Process service

What happens, in order

You place the order. Party name, address, ZIP, county, and the documents as a PDF. If the ZIP crosses a county line the form asks you to confirm which county. We ask because the ZIP code alone cannot determine the county, and the proof needs to name the correct one. For a subpoena that commands someone to appear, include the witness fees and mileage that must be tendered with it (usually a check made out to the witness); we tender it when we serve and say so in the declaration. We do not calculate the amount.

You pay, or your account is invoiced. Individuals prepay. Agencies prepay until they place fifteen or more process service orders in a calendar month, then move to a monthly invoice from the next month. Firms prepay their first two orders and then move to a net-30 monthly invoice, payable by ACH or check.

Paid parking is the one cost we cannot quote in advance, and it is common in downtown Denver. If we have to pay to park, it is billed once the job is finished, at exactly what we paid, with the receipt in your portal. We will not charge more than $30.00 in parking on one order without asking you first. It is charged to the card you paid with, which you authorize with a checkbox at payment, or added to your next invoice. There is no markup and no advance fee.

We make the attempts. Standard is first attempt within 3 business days and four attempts over ten days. Rush is first attempt within 24 hours and four attempts over five days. Same day means the order and the documents are with us by 11:00 am and the first attempt happens that day.

We make attempts at different times of day, because someone who is not home at 2:00 pm is often home at 7:00 am.

You follow the progress. Your tracking link shows the status and the attempt timeline: date, time and outcome. For your security, the addresses, party names, case number and documents are in your client portal, which you sign in to with a link emailed to you.

You receive the proof. A signed declaration as a PDF in your portal, and an email letting you know it is ready. The portal keeps the document; the email is the notification.

What the proof says

Our proof is an unsworn declaration signed under penalty of perjury under the law of Colorado, in the form set out in C.R.S. 13-27-106. Colorado’s civil rules accept a declaration in this form as proof of service. It states that the server is at least 18 and not a party to the case. It is not a notarized affidavit: a notary cannot notarize their own signature. For a court outside Colorado, attach that court’s own proof form and we will complete it, or order a notarized affidavit.

It names the documents, the party, and each attempt with date, time, address and outcome. It also names the case caption and, for a subpoena, records the number and amount of the witness-fee check we tendered. Where service succeeded it says how, and who the papers were handed to. Where it did not, it says the same about every attempt that was made.

Whether that document meets the needs of your matter is a question for your attorney or the court. We can tell you what it contains, but not whether it is sufficient.

If service is not completed

Sometimes service cannot be completed. The address may be out of date, the unit number may be wrong, the person may have moved, or no one may answer during the four attempts.

You receive a declaration of attempted service, signed the same way. It records each attempt, the address, and what we found there. The service fee is earned by the attempts, not the outcome, so it is not refunded.

If the attempts show that an address is wrong, we will contact you before making the rest, so you can choose to stop, have us search for a new address (a skip trace, $75, or $40 if no new address is found), or continue.

Cancelling

Cases sometimes settle while a serve is under way. You can cancel a serve at any time until the person is served. A cancellation takes effect when we receive it, and the refund depends on how far the order had progressed at that moment:

• Before we set out: a full refund, court fees included, less the $5.00 cancellation fee.
• On the way, before the first attempt: a full refund minus a $35.00 trip fee.
• After the first attempt: no refund, except court fees we had not yet paid out.

Before we set out, you can change the address, a party or the speed instead of cancelling. Changes are free: you pay, or we refund, only the difference in price.

On an invoiced order the same amounts apply: we credit the rest on the invoice and bill only what we keep. Section 6 of the terms of service has the rule in full.

Add-ons

Wait and serve, $85 an hour in whole hours with a one-hour minimum, for a party who is known to be somewhere at a known time.

Extra party at the same address, $45. Two people at one address are served on one trip, so the second is not charged a full fee.

Substituted mailing, $15 each. We perform the mailing the court’s order requires, and our declaration states the date of mailing and every address it went to. Whether substituted service is available to you is a question for you, your attorney and the court.

We are not attorneys

We are not attorneys and cannot give legal advice. We cannot tell you which court to file in, what your deadline is, whether service was good, or what the papers you were handed mean. If you do not have an attorney, your county court’s self-help staff and the Colorado Judicial Branch Self-Help Center can explain procedure and forms.