Process Serving deep dive

In this episode we take a deep dive into Process Serving, including:-

1- How to respond when you've been served.
2- Why you should be proactive when you work with lawyers and the court system.
3- Techniques and attitude to be a better Process Server

Got a question for our podcast or do you need to contact Simon and the Down Under Investigations team? Simply email info@downunderinvestigations.com or call 1300849007 or check out www.downunderinvestigations.com

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hi, welcome to the latest podcast episode of Down Under Investigations The Truth. We discuss all things private investigation, process, serving , skip tracing and surveillance. You'll hear all about legal issues, cutting edge techniques, latest news and accurate information about our exciting industry. Let's join our host, Simon.

Speaker 2: 0:22

Hello. Well, today you're going to hear from myself just chatting about process serving while I'm driving and I'm on the road. Um, kind of my thoughts , uh, a bit of a deep dive into all things process serving , including procedures , um, what to do if you're being served and how to , uh, how to work well with lawyers and through the court system . So have a listen. I think you'll find it very interesting

Speaker 3: 0:57

Process serving this morning. It's 6:15 AM on a Wednesday and I having personally again between 20 and 30 deliver I've 35 documents , 20 those served in a day , that'd be a reasonably good day . Like I said , six 15 in the morning hour , my first address a drive . So by seven I potentially on my door , it'll be daylight will be starting to come up . We find daylight hours the best time to serve, only for the reasons that people are less , uh, intimidated. I guess. You don't want someone to be intimidated and guarded when you're serving with in all sorts of kind of ways . So at in daylight it takes away that and are , and so the interesting thing is we serve, you know, right around the year, you know , 365 or 360 6 days a year in Aing . And it's interesting that you find people will open the door and confirm identity if it's daylight regardless of the time. So we go to an address, let's say 8:30 PM during daylight savings and it's still light , still plenty of daylight. People are likely to be very cooperative where , whereas in the middle of winter , when it's earlier , you can go five 30 in the five 30 , uh, more likely to be happy to receive documents at 5:30 PM than 9:00 PM but simply because it's darker in winter , sun's down, it's cooler. People can be less cooperative at that time . So we mix it up, we go early mornings, we go late afternoons, we go on weekends because if you don't get someone home seven 30 on a Wednesday morning and then the neighbors confirm, oh no , they work , you know , long hours Monday to Friday and you gotta go on the weekend. Some people do all sorts of shift work these days. You know , it might be a 2:00 AM to 10:00 AM shift, so you wanna get 'em in the mid to late afternoon afternoon . But our first attempts are generally early morning between seven 15 and say 8:39 AM before the school run, before people head off to work. There's still a general rule. Most people work nine to five , but there is a lot more that are working different hours and on hours and on shifts . So you've just gotta be a bit flexible with your time of service and when you're heading out to an address, people can be a little bit more surprised when you're delivering on the weekends, but that's okay . We don't wanna upset people, but obviously we're not there to make friends. We're there to get a job done, we're there to get papers delivered and I guess we obviously have a duty of care when we're doing what we do , but I mean , I wanna just keep my clients happy. That's the main thing . That's why we get out early, we get out late and then we do a lot of paperwork during business hours. During all business hours. We do do a bit of research before we head out to an address. We'd like to know who we're delivering to , um, what the address looks like because what you find is some addresses look like a , a home address or a residence or units or apartments, but it could actually be a business. And then you can generally work out the best hours to serve someone in business simply by looking at a website or doing a little bit of research. And then there's a lot of different documents we serve for the county , federal, supreme , magistrates, courts, district courts, even <inaudible> applications. A lot of are straightforward debt related matters . Someone owes someone money to do with an unpaid loan or they might have uh , had a car accident insurance company dragging the , there's also family law documents, family law documents. We aim to get a signature, we have to get an acknowledgement of service signed or we don't have to, but we like to , it's a court requirement that we get a signature. However, there is exceptions to that rule. If someone is evasive and refused to sign , uh, we can put in paperwork called an affidavit, which we'll attach a photograph of the person to and on that affidavit will basically say they refuse to sign the acknowledgement of service . I dunno if people think that they're somehow gonna get away with that , not getting , um, not putting their signature on the acknowledgement. The court can still make orders as long as we say that they've been served. It's good when a client provides a photograph. It's good when a client advises that they know that the person has been avoiding the paperwork or they're aggressive or evasive just so we know we're prepared , we're always prepared for worst case scenario , but it's also nice to get a heads up . And what we find sometimes is that someone may be, we may be told that someone's evasive or aggressive, but sometimes they're not with us. They're completely fine with us , which is good if someone refuse to accept service and refuses to already us a photograph . So we who we're dealing with and we're confident that we deliver to someone , we can leave it in their presence . If they refuse to take the document , we can put their photograph on an affidavit that goes before a magistrate say , well , you know , obviously they're confident that the person's served , that's the correct person and orders appropriately . It's funny , when we do get people to sign, most of the time they just put their signature. We've had occasion where they'll write