Panama City (850) 914-9488
Pensacola (850) 264-2917
Fort Walton Beach (850) 659-6785
Milton (850) 462-8308
Mobile, AL (251) 406-8009

Can Someone Else Accept Served Papers?

All the rules related to the serving process in Florida can be difficult to keep up with, especially since they can differ from county to county. Generally speaking, process should always be served to the person named in the documents, in person, or to another person residing in the same home who is over 15 years old. However, this isn’t always possible. That’s why the state of Florida has passed laws governing the process server industry here. Included in these laws is how to handle situations where the person named in the process documents cannot be served in person. In this post, we’ll discuss the situations where serving someone other than the named process recipient is acceptable.

Serving a Spouse

Serving the spouse of the person named in the process documents, as long as the court proceedings are not adversarial between the two parties and they both live in the same dwelling, is acceptable. This service does not have to occur at the shared home. Continue reading

What is Skip Tracing?

Skip tracing is a process that is used to locate a person or entity who has intentionally avoided being located by the individual or entity initiating the search.

Who Can Be Located with a Skip Trace?

Skip traces may help locate legal persons of interest, witnesses, debtors, or anybody else.  Continue reading

How to Effectively Serve Process

To be an efficient process server, you must be organized, attentive to details, and avoid procrastination. Prioritizing efficiency while serving allows you to complete as many services as possible in one day/shift while still maintaining a high level of professionalism. This will keep your clients happy and turn them into repeat customers.

Follow these tips to serve process as efficiently as possible:

Follow the Rules

It’s not enough to just know the laws and rules around process service in Florida…you must follow those laws and rules as well. Florida has very strict rules about who can serve process and how the process may be served, and it’s your responsibility as a process server to know all of those rules. Your local area, such as the county or judicial circuit where you intend to serve, may also have their own rules for process servers, so be sure to check there as well. Continue reading

Traits of a Good Process Server

When you need a process server to handle the process for your cases, you want to make sure you’re hiring the absolute best option possible. Improper service can derail your entire case, from causing major delays to complete dismissal.

So what should you look for when searching for a process server? The best process servers will be:

Effective

The entire point of process service is serving parties of criminal and civil cases, whether they be defendants, witnesses, or other case stakeholders. A good process server will have a high personal service rate, meaning that they are able to find and serve the majority of their targets in person and on schedule. Only a few of their cases should use alternative services like substitution or publication. Continue reading

April Newsletter 2022

Message from the Founder

We have great news in the process serving world in regards to service of process originating from the great state of Michigan.  The Governor signed Senate Bill 244 into law on March 23, 2022.  The law will go into effect 180 days from that date, so September 20, 2022.

What does the Bill say and what changes will take place? The main change in this Bill is the change of the current requirement of needing Affidavits of Service to only requiring a written Statement of Service, or a Return of Service that does not need to be notarized. A Return of Service is without notary and an Affidavit of Service has a notary block on it.

If you are an Attorney in Michigan, this article is a Heads Up for you. If you start seeing Returns of Service for MI cases now, that is not good. But, if you start seeing them closer to the end of the year, just know that it is proper at that point (after 9-20-22).

The entire Bill is attached for your viewing pleasure.

Beau Charlet
https://www.theaccurateservefranchise.com/

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FRANCHISEE: PLANTATION

Bring on the sunshine! Spring is here and as it does every year it brings a change of seasons. Out with the old and in with the new for 2022! This year Accurate Serve® Plantation has a big change to share as well. There has been a change in ownership and management for the Plantation office. Moving forward, when you reach out to our Plantation office you will be greeted by myself and my team. I personally have over 8 years of experience in the industry and operating Accurate Serve® Offices. My team oversees offices throughout Fort Myers, Port St. Lucie, Dallas and Houston and I am excited to extend our customer services into the Miami area.

There will be no changes to the way that you send us work. You can email the documents for service to serve@accurateserveplantation.com or submit the work through our websites ‘send work’ tab here www.accurateserveplantation.com/sendwork

What you can expect moving forward is, friendly and professional customer service, timely responses to emails/phone calls and updates on jobs. Quick turnaround on signed returns/affidavits.

