The Duties of Process Servers
Here is another excellent article from MLQ Attorney services, an attorney services firm in Atlanta, Georgia
Process servers play an important part within the legal system in that they serve or deliver legal documents to defendants or anyone else involved in a court case. Such documents include writs, subpoenas and court summonses, and any other important legal document for which proof of delivery must be obtained. Generally, however, the process indicates the jurisdiction of the court over the defendant, and is intended to inform them of the forthcoming case against them.
Depending on local legislation, the document should be delivered personally either to the named person or a member of the same business or household. Because proof of delivery of the document concerned is essential, process servers must provide a notarized Affidavit of Service to those that required the service. In that way, the server is swearing that the process was legally served.
A process server can also carry out other professional duties such as investigations and court filing, and in many states must be licensed. The responsibility requires a good knowledge of the legislation governing process serving and experience in serving legal documents in your state. If the service is not carried out strictly to the letter of the law the case in question could be dismissed at worst or delayed at best.
The charges for the service vary widely, and depend largely on the number of attempts made prior to the process being successfully served and the affidavit received. There will generally be a base charge covering a set number of attempts, such as 2 or 3, after which the price increases with the number of attempts. Each attempt must be made according to state law, which can vary from state to state.
For this reason your service of process should be carried out by a firm with a good record of success within the minimum of attempts, and also employing an extensive pre-screening procedure for prospective process servers.