Serving Process in Family Cases

Serving process in domestic cases can be some of the most volatile and challenging serves, due to the personal nature of the case. Knowing how to handle these potentially sensitive serves will help you successfully serve the papers in question with minimal risk of emotionally charged confrontations with you that may escalate into potentially violent reactions. In this article we will discuss serving in family matters.

Types of Family Cases

Types of process you may receive in domestic cases are:

• Summons/Petition for Divorce, where you are providing papers to a spouse of the intent for dissolution of their marriage.
• Summons/Petition to Determine Paternity, where you are providing papers regarding the father of a child.
• Summons/Petition for Modification, where you are proving papers regarding a request for modification to the final judgment in the case. These may be regarding change in request for child support and other matters.
• Notice of Hearing, which may be associated with any family case, requiring all parties appear to hear a motion related to the case.
• Notice of Emergency Hearing, which is usually associated with a motion regarding child custody or visitation due to the potential for “imminent danger”.
• Subpoena for Records, which can be associated with any family case and requires the person to be served to produce documents relevant to the case, such as medical records, financial records, etc.
• Subpoena for Hearing or Trial, which is a court order that requires the person to be served to come to court to testify.

Time is of the Essence

Serving process in these types of cases is normally time sensitive, especially if minor children are involved. If emergency hearings are scheduled, you will have a very short time frame within which to serve. Your Client may require more frequent and timely communication concerning attempts and progress on serving the papers. Listen to your Client and use their information about the situation and their sense of urgency to help inform you as to whether you are headed into a potentially volatile situation.

Domestic Case Serves – the Good, the Bad, and the (Potentially) Ugly

Serving the respondent in a domestic case typically falls into one of the following categories:

• The party is expecting the summons and willing to accept service, anxious to get the process moving. These serves will likely be the easiest, both in terms of making a successful attempt on the first try and in terms of a quick, professional handling of the situation.
• The party has knowledge that a summons will be served and is actively avoiding for a variety of reasons. These serves will likely take multiple attempts and could be confrontational in nature.
• The party has no knowledge the case has been filed and is shocked when you serve them. These can be the most volatile serves, because no one knows how someone will react to emotionally upsetting news.

If at all possible, ascertain from your Client if the person to be served is aware of the case, and what their reaction will likely be.

Know What You Are Walking Into

In addition to finding out if the party to be served is aware of the case or if they will be surprised, find out everything else you can - if there is ever a type of service where preliminary information gathering is important, it is family cases! For example, you may be serving the Summons/Petition for Divorce but there may also be a case that has been filed for a Domestic Violence Injunction that the Sheriff is handling.

If you regularly serve in family cases, you may want to create a basic intake questionnaire so you have as much information available prior to attempting the service. The state of Florida has a Process Server Memorandum available for litigants in the Family Law Forms section that you can use as a starting template for your own intake questionnaire. Use your intake form to prompt your Client to  provide information for home address, work address, if the party is known to have any weapons, and other special instructions. Other information to request can include:

• Physical description
• Picture of the person to be served
• Type of vehicle
• Typical hours at work and home
• History of violence
• Contact phone number (during day and after hours) for notification when service is completed

If you are working with a Pro Se Client there are other considerations you may want to consider. See our article on working with Pro Se Clients.

Have a Safety Plan

Emotions run high in these cases, so be prepared. Have a plan that you review on dealing with hostile situations. There are instances that you will be warned the party is extremely hostile and when you serve them they are calm and friendly. There are other times though where the party may start off calm and become hostile.

Some things for you to consider:

• Where will you park your vehicle so you will have quick access to get back to it?
• Will your phone be handy in case you need to call 911?
• How do you plan to de-escalate the situation, if needed?

For more safety ideas and considerations, please check out our article on Safety First.

Serving at a Place of Employment

If you are unable to serve at a residence, you will attempt to serve the person at work. If you are at a place of employment it’s best to be discreet. Where a person works is many times someone’s “second home”. A true professional will work to minimize disruption at the business and maintain their privacy regarding the matter. For more thoughts on how to serve at a place of employment, check out our article on this specific subject.

Serving in Cases with Minor Children at Home.

If you attempt to serve at the residence and the parent is not home, it is best to refrain from serving the children even if the statute permits service upon them. Many times divorce cases may have full financial disclosures in them and sensitive information that the minor children should not have access to. If it is a recurring problem that the spouse is avoiding and sending the children to the door, consult with your client to determine the best way to accomplish service.

Serving at a Designated Meeting Location

In some cases where your Client does not know where the party to be served is living or you have been unable to serve them through any other means, you may be asked to serve them during a pre-arranged meeting between the parties. This might be a meeting to swap the children for visitation or a meeting to trade items. If the service will happen when minor children are going to be swapped, do your best to complete the service outside the presence of the children.

Before you decide to attempt any service where both parties will be present, ask every question you can think of and make sure you are comfortable with the plan. You want to ensure everyone’s safety during the serve to the best of your ability. Distraught spouses sometimes come up with ideas that should not be attempted or may suggest attempt scenarios that will likely embarrass the person to be served and exacerbate the risk of a difficult serve and violence. Do not agree to an attempt scenario the you are not comfortable with!

Serving Witnesses

During the process of the case there may be court hearings scheduled and eventually the possibility of a trial. Subpoenas will be issued for parties that are relevant to the case for you to serve. Subpoenas that you receive may be for teachers, counselors, doctors, law enforcement officers, friends, former spouses/partners, and neighbors of the parties.

• Subpoenas for Records may be issued to witnesses and you will find these to be the easiest serves in family matters,  because they are typically served to businesses and usually only require a single attempt.
• Subpoenas for Hearings and Trial can be slightly trickier. Witnesses rarely like to be served because – just like you and me – they are busy with their lives and do not want to have to spend a day going to court. Additionally, they often don’t want to be dragged into the middle of the case where they may be forced to testify to things that will hurt their relationship with one or both parties.

In general, when serving process in family cases, especially for witnesses for hearings and trial, it is considerate to quickly serve them, so they have adequate time to make arrangements to appear (e.g. babysitters, time off work).

If serving several neighbors or friends, it’s best to make your first attempt in the evening or morning when most people would be expected to be home, so you can catch most of them before the word gets out that papers are being served. Otherwise, depending on the case, you might find that the first person served tips off the rest of the neighbors or friends, making the others may be very difficult to serve if they do not want to be involved.

An Ounce of Preparation…

Serving process in family cases requires a bit more caution than other cases due to the high emotional component. While Benjamin Franklin famously said “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”, in this business an ounce of preparation is what is needed. Being prepared and asking the appropriate questions prior to attempting can help to minimize potential issues.