Accurate Serve® Plantation is revamped for the 2022 year and I am excited to work with our current and new clients down the road. My office is here for any of your processing serving needs, no matter the location of service you can email us the documents. My team will always confirm receipt of your emails and we will keep you updated on our progress for each job.

If you are a current customer, THANK YOU! Your business is greatly appreciated and I have enjoyed meeting you through phone and email conversations. If you have used our services in the past, please contact us the next time you are in need of service in order to meet our new team. I look forward to assisting Attorneys and Paralegals alike with your process serving needs and earning your business.

Thank you,

Brandon Muscato
Need our help?
Call (954) 770-9997

or
Email serve@accurateserveplantation.com

Leave A Review!
QUICK TIDBIT!
Did you know that FL courts started e-filing on 4-1-13?  That was close to 9 years ago. Before e-filing, we would walk stacks of cases into the Clerk’s office and let them stamp and file everything with hard copies. Those sure were different times.
Word of the Month: Intersperse – to insert or place at intervals
M A R C H
3/13 – Daylight Savings Time
3/17 – Happy St. Patricks Day!
3/20 – First Day of Spring
Office Anniversaries
Tampa, FL
February 2022 Job Statistics

February 2022 Job Count – 4,045
Average Number of Days from Receiving Paper to Paper Being Served* – 6.04

*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.

CLICK HERE TO FIND YOUR ACCURATE SERVE LOCATION
We Are Proud Sponsors of:
Copyright © 2022 Accurate Serve, All rights reserved.

Important Steps to Follow to File a Lawsuit

If you believe someone owes you money, it’s natural to want to get back what you feel is rightfully yours. In Pensacola, you can file a lawsuit in civil court to get your money back. In this post, we go over the steps to filing a civil lawsuit in Escambia County:

Do Your Research

You’ll need some information and documentation before you file your civil lawsuit. You must clearly detail the amount you are owed and provide evidence to support your claim, such as receipts, invoices, promissory notes, contracts, etc. You also need complete information about the person or company you are suing, including their full legal name and address. Continue reading

February Newsletter 2022

Message from the Founder

Fore!!
One of the 2 official Accurate Serve® golf teams were in full swing last week. We had the privilege to play in the 7th Annual Lakeland Bar Association Golf Tournament.  The AS team consisted of Beau Charlet (me), Ty Hurner, Derek Keating and Cameron Cole.
The AS team was 1 of 12 teams that competed that day.  We were proud to shoot a 67, 5 under par.  This was a best ball tournament so I contributed more in the laughter department rather than the skill portion but I did put a great team together that could really swing the clubs.  Our team fell 4 strokes off the lead, see below results:
1st: Drew Moody; Taylor Rogers; Barrett Sumner; and Robbie VanDruten
2nd: Kevin Albaum; Zach Brown; John Lancaster; and Brad Stainsby
3rd: Zach Sellars; Tony Allen; Steve Runfeldt; and JP Runfeldt

And the Long Drive Award went to: Dave Dismuke

This was the 2nd year our team competed in this tournament.  Although we have yet to win, we have never failed to have a great time.
Cheers!!

Beau Charlet
https://www.theaccurateservefranchise.com/

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FRANCHISEE: HOUSTON

As we get through the late stages of our winter months Accurate Serve® Houston would like to continue providing new clients with a warm welcome and a team that is on fire when it comes to serving process.

For the month of January our office had an average of 4.5 days from when we received a job to when it was served. Our routine service is attempted every 2-4 days, so this average shows that the majority of our jobs are served within 1-2 attempts. Once a job is served our team is getting the signed returns back to our clients within a day, on average. These are numbers that I am proud to share as our team works hard to provide the best service possible. Even then, we will continue to work on getting these averages lower.

If you have worked with our team and enjoyed the experience there are two things you can do that would be a huge help to our office. First, google review. Your positive feedback would be greatly appreciated and allows us to share with the world the 5 star service we want to provide all of our clients. A Google review can be left here – www.accurateservehouston.com/review

Second, refer us to a friend/colleague. We would love the opportunity to speak with any Attorney, Paralegal or Pro Se that you know and have the opportunity to earn their business. The best way to refer to our office is, have them call and let us know that you sent them our way, or make an email introduction. Both of these methods provide a great way for my office to introduce ourselves and let the potential client know about our services and how we can help them.

