process servers and investigators are very effective when working together on a “hard to serve” case where the defendant may be avoiding service or hard to find. When the server can conduct interviews with the neighbors or individuals in the field and provide that information to a licensed investigator working on additional leads on a computer, it can differentiate success and failure in a case. You can gain the best of both professionals and their skill sets using different strategies to develop a creative way to get someone served.
Both process servers and investigators play vital roles in the litigation process. At 360 Legal, Inc., we can provide the best of both worlds as several of our process servers are also licensed, private investigators.
The idea is to be thorough, efficient, and effect proper service on an individual. With our servers being investigators simultaneously, we can complete assignments promptly, offer more in-depth online research, and effect service on more individuals than anyone in the industry.
