Who Can "Serve" Court Papers?

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Court forms can be "served" by anyone over 18 years of age that is not involved in the case.

This may be a friend, relative, the county sheriff, or a professional process server.

If you hire a "professional process server" to serve the other party in the case, it will cost money.

It helps to give the process server a picture of the person you want served, and a list of times and places when it will be easier to find the person.
You might also try to find a process server who is close to where the person you want served lives or works, since a process server's fee is often based on how far he or she has to travel to serve your forms.

NOTE: If you cannot afford to pay to have your court papers served, you may file a Fee Waiver Application (Form FW-001) with the court.
See the instructions for this form.

The judge may waive your fee so that the sheriff or marshal will serve your papers
for free.
If the person to be served is in jail, there is no fee to have the person served.

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