P.S. – Accurate Serve® Houston is looking for a local Paralegal Association to sponsor. I have had no luck contacting anyone from the association I have reached out to. If you know of someone I can reach from the Houston Metropolitan Paralegal Association or another association in the area please send me that contact information.

Knock knock knock… You’ve been served!

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

FRANCHISEE: DETROIT

Accurate Serve® of Detroit opened for Business October of 2020 coming up on 16months. It was off to a tough start in the Motor City having a lot of business with the Law Firms and the Courts being done from home on ZOOM calls. We have grown and adapted with our clients and as a company since that time. While the Courts houses are still closed indefinitely in some of our locations we are able to combat that with appointments, emails, and phone calls. The Courts have worked really well with us getting out of state subpoenas for these cases. Being able to mail them in and being able to have a server go pick them up. Our clients have recognized that we are able to overcome, adapt, and be successful during these difficult times with COVID-19. We will continue to use all of our available resources moving forward to accomplish the task at hand.

Another key to the success of the Detroit Office lies in our 40 plus franchises that are operating prior to opening this office. The wealth of knowledge, experience, and integrity have helped shape the values and success of Accurate Serve® of Detroit. Rest assured If I do not have the answer, I will be more than happy to let you know I don’t, but I will get you the answer from the correct and reliable sources.

We have grown a lot in the last 16 months and look to continue to spread our wings into the future. We look to be more involved in Wayne and Oakland county with our clients. We are looking forward to understanding these needs in a constantly changing future to better serve you.

Take care,

Erik Devlin
Need our help?
Call (313) 385-3703
or
Email erik@accurateservedetroit.com

Visit the Detroit Website
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QUICK TIDBIT!
Did you realize that we had 2 days in the month of February where every digit of the date was the same number? 2-2-22 and 2-22-22. These dates are also referred to as palindrome dates. A palindrome date reads the same backward or forward.
Word of the Month: Yen – A strong desire, urge or craving for something.
F E B R U A R Y
2/14 – Happy Valentine’s Day
American Heart Month
Black History Month
Office Anniversaries
St. Augustine, FL
Orange Park, FL
January 2022 Job Statistics

January 2022 Job Count – 4,047
Average Number of Days from Receiving Paper to Paper Being Served* – 5.9

*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.

CLICK HERE TO FIND YOUR ACCURATE SERVE LOCATION
We Are Proud Sponsors of:
Copyright © 2022 Accurate Serve, All rights reserved.

Why Process Server are Essential to the Legal Process

If you’ve ever heard of process serving before, you may be wondering why the state of Florida has such strict requirements on who can be a process server, what they can do, and how they must approach finding targets. Not only do they have strict rules to protect both the process server and the person being served, but it is also ingrained in our national culture that people must be given ample opportunity to prepare for court, which means they must also be notified promptly of upcoming court dates.

Process servers are essential to the legal system because:

They Help Uphold Your Constitutional Rights

Process servers are not just there to make life hard for you, they are actually protecting your constitutional rights. The Bill of Rights guarantees due process for Americans, and process servers provide just that with timely notification of upcoming court dates. This gives everyone time to prepare for the court battle and bring their best argument forward. Continue reading

January Newsletter 2022

Message from the Founder

This is Us

People do business with people they KnowLike and Trust. This is a popular phrase in business groups, networking circles and amongst entrepreneurs. This is also a common phrase I use in the AS chat forum and on our monthly conference calls. Now, I would like to use it for this article in our Newsletter, so let’s take a look.

Get to Know Us (if you don’t already)

  • Accurate Serve® was founded in 2009 in Lakeland, FL by Beau Charlet (that’s me)
  • In 2012, we opened our first franchised office in Jacksonville, FL. The Tallahassee office opened a few months after the Jax office.
  • Each franchisee is required to attend an extensive training program before they can open their office. During that time, every aspect of running an AS office is taught, re-taught and touched on time and time again. Our Owners are prepared when they open for business.
  • We have 38 offices in FL and offices in 5 other states (AL, CO, MI, GA and TX).
  • The AS team has served over 50,000 papers each year for 4 years in a row which makes us one of the largest process serving companies in the nation AND we are the only franchise based system in our industry (that I know of, LOL). So, although we are one large company, we are made up of several smaller companies, all locally owned and operated by someone in your community.

