From East to West

Last month we touched on the different classification of Process Servers in Florida. From our far east state to our far west, this month, we are all about the Ins and Outs of serving process in Colorado. The state association for process servers in Colorado is called PSACO or Process Servers Association of Colorado. I applied for membership in 2020 and was accepted, thanks PSACO representatives, members, etc. My website proudly displays our membership logo, see below:

Fellow Accurate Serve® Team Member, Brennan Fogarty, is also a member of PSACO.  He is also the proud Owner of Accurate Serve® of Denver.

To know how to do something well, you need to know the basics.  Well, to be as basic as possible, CO rules of SOP are as follows:

• Can NEVER Drop Serve, 18 to sub serve.  To sub serve, must be a direct family member at least 18 years old.

So, you can call those the meat and potatoes of CO PS but we are making Shepherd’s Pie, so there is a lot more to it.  Luckily for us, PSACO has made a nice little cheat sheet to aide those in the legal field, see attached.

A quick note:

• CO requires an Affidavit of Service (AOS) w/ notary.  When Covid-19 became a widespread pandemic, CO courts started to allow Returns of Service (ROS) w/o notary

From FL to CO (and AL, MI, GA and TX too), we have you covered.  If you are a Denver Attorney (or paralegal) reach out to our Denver office please.  If you are located in one of these states, find your right point of contact with our organization.  Please visit our franchise website and use the cool tool, Find Location, feature.  It’s red and currently in the Pacific Ocean.

Warmest regards,
Beau Charlet
https://www.theaccurateservefranchise.com/

Happy New Year! Each January marks the beginning of a new year, a fresh start and new goals to achieve. This January also marks the beginning of our second office opening in TX. Accurate Serve® of Houston will work side by side with Accurate Serve® of Dallas to provide Houston Attorneys and Paralegals with a Professional Process Serving company that will handle local, statewide, nationwide and international service of process.

Our team is here to provide you with quick response time to all emails, including confirmation of new jobs. No matter the location of service we provide timely updates on all attempts as well as job completion notifications.

Communication remains the main priority for our team. Part of that communication is ensuring that our servers throughout the nation understand how to serve process in accordance to TX Statute. All servers, including our locals ones are provided with instructions on how to serve each job and completed service is only accepted by our office if the job is served in accordance with the instructions. This allows you to also provide us with special instructions such as serving someone at an alternate location (Work or family/friends house), contacting someone to set up service or sitting on a location for surveillance in order to get a job done. Any additional information or special instructions for service is appreciated and communicated with our servers to help complete service more efficiently for you.

As we move forward in this new year please reach out to our new offices in TX as we are looking forward to the opportunity to earn your business. We have our goals set high and look forward to having you and your team as a part of our Accurate Serve® Family. When you are ready to contact us for service please email us at – serve@accurateservehouston.com, we are also always available for phone calls. I look forward to hearing from you and earning your business.

Thank you,

Brandon Muscato
Need our help?
Call (346) 226-3111
or
Email serve@accurateservehouston.com

As you can see in the CO cheat sheet, some papers can be sub served but some need to be personally served.  There are specific rules/laws for each state that need to be followed. We pride ourselves in our knowledge BUT if you need something special on a serve you send us, please let us know. This will only ensure accuracy of delivery.

December 2020 Job Count – 4,527
Average Number of Days from Receiving Paper to Paper Being Served* – 5.5

*This includes jobs that may be on hold or waiting for new info. There is no way to take those jobs out of the calculation. So, if a job is placed on hold for 2 weeks, that’s 14 days on that job which factors in to this average. So, we’re even better than what the eyes see, LOL. Some papers get served same day, some next day and some take multiple attempts/addresses to effect service. All we do all day and every day is serve papers. We’re good at it and we love what we do. Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to continue to serve your papers.

We have had questions on Motion & Order in Process Serving, so my article this month is an article re-pull from a few years ago. The below describes M&O for PS in FL in detail.

In Florida, you have 2 options when it comes to serving your civil process.  You can go with the Sheriff or a private process server. The Sheriff has a lot of responsibilities other than serving papers whereas here at Accurate Serve, all we do all day every day is serve papers.

Florida has 3 classifications for private process servers and they are detailed below:

1. Special Process Servers
2. Certified Process Servers
3. Process Server by Motion & Order

A Special Process Server is a Process Server who has been appointed by the Sheriff to serve non-enforceable civil process in that county. Basic requirements to become a special process server include: Permanent Resident of the State, 18 years of age, no mental/legal disabilities. You also have to take a class, pass a test, pay a fee, get a background check, stay in good-standing, re-certify annually and maintain your ID card. See 48.021 for more info.

