What Happens When the Process Server Can’t Find Someone

Many types of court or legal cases require the responding individual to be served with court papers that notify them of the case against them. Some court cases are dismissed due to being unable to locate a witness for service of summons. What happens when a private process server can’t find someone to be served? Does your case just stall out? The answer is: it depends. 

Locating Missing Individuals

If someone needs to be served in your court case and they have moved, changed jobs, and/or otherwise seem to have disappeared, you will need to hire an experienced private process server to locate the missing individual. Experience private process servers are skilled in skip tracing to find missing people for service of process. They may also work with a private detective to locate the individual.

Alternative Service

If your private process server has done everything within their power to locate the individual and serve the papers, and they still were unable to find the person to be served, you might be able to petition the court for an alternative method of service. The most common method of alternative service is to place an advertisement in the local newspaper as a means of notifying the individual of the legal case. Some courts are also now allowing digital service of process via means such as email and social media.

Case Dismissal

If the judge in your case does not approve of your alternative method of service, or if they feel not enough was done to locate the individual, they may decide to dismiss your case. This is the worst possible outcome, and you should try to avoid it. The best way to prevent this from happening is to work with an experienced and licensed private process server who can help you through the process.

If you have papers that need to be served and you don’t know how to find the person to be served, please contact us today for more information about how we can help.