different things in the signature box at once . So right , she was under duress when she signed, when we know that she wasn't. Um , but it doesn't matter either way with those ones, we'll attach a photo also . Yeah , explained to the court that she's just written that very polite. We seem to be polite with people . We don't wanna upset people . It's not our job , our rule to do that . We like to treat people how they treat us and even better than they treat . Try to be professional as much as possible. Um , be polite. Generally you get better results when you're polite with people. You don't wanna turn off up and be all standoffish or aggressive. You wanna just treat people nicely and politely and with respect. And 99% of the time that's what you get back. But again, you never know how someone's gonna respond. You might think they're the nice person in the world , um, and they're gonna be cooperative and then they're not . Or you might get the ones that you know , they meant to be evasive, aggressive, whatever, and then they're just a , you know, a puppy dog when you're at the door. Gotta remember some people are all all mouthy or angry in email and over the phone, but when you're face to face , they uh , they calm down . They don't want drama. That also depends on who else is around. With family law documents, we do often ring ahead and make a time , um, depending on I guess what information we've got with the file . If we know they're gonna be evasive, if aggressive or we're told that generally we won't call ahead because we don't like to tip them off and then have them not open the door or you know , shut all the blinds to all the lights off or whatever . But if we know they're cooperative , they're expecting the documents, we can ring ahead, make a time, make a time that's convenient to them and make a time that's convenient for us. Makes the job a lot easier when we know the best times to get someone. And there's times where we turn up an address and they don't reside there anymore. Our procedure is obviously in that case, use the phone numbers provided, try and obtain an address to try and obtain a, a meeting point. We're happy to meet somewhere else. It's nice to get a new address just in case there is second or third documents that need to be delivered, you know, months later. But if we can meet them somewhere mutual , McDonald's car park , petrol station, shopping center , car park , um, and they're happy to receive the documents there , that's always good as well because then the court process can move forward . We tend to wanna get things delivered as soon as possible . We don't wanna be turning up to address after and time after time and not getting things delivered . There's no benefit in that to , we wanna try and get it delivered first time every time . Not always possible . It's hit and miss sometimes some days are home , some days you get a lot of business addresses . Make it a lot easier to deliver to someone at work when you know that they're there . Nine to five or 10 to 10 to seven or whatever gives you more options to serve on the general run you know that you're doing . And then there's times where you're just having a bad run and you're not getting documents delivered today , for example, first address, seven 15 and hopefully by eight 30 I've got another i half a dozen served by 10:00 AM hopefully I've got maybe 10 served and yeah , but you just plot around . I'll be going first couple of address at ones where we've been late afternoon or evening and no one home . So you tend to prioritize them in the morning just about being smart with what we do . Politely talking to neighbors , not gonna give any information away about why we're there, but some neighbors are very quick to let you know what's going on and who , who lives there. And many neighbors maybe back in the day there was more neighbors that knew their neighbors knew the people who live at the address, you're going to not as , not as common these days but still happens. Or at least they can tell you when someone's likely to be home . And the thing with doorbells that have cameras now can be a bit helpful but can also not be helpful. If someone answers and they can see you, you can't see them and they won't tell you what time someone's gonna be home or they try and be a bit evasive , it can be frustrating. And sometimes through the doorbell, people are very quick to tell you exactly when someone's gonna be home. Um , over the phone people can give you an alternative address , which is good . They can also tell you best time to pop back , polite and nice to people . People generally you get better results. So it's a bit about process serving, interesting job, not always be prepared, be vigilant, but also be very polite and respectful. Particularly with family law it can be a very volatile and emotional time and some people just like to be angry and like to be aggressive and , and and big and tough and strong and put you in your place . And so to be honest, we just grin and bear it . Take the good with the bad and be a bit compassionate, be a bit empathetic and understanding that it's not easy for them . Sometimes we need to explain a little bit briefly, we won't give advice, but we can help explain what the documents are , um, you know, what they should do as far as getting a lawyer or getting some legal advice and letting the lawyer know that they've had these documents delivered to them . It's nice when they do that as well because they're confirming to their lawyer that they've been served so there's no dispute. People can dispute service that happens rarely. They can try and get a rehearing or you know, they think they're gonna get us in trouble trying to say that they never got the documents . Our clients trust us, they know us, they know us well. They know that we deliver properly every time and they know that people can be evasive. That will always go to court if needed. Turn up and point the defendant out to the magistrate, reduce our notes, produce any footage , photos , video that we might have taken at the time of service. And um, magistrates will rule in our favor. It's not nice gonna court for anyone, not nice having our integrity challenged, but that's why we do things properly. We do things by the book because if someone's hard to serve, they're generally gonna be ones that make complaints afterwards and make things more difficult anyway . So they're the ones we likely to have better notes . Not that our