A Certified Process Server is a Process Server who has been certified by the Chief Judge to serve non-enforceable civil process in that circuit. The qualifications needed mirror the ones listed for Special Process Server. The main difference is the certification goes through the courts not the Sheriff and you are certified to serve process in the whole circuit, not just one county. See 48.27, 48.29 and 48.31

And now for the last and most dreaded one, it’s Motion & Order Counties.  *There are 14 counties that are labeled Motion & Order. What this means is that the courts do not certify process servers in that county and the sheriff does not appoint process servers in that county. So, if we need to serve process in a Motion & Order county, then we need to be appointed on a case by case basis. Note, Subpoenas do not need a Motion & Order but Summonses do require one. We have templates at the ready for these counties which list our Servers’ names.  If a serve requires a M&O, we will let you know and send you our template to complete. It needs to be completed by the Attorney and e-filed to the case docket. You should also follow up with the Judge or JA to ensure the M&O gets executed quickly so we can begin our efforts.

Please note that M&O does not apply to serving foreign process in Florida.

*Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Calhoun, Clay, Flagler, Gilchrist, Holmes, Levy, Nassau, Putnam, Union, Volusia, Washington

Warmest regards,
Beau Charlet
https://www.theaccurateservefranchise.com/

Let me start by saying Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you and your loved ones. As we are wrapping up what has been an unprecedented 2020, I am excited to announce our growth and opening of Accurate Serve Dallas. Our Dallas office is ready to handle any process serving needs that you and your office may have. We will be providing service locally throughout Dallas County as well as Statewide and Nationwide Service.

Our office is focused on providing timely service while keeping you up to date on all attempts and information for each job. We are always available for phone calls but much of our communication will come via email. Once we update a job, whether it is an attempt or the job has been completed, you will receive an email with the details of that attempt or job completed information. Many of our servers take advantage of the technology that we have by using our app on their phone to provide job details. This helps us to provide you with quicker updates and images of attempts or service when needed.

All jobs filed within the state of TX will be served in accordance with TX Statutes and procedures of service. As Accurate Serve continues to grow throughout the nation, our team also continues to expand our knowledge of Statues and Procedures from state to state. Our objective is to be your one stop shop for a process serving company. I should also mention that we have successfully served internationally as well, throughout many parts of Canada, Europe, Asia and South America.

If you are in need of service or just have a question, please email us at serve@accurateservedallas.com. We look forward to working with you, creating new relationships and successfully serving your office.

Thank you,

Brandon Muscato
Need our help?
Call (469) 518-9581
or
Email serve@accurateservedallas.com

Routine service is within 4 business days. Rush Service is within 24 hours. Same Day Service is service that day. When sending your AS office docs for service, please let us know in the email (or website submission) what priority you require for service. Please note, if the court date is less than a week away, we will auto rush it BUT it helps if you draw our attention to the court date in your correspondence.

November 2020 Job Count – 4,374
Average Number of Days from Receiving Paper to Paper Being Served* – 4.7

*This includes jobs that may be on hold or waiting for new info.  There is no way to take those jobs out of the calculation.  So, if a job is placed on hold for 2 weeks, that’s 14 days on that job which factors in to this average. So, we’re even better than what the eyes see, LOL. Some papers get served same day, some next day and some take multiple attempts/addresses to effect service. All we do all day and every day is serve papers. We’re good at it and we love what we do. Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to continue to serve your papers.

New Office Openings in Texas!!

We are over the moon excited to announce the opening of not one but two new offices this month!!  Accurate Serve® of Dallas and Accurate Serve® of Houston are set to officially open over the next few weeks. By the time you read this email (unless it is post-Nov.), the websites for the new offices are not yet live. Some tweaks, you know I dotting and t crossing stuff, still needs to be done. But, our Servers are in place, our software is set up, emails and phones are live, so if you are an Attorney, Paralegal or Legal Assistant in Dallas or Houston, reach out to your Owner/Operator right now.

Dallas office:
Email: serve@accurateservedallas.com
Contact Number:  469-518-9581

Houston office:
Email: serve@accurateservehouston.com
Contact Number:  346-226-3111

Have you used our Find Location feature on our franchise website?  It is a great tool to use to determine which Accurate Serve® office is your point of contact for service of process.  

https://www.theaccurateservefranchise.com/

Warmest regards,
Beau Charlet

Hello I am James Pantell, the new owner and operator of Accurate Serve Atlanta. Beau recently accepted me into his team of professionals last August and since then I’ve had the opportunity to train and learn from multiple other partners. It’s been a great experience getting things going in a new city, and certainly plenty of new things to learn! I’ve always believed that success comes from our ability to adapt and grow so we are able to fit the needs of each situation we encounter. Here at Accurate Serve, I certainly have witnessed our ability to do just that!

Accurate Serve Atlanta started accepting business October 1st 2020 and has been growing each day since. I currently have servers set up to encompass the Atlanta area with servers in multiple counties (Fulton, Cobb, Gwinnett, Paulding, Dekalb, Douglas, Clayton, Forsyth, and multiple others in the Southern GA region). With these servers on hand, our competitive prices, and ability to facilitate service of process throughout the state, AS Atlanta is ready to serve your needs!