Do you Like Us?

  • First off for social media purposes, please like/follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn. As for FaceBook, each AS office has their own page, so please visit your point of contact’s website and look in the upper right hand corner for the icon to link to their Biz FB page.
  • Are you a new Client for AS?  Or, have you been with us for years? Have you had a chance to write a Google review? If so, thanks so much!! If not, we hope that we can deliver superior service to you day in and day out and maybe one day, you can hit us up with that Review.
  • Speaking of Reviews, each AS website has a page of their reviews. If you have not had a chance to read those, please do so. This will tell you what other companies think about us and our service.

And you can definitely Trust Us:

  • Know that all Returns/Affidavits are valid on their face. In FL, if a Process Server knowingly and willingly executes a false return, they can be banned from serving process forever. Just know that this will never be an issue with anyone working for an Accurate Serve® office.
  • Each month we send out this Newsletter and publish our stats. Some months are stats are not as good as others (many factors can go into this) but we never fudge our numbers. We are transparent in everything that we do.
  • You may be working directly with an AS Owner or you may be working with their office staff, office managers, etc.  There are checks and balances in place in all offices to make sure nothing is missed. From Servers to Employees to Managers to Owners, we all place our trust in each other to work hard every day getting your papers served and trust me, we get the job done!!

That’s all I have for now, take care.

Beau Charlet
https://www.theaccurateservefranchise.com/

Leave A Review!
FRANCHISEE: ATLANTA

Accurate Serve® Atlanta is growing! Our Atlanta office has been open for over 1 year and has secured reliable servers through the state of GA. With contacts ready to go all over the state, we are able to complete your process needs diligently. As your offices start to re-open, we look forward to having in person meetings and getting to know the Paralegals and attorneys throughout the greater Atlanta area. If you have an event planned, let us know! We’d love to attend to get to know your team!

As always we are your one stop shop for any of your process needs nationwide! Our wealth of experience ensure quick handling of your professional casework. Don’t forget about our ever expanding Accurate Serve® office network that is constantly setting up shop in cities nationwide…We are here for you!

With focus on communication to our clients, we ensure they are up to date every step of the way on all services. If you have questions about your file, our team is available by phone or email to ensure your needs are being met. Our goal is to earn your business long term and give you peace of mind while becoming your one stop shop for professional process serving not only in Atlanta but anywhere our clients need. We look forward to hearing from you and happy New Year!

All the best,
Accurate Serve® of Atlanta

James Pantell
Need our help?
Call (404) 924-4838
or
Email jp@accurateserveatlanta.com

Visit the Atlanta Website
Leave A Review!
QUICK TIDBIT!
A lot of people make New year’s Resolutions. The most frequent resolutions you hear are about losing weight, eating healthier or exercising more.  Other resolutions include: spending more time w/ friends/family, taking more vacations, pick up a new hobby.
Word of the Month: Affable – At ease in talking to others.
J A N U A R Y
1/1 – Happy New Year
1/17 – MLK Jr. Day

Office Anniversaries
Daytona Beach, FL
Fort Walton Beach, FL
Kissimmee, FL

Lake Mary, FL
Milton, FL
Naples, FL
New Port Richey, FL
Palm Beach, FL
Panama City, FL
Plantation, FL
St. Pete, FL 

December 2021 Job Statistics

December 2021 Job Count – 4,046
Average Number of Days from Receiving Paper to Paper Being Served* -6.3

*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.

CLICK HERE TO FIND YOUR ACCURATE SERVE LOCATION
We Are Proud Sponsors of:
Copyright © 2022 Accurate Serve, All rights reserved.

What is a Process Server?

Simply put, a process server is a person who hand delivers court case documents to the parties named in the case. Without some context, this definition may seem a little confusing. Why would you need some random person to deliver your case documents? Why can’t you just do it yourself? Is using a process server even required?

In Pensacola, it’s not a matter of choice; anyone filing a lawsuit must use either the sheriff’s office or a certified and approved private process server to deliver their case documents to everyone named in the case, including the defendant(s), witnesses, and other parties. Continue reading