notes aren't good for every single file , but you know, we make extra efforts to get footage, photos, video, audio and see what they say . We never know which ones gonna dispute as well . Sometimes it might be two, three years later that someone decides to dispute that they were ever served because they realize they did nothing with the documents and they need to do something about it . Happy to get up in court , find our archive notes that have away and produce those to the courts. Often our notes are electronic and timestamped and uh , GPS stamped as well , uh, which is very good showing the GPS and uh , the data can show that we were there at that place at that time. Um , and then if we take a photograph as well, attach it , um, the dispute yeah is always ruled in our favor and it costs the defendant that's disputing a whole lot more. It's not worth it. Advice if you serve with papers , read them and do something about it as soon as possible . Take it to your lawyer , take it to your insurance company. If you're having trouble understanding, take it to someone who's a bit maybe more switched on with you when it comes to the law and let 'em know you wanna get this sorted , you wanna get this resolved as soon as possible because otherwise you're gonna be up for more . You're gonna be up for more costs , you're gonna be up for more interest and you're gonna be up for more just general stress and heartache. There's no point . Deal with things, deal with things quicker, sooner . You deal with things quicker. You might be able to negotiate, you might be able to negotiate a lower sum with the other party with their lawyers . You might be able to negotiate a payment plan so that you're not racking up costs and interest against yourself, but cooperate ring . There's always a number on the documents of someone to ring, someone to talk to, be polite and respectful or there's an email address. Send them an email and see what you know, what you can do to negotiate. Obviously if you know you are not at fault , if you're hundred percent not at fault , if that's a civil dispute, you can contest, you've gotta put in a notice of defense . You've got a certain time period to do that and there's a proper procedure to follow to do that as well . Make sure you do it . Sometimes people will email the lawyers and say, oh no , I dunno the money or I dunno this or I dunno that. And then they'll leave it and let it go . Well , you've gotta put in a defense , you've gotta let the courts know that you intend on defending the matter. And this is why you've gotta let the lawyers know using specific paperwork . This is why you intend to defend the letter . No one has an issue with that. As long as you follow the correct procedures and use the correct paperwork. Let the matter be heard , let it go before a magistrate. But just be aware that if someone is taking you to court for a matter , they've got evidence , they've got proof , they might have yours on things photo . So there is that risk. Make sure you've got all your paperwork, everything sorted. And court , like I said, can be a daunting time . So make sure you're prepared. Make sure you're confident in the evidence. There's no point lying. Be honest with your lawyer . Be honest with the magistrate. Be honest when asking, well , sorry, be honest when answering questions because lies we've seen liar get called out in court. It's amazing . It's amazing . We've had defendants say they , yes , they limit the address, but no , they never got the paperwork. No, they knew nothing about this matter. No, we never got phone calls, we never got letters, we never got papers delivered. We never had the sheriff contact us . And so we've got a list of people that have had contact with this person. They're saying , I never knew anything about the matter . Well , yeah , you , it's not looking good bro . <laugh> not looking good at all . So deal with things sooner rather later . Get the right advice and get things sorted. Start negotiating sooner rather than later . Start offering a payment . That's the best way to deal with things . Often people will be happy to negotiate, they'll take a lower payment and if they know that they don't have to go the effort of gonna court and paying more , I mean at the end of the day , the court costs are gonna get paid by whoever loses the case. Whether the magistrate generally orders, here's the loser in a matter . So it's just not worth dragging things on and having costs and interest rack up against you because it can cost thousands of dollars just for one hearing depending on the , the court that you're going to and how many witnesses and things like that and how much effort has to go into it. It's just not worth it. Sometimes we've seen court costs get up well and above the actual amount of the claim just because someone has tried to be evasive or just ignored it or whatever. Just deal with things for your financial situation. Deal with things for your own head and heart , just to be able to move on and get , get past a matter . Negotiate, be upfront . Don't try and run and hide . We do track people down . We're also , many of the times investigators , we , and it may be embarrassing when you serve, not intentionally by us, but if you're evasive and we can't get you at a home address, we'll turn up to your work address. We'll ask the receptionist to call you down and then you'll be served. And it's not, not nice, it's not pleasant. We don't like doing it. We've had defendants over the phone tell us to get and catch me if you can . Okay ? I've that as a challenge. Don't get angry or emotional , but we will go above and beyond to keep you served . Imagine that living at your own house, having to like look through the curtains and you know, look at every person who's turning up at your doorstep or you know , screening your own calls . What a stressful way to live . What an annoying way to live . No wants to live like that . You know , telling your friends and family. Oh , if you have someone turn up looking for me , you know what you gonna say ? What you , why drag your family into it ? Just deal with things . Anyway , that's just a little bit of our process, serving three minutes from my first address, so wish me luck. It's gonna be a good day.

Speaker 1: 25:13

Thanks for listening. To get in touch with the team at Down Under Investigation, check out our website@downunderinvestigations.com or call 1 308 4 9 0 0 7 or email info@downunderinvestigations.com.