Please go to www.accurateserveatlanta.com to read more about myself and Accurate Serve. We accept requests for process as well as prepayment through our website to keep things easy for our clients. If you have any other questions feel free to email me at JP@AccurateServeAtlanta.com

I look forward to hearing from you and stay safe out there,

– JP

James Pantell
Need our help?
Call (404) 924-4838

or
Email JP@AccurateServeAtlanta.com

Never put a frozen turkey in a turkey fryer full of hot oil.

October 2020 Job Count – 5,186
Average Number of Days from Receiving Paper to Paper Being Served* – 4.1

*This includes jobs that may be on hold or waiting for new info.  There is no way to take those jobs out of the calculation.  So, if a job is placed on hold for 2 weeks, that’s 14 days on that job which factors in to this average. So, we’re even better than what the eyes see, LOL. Some papers get served same day, some next day and some take multiple attempts/addresses to effect service. All we do all day and every day is serve papers. We’re good at it and we love what we do. Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to continue to serve your papers.

Process Serving, Recent Legislature Changes & Technological Advancements

In June 2019, Florida House Bill 91 was signed, sealed and delivered. One of the major changes in this Bill was the fact that process servers could now electronically sign their Returns of Service. This was a HUGE development. Prior to the signing of this Bill, only the Sheriff was allowed to electronically sign Returns, not private process servers (PPS).

Once this Bill was signed into effect, our software programmer went to work and built a feature into our software program and App which allowed Accurate Serve Process Servers to update jobs and sign Returns using their Smartphones. They could serve a paper and within minutes be able to sign the Return of Service (ROS). This sure does beat the old way of doing things which would consist of printing the Return, waiting for Server to report to the office to sign Return, then scan it, save it and email it.

This new development/advancement has been great for us here at Accurate Serve as well as our Clients. The quicker we can serve the paper and provide the ROS, then the happier our Clients will be. Well, what about an Affidavit of Service (AOS)? A notary can’t notarize a document when an electronic signature has been used, right? Well in June 2019, that was true. Fast forward 6 months, different story.

As of January 1, 2020, current Florida notaries have had the opportunity to add remote online notary (RON) duties to their current commission. In order to be approved, the following criteria must be met:

• Complete a course
• Obtain Bond
• Obtain Errors & Omissions insurance
• Select a RON Service Provider
• Complete a form
• Pay a Fee to the State

There are very specific duties that a RON Service Provider must undertake. The technology they utilize must meet requirements set forth in Chapter 117, Florida Statutes as well as Chapter 1N-7.001, Florida Administrative Code. Some duties include:

• Facilitating 2-way video conferencing for online notary and Affiant (record video and store for 10 years)
• Attach digital signatures/notary’s stamp and signature of Server

Well, just like building electronic signatures into our software program, our programmer stepped up to the cleanup spot this time and hit a grand slam. Our software program, Paper Tracker, applied to be a RON Service Provider in the State of Florida.  After that, the RON process was built into our software and after months of testing, it is now live for use. We have successfully electronically signed and notarized over a dozen Affidavits in our Tampa Bay offices this past week and now we are making the feature live in all 38 Accurate Serve locations in Florida.

When changes happen, we adjust. When advancements need to made, we get to work.  Bust most importantly, we serve papers and we serve them quickly and accurately. We pride ourselves in service of process. We are experts in the field and are committed to the industry.

Just to let you know, we opened an office in Denver, CO in July 2020. We open an office in Detroit, MI in September 2020. And we open an office in Atlanta, GA in October 2020.

We’re always working, we’re always open, and we are always doing our best to ensure your papers are served in a timely fashion and according to State Statutes.

Warmest regards,
Beau Charlet

Accurate Serve of Denver is here to handle all your service of process needs.

We are here in downtown Denver ready to affect service on any subjects. Your firm would only need to send us an email with docs attached and we can get you a quote and get your job out for service!

We regularly affect service at the large corporate Registered Agents. CT Corporation is located here in Denver.

We can go to Littleton Co. and affect service on Corporation Service company as well!

What about service of process on the State of Colorado? We can direct our servers to affect process at any government entity in Denver or anywhere around the state!

That’s not all!! We have an extensive network nationwide! If you are looking for a process server in Colorado, or anywhere else just send us an email and we will be happy to take great care of you and your business.

– Your Accurate Serve Denver Team

Need our help?
Call (303) 501-7121
or
Email serve@accurateservedenver.com

Life is getting back to normal, slowly.  Kids are back in school, whether it be at home, brick and mortar or a combo. Sports are back, I have been glued to the U.S. Open and can’t wait for football to start. Just want to say thanks to everyone who does their part to keep themselves safe as well as those they interact with in their respective bubbles.  We’ll all get through this together and we all must do our part.

