Filing for divorce in New York City requires giving notice of the action to the other party, in this case, the spouse. According to the law, the defendant or respondent must be informed of the legal proceedings and the right to be heard. For this, you may need to hire a certified process server who will properly deliver and retrieve the divorce documents for you.
Ways to Serve Divorce Papers
There are a few acceptable ways to serve divorce papers, but it’s essential to choose a method that would be beneficial to your case.
- Ask anyone over 18, who is not a party to the case, to hand the paperwork to your spouse personally.
- Send a petition via first-class mail with postage prepaid.
- Get help from a professional process server to deliver the divorce papers on your behalf.
Finding an uninvolved party willing and able to serve process to the respondent, while ensuring laws are followed and requirements met, may be challenging. Meanwhile, serving papers by mail requires the recipient to sign an acknowledgment form and return it. This might not be the ideal option for a divorce case in which the respondent is uncooperative. Additionally, in New York, service by mail is not a common option and is allowed only by the judge on a case-to-case basis.
Because of these challenges, petitioners in divorce cases may instead hire a process server.
How to Correctly Serve Divorce Papers
Serving divorce papers needs to be done in an accurate and timely manner; otherwise, the court may dismiss your case. To avoid this, many petitioners in divorce cases opt to hire professional process servers. They can be depended on to serve papers even in the most challenging cases.
As the petitioner, there are also steps you can do to speed up the process. One is to prepare the necessary documents that need to be served along with the divorce petition. These include:
- A photocopy of the Summons and Complaint or Summon with Notice, Notice of Automatic Order, Notice Concerning Continuation of Health Care Coverage, and Sworn Statement of Removal of Barriers to Remarriage
- Affidavit of Defendant
Once the crucial documents have been secured, the following service guidelines must be observed:
- Service of documents must be done within 120 days from the date of filing at the county clerk’s office.
- If the legal documents are being served within New York, service of process must be done by a N.Y. resident.
- If the service is out of state, the server can be a N.Y. resident or someone who is knowledgeable in serving papers in that particular state.
The individual who served the papers must accomplish the “Affidavit of Service” and send back the notarized and signed document to the respondent. This will serve as proof that the divorce documents were successfully served.
Divorce Process Servers You Can Rely On
Avoid delays in service of process by working with experienced divorce process servers from Serve Index, LLC. You can expect timely delivery and real-time progress notifications of the service. You can also rest easy knowing that we always comply with state rules on service of process. If you’re having trouble finding your spouse, you can also turn to us for skip tracing services.
Get in touch with us at 1-888-994-6639 or [email protected] to receive a free quote today.