August 2020 Job Count – 5,057
Average Number of Days from Receiving Paper to Paper Being Served* – 4.25

*This includes jobs that may be on hold or waiting for new info.  There is no way to take those jobs out of the calculation.  So, if a job is placed on hold for 2 weeks, that’s 14 days on that job which factors in to this average. So, we’re even better than what the eyes see, LOL. Some papers get served same day, some next day and some take multiple attempts/addresses to effect service. All we do all day and every day is serve papers. We’re good at it and we love what we do. Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to continue to serve your papers.

From the East Coast to the West Coast, We Got You!

It’s official, Accurate Serve of Denver opened its doors to the public on July 6, 2020.  We are beyond excitement as our first true nationwide office is open for business.  Brennan Fogarty, current franchisee, it this market’s owner.  He partnered up with Monte Phillips, who will be the Office Manager & Head Process Server.  Well, you all know Brennan, but who’s Monte?

Monte is a childhood school friend of Founder, Beau Charlet.  Monte made the move to Denver in 2019.  Prior to that, he lived in the Miami, FL area.  Monte reached out to Beau about process serving and Accurate Serve while in Florida.  After he made the move to Colorado, he once again reached out and the two started talking about how to bring Accurate Serve to the west coast.  Beau brainstormed and spoke to his franchise team and then put Brennan and Monte in touch and then that’s when history was made.

Brennan has proven over the years how well he embodies the Accurate Serve mentality, which includes hard work, dedication to the profession and Accurate Serve Clients. In addition to Owner and Office Manager, the team at Accurate Serve Denver is here to answer your calls, emails, texts, FB Messages, etc. Reach out to us and we’ll be here to take care of your process serving needs.

The new website is: www.accurateservedenver.com

Please like their FB page:  https://m.facebook.com/Accurate-Serve-Denver-104329644680582

I will also request that you check out the updated franchise website: www.theaccurateservefranchise.com

Lastly, we are looking to explode all over the U.S.  Be on the lookout for new markets opening in: Detroit, Atlanta, Dallas, Washington D.C., Boston, Baltimore, Chicago, Las Vegas.

Warmest regards,
Beau Charlet

2020 has already been one for the books… literally lets close this thing and open 2021! Just kidding, as unpredictable as this year has been we are looking forward to the rise that will come from this pandemic. Everyday life has and will continue to change but when it comes to hiring Accurate Serve for your process serving needs you can rely on having the same easy process.

You have two, easy and great, options to send us new work. First, just email us the documents for service including everything that needs to be served to the subject(s). Our team will quickly confirm receipt of this email along with any special instructions or information you may provide. The second option is to use the send work tab at www.accurateserveportstlucie.com, or your local offices site. Here you have the ability to upload all of the documents electronically and type in the client, case, and servee details manually. Once uploaded our office is able to accept the job and can quickly process the documents for our server to begin attempts.

Our fees cover four attempts at service for one address. Making additional attempts or rerouting a job is never an issue, no matter where the reroute location is. Our team will keep you updated on all attempts and service details via email. Once completed returns/affidavits will be emailed to you, if requested we mail the originals.

In the midst of all the change, allow us to keep some normalcy in your life with quick, easy and efficient process serving on any cases, anywhere.

Fun fact on Sub Service according to Fl Statute. The statute below reads that you can leave documents at his or her place of abode to any person residing therein 15 or older in age. One of the meanings for Abode is an extended or temporary stay. People who may take extended vacations or are currently staying with family or friends can still be sub served at alternate locations as long as it is confirmed that this location is where they are sleeping/currently living or staying.

48.031 Service of process generally; service of witness subpoenas.—

(1)(a) Service of original process is made by delivering a copy of it to the person to be served with a copy of the complaint, petition, or other initial pleading or paper or by leaving the copies at his or her usual place of abode with any person residing therein who is 15 years of age or older and informing the person of their contents. Minors who are or have been married shall be served as provided in this section.

Abode: noun

a place in which a person resides; residence; dwelling; habitation; home.

an extended stay in a place; sojourn.

– Your Accurate Serve Port St. Lucie Team

Need our help?
Call 772-236-7214

or
Email brandon@accurateserveportstlucie.com

June 2020 Job Count – 5,027
Average Number of Days from Receiving Paper to Paper Being Served* – 4.5

*This includes jobs that may be on hold or waiting for new info.  There is no way to take those jobs out of the calculation.  So, if a job is placed on hold for 2 weeks, that’s 14 days on that job which factors in to this average. So, we’re even better than what the eyes see, LOL. Some papers get served same day, some next day and some take multiple attempts/addresses to effect service. All we do all day and every day is serve papers. We’re good at it and we love what we do. Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to continue to serve your papers.

Staying Ahead of the Competition

What is a RON? 
RON = Remote Online Notary

As of January 1, 2020, current Colorado notaries have had the opportunity to add remote online notary duties to their current commission. In order to be approved, the following criteria must be met:

• Complete a course
• Obtain Bond
• Obtain Errors & Omissions insurance
• Select a RON Service Provider
• Complete a form
• Pay a Fee to the State

When this add-on first became a possibility, we looked into it, but did not move forward. The real challenge was selecting a RON Service provider.

There are very specific duties that a RON Service Provider must undertake.  The technology they utilize must meet requirements set forth in Chapter 117, Colorado Statutes as well as Chapter 1N-7.001, Colorado Administrative Code.  Some duties include:

• Facilitating video conferencing for online notary (record video and store for 10 years)
• Attach digital signatures/notary’s stamp and signature

As we all know, our lives changed in early March. The pandemic hit hard and a lot of office staff started working from homes. Our Servers started printing more assignments from their home computers to lessen interaction and travel. Banks closed lobbies, so getting something notarized from your bank became almost impossible. That notary you knew in the office next to you is no longer there, working from their home.

We had to come up with a solution and quick. Luckily our software programmer stepped up to the plate and got to work!! For the past several months, our software programmer has been working on adding RON functionality for jobs we serve for your office.

All of our Servers in the field use an App on their smart phones or devices.  They serve a job and update the App.  You, the Client, get an email notification with the info. At this point, office staff will review info and send the Return of Service to Server to e-sign from the field. Most Servers do so fairly quickly.

Now, if an Affidavit of Service (needs a notary) is required over a Return of Service (no notary needed), we would print the Affidavit and then have the Server report to the office to sign, so the office staff can notarize. Well, soon, we will be able to send the Affidavit to Server via our App, and then they can calendar a time to video conference with an office worker, who has added their RON via the State, and digitally sign/notarize the Affidavit of Service.

I’m not sure if you can tell from my message but I am pretty excited about this new development! Staying ahead of the competition in regards to technology and offering better service to our clients is how we operate and that’s why we’re YOUR PROCESS SERVING COMPANY.

Warmest regards,
Beau Charlet

Greetings from the Accurate Serve Ocala office. This time last year we talked about timeless classics and service in the Summer.  Well, as everyone knows by now, this summer will be unlike any we have ever seen before. Coming of the heels of sheltering in place during a global pandemic a few things will be different during the summer of 2020.

Places of Business

Some employers have elected to keep many of their staff in a work from home capacity indefinitely. Unfortunately, some business also may not recover from the shut down and may not re-open or re-hire an employee we are trying to serve.  We can locate these employees via Skip Trace and serve them home (where we can serve a co-resident) and not at their place of employment where Personal service is required.

Service at a Residence

As COVID-19 concerns have caused some summer school, summer camps to close this summer as well as the cancellation of some summer vacations ☹. Our odds increase on residential serves with co-residents over the age of 15 being home and able to accept service.

Foreclosures, Evictions post COVID Shut Down & Our old Friend Mother Nature

Many counties are slowly lifting some of their moratoriums on evictions and foreclosures while others are extending. Compounding this, June 1st marks the first day of Hurricane season which could also mean FEMA holds. Accurate serve offices check in with their local court clerks often with regards to these restrictions and will keep you informed if this would affect the service of your documents.

We are ready, willing, and able to address all the above and any additional process serving needs you may have.

– Your Accurate Serve Ocala Team

Need our help?
Call 352-278-2188
or
Email jared@accurateserveocala.com

May 2020 Job Count – 4,487
Average Number of Days from Receiving Paper to Paper Being Served* – 4.73

*This includes jobs that may be on hold or waiting for new info.  There is no way to take those jobs out of the calculation.  So, if a job is placed on hold for 2 weeks, that’s 14 days on that job which factors in to this average. So, we’re even better than what the eyes see, LOL. Some papers get served same day, some next day and some take multiple attempts/addresses to effect service. All we do all day and every day is serve papers. We’re good at it and we love what we do. Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to continue to serve your papers.

Opening Back Up

As a good chunk of Americans return to work this week, we all prepare for the unknown. As we prepare for life getting back to normal, we all need to adjust what our normal is. In the short term, that means to take extra precautions all the time, especially when in public. Wear masks, wash hands often, keep your distance, sanitize, wear gloves, etc. Now, no one wants to wear masks day in day out long term, but right now, it’s what we need to do to protect ourselves and others and slow the spread.

One thing we don’t want to slow is the spread of Accurate Serve because as I always say, the more locations we have, the better we can serve you and at a lower cost. A few months ago, I had a great article that needed to be scrapped or postponed due to Covid-19. We were set to open our newest location last month, Accurate Serve of Denver, but travel plans/office site selection, etc. has been postponed.  No fear though, we will get it up and running this year and we will be sure to let you know of the grand opening.

Adding to the above, Accurate Serve will be participating in a nationwide virtual franchise show this month. We hope to meet a few qualified individuals who embody the great work ethic that has been established across the boards at every Accurate serve location and maybe we will be able to plan a few more office openings later this year and beyond.

We are here for you during this crazy time, we did not shut down because we know the important role we play in the legal community. Our Servers are working tirelessly to ensure your documents are served quickly and accurately. Take the time to think of the challenges they face and the risk they are taking to keeping this process serving going and if there are any issues, delays, etc. due to pandemic, we apologize in advance but rest assured, our track record speaks for itself and just know every Owner/Operator is dedicated to the profession and serving their Clients.

Happy May and Have a Great Day!!

Warmest regards,
Beau Charlet  

Greetings from our team here in Daytona, Palm Coast & Titusville!

We hope everyone is doing well and staying safe during these uncertain times. Our team here has been working remotely from home since this pandemic started and everything is running smoother than anticipated. Some of the things we did were purchase printers and reams of paper along with other office supplies and sent them out to our servers so they would not have to meet our offices daily. This saves our servers time and gas which also helps us practice social distancing. That being said, we recommend you e-mailing us all the documents for service instead of mailing us originals(unless you have to), to save us from coming into the office.

We also wanted to point out that since a majority of people right now are working from home, furloughed from work and home from school, this is the perfect time to take advantage and send those papers for service! I know it’s a bad thing to say but our servers have fully taken advantage of everybody being home and our success rates of going out and serving on the first, if not the second attempt have been remarkable.
Although we are unsure how long this pandemic is going to last and when things will be back to normal, we hope that you and your team, along with your family are doing well. Stay safe and let us know if you need anything!

– Accurate Serve Daytona/Palm Coast/Titusville

Need our help?
Call 386-569-8475
or
Email josh@accurateservedaytonabeach.com

• Set a schedule and stick to it
• Designate an area as a workspace (if you have more than 1 child, make sure each has their own space)
• Take breaks
• Understand that each child processes info and learns differently, so be patient

April 2020 Job Count – 4,088
Average Number of Days from Receiving Paper to Paper Being Served* – 3.9

*This includes jobs that may be on hold or waiting for new info.  There is no way to take those jobs out of the calculation.  So, if a job is placed on hold for 2 weeks, that’s 14 days on that job which factors in to this average. So, we’re even better than what the eyes see, LOL. Some papers get served same day, some next day and some take multiple attempts/addresses to effect service. All we do all day and every day is serve papers. We’re good at it and we love what we do. Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to continue to serve your papers.

COVID-19 

Our world is currently dealing with a pandemic of epic proportions. We have been introduced to the term social distancing and have been asked to practice it to help curve the widespread corona virus.

At Accurate Serve, we are dedicated to serving our Clients through the good times and bad. We have remained open throughout this situation and plan to remain open going forward. We have stressed time and time again, that we know the role we play in the legal process and how essential our function is to the legal community.

Our Servers never come in to physical contact with anyone they serve. We hand the paper we are serving to the recipient and it’s usually a 1:1 scenario, never encountering large groups of people. Since it’s usually a tense situation serving Defendants, we don’t hang around for coffee talk, we are in and out pretty quick, as we always have been, for the safety of the Servers.

We have told our Servers to extend their arms fully when handing papers off to create as much distance between Server and subject. We have also told our Servers to sanitize their hands before and after each service attempt. Sanitize before and after filling up w/ gas and to use drive throughs when you need sustenance.

Most of our office staff have been working remotely from their homes and our Servers are printing a lot of service packets from their home offices as well to minimize travel and interaction. Most of the serves we receive are via email, so that helps too. Mailed services – office staff are instructed to wash their hands after each and every piece of mail they open.

We are great at what we do and we try not to let natural disasters, pandemics, etc. interrupt or slow us down much. Like I said earlier, we are dedicated to our clients and to the profession. We are an essential business, delivery services, courier services are in great demand right now.  Process Serving is essential to the court system, so as long as Clients send us work, we will serve it.

Locally – We do have to follow guidelines set in place by local courts, circuits, etc. We have told our team/servers that if the person in charge of your process server license sends out a memo saying to stop serving papers, you must stop serving papers.  The 19th Circuit placed a quick stay on process but it was misconstrued by the masses and the “stay” was lifted/corrected.  The 18th Circuit had placed a stay on Foreclosures and Evictions until April 15th.

Statewide – In the past few days, Governor DeSantis signed into effect several Orders. See Colorado Executive Order link. As defined by these terms, it is in our opinion, that process servers are considered an essential business. Another thing to note on that link is that there is a stay on Foreclosures and Evictions for 45 days.

Hockey shut down and basketball too – no March Madness or now Wimbledon. Gyms, dining rooms at restaurants, bars/nightclubs – all closed. Amusement parks, nature preserves, no entry allowed. This truly is a hard time for all of us.

We want to wish you all the best and hope that everyone, and their loved ones, remain safe during this tough time. And let’s hope this ugly virus will dissipate in the upcoming weeks and we can all get our sanity back and return to the normal ins and outs of the daily grind.

Have hope, be optimistic, and instill resilience. All the best, take care please.

Warmest regards,
Beau Charlet  

Our servers are out on the street delivering your subpoenas and summons’ working diligently through this crazy time. Accurate Serve of Pensacola covers a huge area! It would take you 3 hours to cross all the counties that we cover, that is without any traffic! From Panama City to Mobile Alabama and all parts in between!

What about the panhandle areas where we need a motion and order? We have servers for those areas too! Motion and Order counties require you to file a motion and … you guessed it; an order to appoint us to serve your docs. It’s easy, and we actually will fill it out for you! When you send us docs that require motion and order, our staff will fill out the motion and the order and send it to you to file as we hold the docs until we get the order signed by the judge. We also will follow up with you to see/ remind you that we are waiting on this.

Your service of process needs are to important to leave in the hands of amateurs; we are statewide, we are efficient, and we are professionals. Your business is in good hands with Accurate Serve.

If you have any questions or inquiries please just send us an email or call us on the phone!

FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE, WE ARE HAPPY TO ACCEPT CREDIT CARDS!

Payment

– Brennan Fogarty

Need our help?
Call 850-264-2917 or
Email Brennan@accurateservepensacola.com

February 2020 Job Count – 4,804
Average Number of Days from Receiving Paper to Paper Being Served* – 3.9

*This includes jobs that may be on hold or waiting for new info.  There is no way to take those jobs out of the calculation.  So, if a job is placed on hold for 2 weeks, that’s 14 days on that job which factors in to this average. So, we’re even better than what the eyes see, LOL. Some papers get served same day, some next day and some take multiple attempts/addresses to effect service. All we do all day and every day is serve papers. We’re good at it and we love what we do. Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to continue to serve your papers.

It’s almost that time of year again, time for our state association’s annual conference. The Colorado Association of Professional Process Servers (FAPPS) annual conference/convention will take place in Orlando, FL, as it does each year. Orlando has been the host of the annual conference for as long as I can remember. Reason being is its central location for all members statewide to be able to travel easily.  A few years ago, the Board of Directors for FAPPS entertained the possibility of moving the annual convention to Tampa for a few years on a trial basis, that has yet to happen though.

Friday night starts with a reception party followed by either Bingo or poker. Accurate Serve team members, Josh Kes and Beau Charlet, have been known to frequent the final table at the poker tournament and even a few first place finishes. Saturday continues with several break out sessions and education classes. Saturday night ends with the awards ceremony and dinner. And Sunday morning wraps up the convention with the AFPS class. The AFPS class is a 4+ hour class going over Statutes, civil procedure, new legislation changes, etc. The AFPS class is recognized in many circuits as an approved course for process servers. Passing the test with a high enough score earns members their AFPS designation. At the 2019 Convention, more than 50% of the AFPS class attendees were Accurate Serve employees, Owners/Operators, Office Managers, or Servers.

Warmest regards,
Beau Charlet

The Search is Over…

Greetings! If you need service of process in the Orlando area, the Orlando office covers Orange, Seminole and Oceola counties. However, if you also need service of process in any other part of Colorado, there is no need to Google search ever again. Through the Accurate Serve affiliates, we have the entire state of Colorado covered. We provide our clients with a one-stop-shop for all their process serving needs. No need to perform numerous web searches looking for a server who covers one county or another. Your local Accurate Serve office provides you with one contact, one email address, one phone number, one group of dedicated professionals who are members of a larger group of dedicated professions with one common goal, SERVING YOUR PAPERS!

Wondering if we can help with service in a rural county? We absolutely can!
If you have multiple serves going to various locations in Colorado, all you need to do is send the documents over via email and we will get them served for you.

Using your local Accurate Serve for all your serving needs allows you to focus on the primary parts of your cases and practice and allows us to better serve you.

– Jared Williams

Need our help?
Call (407)674-7038 or
Email kevin@accurateserveorlando.com

On there, there is a red “Find Location” button currently floating in the Gulf of Mexico. Try out this cool feature. Also, you can scroll down and under each office in operation, there is a note on which office you should contact.

January 2020 Job Count – 4,915

Average Number of Days from Receiving Paper to Paper Being Served* – 5.5

*This includes jobs that may be on hold or waiting for new info.  There is no way to take those jobs out of the calculation.  So, if a job is placed on hold for 2 weeks, that’s 14 days on that job which factors in to this average. So, we’re even better than what the eyes see, LOL. Some papers get served same day, some next day and some take multiple attempts/addresses to effect service. All we do all day and every day is serve papers. We’re good at it and we love what we do. Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to continue to serve your papers.

Duval & Palm Beach Counties 

So, there are  3 ways Private Process Servers can serve civil process in FL:

• Certified by courts in circuit they serve in
• Appointed by Sheriff in the county they serve in
• Approved by Motion & Order from the Judge presiding over case

Duval is located in the 4th Judicial Circuit of Colorado, along with Clay and Nassau. Duval is a Sheriff appointed county. Nassau and Clay are Motion & Order, which means they do not have a private process server program in place either with the Courts or Sheriff.

For many years, the Duval Sheriff would outsource their civil process to a private process serving company. In 2016, the Duval Sheriff changed their policies in regards to private process servers.  They stopped sending their papers to private process servers to serve and started serving everything in house with their own Process Servers or Deputies.

No worries there, it is my understanding that this was the only county where that was the procedure. Where the worry does come in is that also at that time, the Sheriff stopped appointing NEW process servers. They have renewed process server licenses but have not appointed any new servers.

You can surmise that the total number of private process servers has steadily decreased in Duval County over the years. Servers retire, move away and attrition is natural everywhere, so unless the Duval Sheriff changes their policies again, as the years go on, the total number of servers will decline.

While our Jacksonville office has several servers, feel free to file a Motion & Order when filing your case. A benefit of filing a M&O for Duval, although it is not needed, is it will increase the number of servers we have available but are not appointed by Sheriff. Another benefit of filing a M&O when serving in Duval is let’s say we have a Defendant who works in Jacksonville but lives in Fernandina Beach, Nassau County. Subject could evade at POE and to serve at residence, we would need the M&O, so we would be ahead of the game at this point. We will attach a copy of our M&O at the bottom of this Newsletter as well as a list of counties that are M&O, so you know before filing your case.

Moving from Duval to Palm Beach County, which is located in the 15th Judicial Circuit of Colorado. Palm Beach County is a certified circuit and very recently they stopped certifying new process servers. Similar to Duval, they will renew licenses of current process servers but will not certify new ones at the moment.

Luckily for us and our clients, Owner/Operator of our Plantation, West Palm Beach, Miami and Key West offices, Josh Wright, has his Palm Beach certification and will continue to renew it over the years and he also has several servers with current licenses as well.

While the Palm Beach development is rather new, the Duval issue has been going on for a few years. It is our hopes that these matters will work out and we know that our state association, FAPPS, and it’s membership will work with lawmakers, sheriffs, court systems, etc. to ensure that private process servers will be available and able to serve all non-enforceable civil process.

Warmest regards,
Beau Charlet

Skip Tracing for Process Serving

While preparing for trial, or deposition, or just finding a new address to facilitate service of process, one of the most handy and cost effective tools can be the skip trace. The better information we have about a subject the better service we can provide.

One time I was serving a summons on a woman at her home. Before I got up to the door I pulled up her Facebook page to remind myself what she looked like. As she answered the door I knew it was her, I said ” Good afternoon Jane, I have a summons and complaint here for you and you have 20 days to respond, have a great day”. As I was handing the docs to her she backed away and said “I’m not Jane, I don’t know what you are talking about”. I then pulled out my phone and showed her pics of herself and her friends having margaritas…. “Jane, I think this is you, here is your summons”. I was about to drop the summons at her feet when she sheepishly reached out and took it from me. Then her mumbles under her breath turned into unmistakable curse-words as I walked back to my vehicle.

The information that exists about people freely on the internet is vast, and valuable even if it was a free search I did on Facebook.

When we have exhausted the known addresses while attempting to affect service we can turn to using a skip trace to try and determine new possible addresses, and what the facts are in our investigation. From time to time we go to the correct address, and we make a note of the vehicles, and ask the people who answer the door what their names are, and people are quite possibly lying about who they are and what they know.

When you run a skip trace you can cut through all that and get right to the point by dealing with facts.

When we take down tag #’s during the service attempts we can run the plates for a small fee to see whose car is parked outside. This can be helpful when the person at the door is claiming no knowledge of the subject, even though their car is parked outside.

When we need more information on a person, we run a skip trace. With this we can see every address our subject has ever lived, and or had a bill sent to. Every phone number, landline or mobile phone number that might be associated with the individual. A skip trace reports also contains Voter registrations, professional licences, real estate holdings, liens, judgments, bankruptcies, alias’, known relatives and associates, current and past vehicle information, UCC filings, hunting permits, weapons permits, and more….

The criminal records may not be the most accurate part, but it will list every time our subject has been arrested, and what happened after that is in the docket.

My clients have used these skip traces in preparation for depositions. In one case the woman being deposed had a history of committing a certain type of fraud. My client was able to use the skip trace information in the deposition to get her on the record regarding facts of the case.

If you would like to look into a skip trace for one of your open jobs, or an upcoming job with Accurate Serve reach out to one of our many offices around the state.
Best Regards,

– Brennan Fogarty

Need our help?
Call (941) 586-7897 or
Email  serve@accurateservesarasota.com

December 2019 Job Count – 4, 189

Average Number of Days from Receiving Paper to Paper Being Served* – 5.18

*This includes jobs that may be on hold or waiting for new info.  There is no way to take those jobs out of the calculation.  So, if a job is placed on hold for 2 weeks, that’s 14 days on that job which factors in to this average. So, we’re even better than what the eyes see, LOL. Some papers get served same day, some next day and some take multiple attempts/addresses to effect service. All we do all day and every day is serve papers. We’re good at it and we love what we do. Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to continue to serve your papers.