WHAT DO PROCESS SERVERS IN KANSAS DO?

This article will guide What Do Process Servers in Kansas Do? Any process must be served by the sheriff of the county in which the action is lodged. Unless a party elects to serve either alone or via counsel and informs the clerk of their intention to do so. However, process may be ensured quicker and more accurately through a private process server in Kansas. 

Certified mail, priority mail, commercial courier service, overnight delivery service, or other dependable private process servers to the party addressed will constitute service by return receipt in Kansas.

BACKGROUND

A formal request for personal or residential service may be filed with the clerk. Service at a person’s residence must be accomplished by leaving a copy of the process with an adult resident of the residence who is deemed to be of proper age and judgment. If personal or residential service is unsuccessful, service may be performed by sending a copy of the process to the defendant and a first-class postal notification that a copy of the process has been placed at the defendant’s residence or place of business.

The process server tasked with serving legal documents can be appointed without restriction and granted permission to handle a certain number of cases or a broad range of cases over a specified period. A process server or authorized attorney may do the service anywhere in or outside of the state and be allowed the fees prescribed. 

 Certified mail, priority mail, commercial courier service, overnight delivery service, or other dependable personal delivery services to the party addressed will be deemed to return receipt delivery service for purposes of serving any out-of-state process. At Undisputed Legal, our process servers employed are local to the state and are aware of the specific requirements of service of process therein. Consequently, process servers are required only by experienced process servers in Kansas who meet all of the latest licensing, education, and bonding requirements set by the place where they work. 

OBSTRUCTION OF SERVICE IN KANSAS

To obstruct legal process or official duty is to wilfully and maliciously interfere with, resist, or oppose the service or execution of any writ, warrant, process, or order of the court, or the fulfillment of any official duty, by any person authorized by law to serve process. It should be known the event of a felony, parole, or any approved disposition for a crime, obstructing legal procedure or official duty is a criminal offense. It is a class A non-person misdemeanor to obstruct legal process or official duty in a misdemeanor case or as a consequence of an allowed disposition in a criminal or civil matter. 

Process may be served personally or at the defendant’s abode if the plaintiff has filed a written request with the clerk requesting an alternative to serving by certified mail. A copy of the process and any other relevant papers must be personally delivered to the person to be served or offered for delivery. At Undisputed Legal, we ensure that service will be conducted on time and completely. We are trained professionals, and we ensure that your service reaches its destination.  Furthermore, in cases of evasive or difficult defendants who obstruct the service of process, at Undisputed Legal, Inc., we are experts at finding and serving court papers on defendants and witnesses who don’t want to be found.

WHO CAN SERVE PROCESS IN KANSAS

Those tasked with serving legal documents may be appointed without restriction and granted permission to handle a certain number of cases or a broad range of cases over a specified period. Service may be made in or out of state by a process server or approved attorney, who will be reimbursed for their expenses by the court at the same rate as the sheriff. A person authorized to serve, levy, or execute a process is also considered an ‘official. ‘

The refusal of the person to be served or an agent authorized by the person to accept service of process to take copies thereof when offered by a fully authorized process server constitutes good and adequate service of process. A signed receipt acknowledging receipt of the summons is sufficient to service. When a defendant voluntarily appears in court, service is considered complete as of the date of attendance.

Summonses, complaints, divorce papers, family court paperwork, subpoenas, citations, small claims court cases, orders to show cause, petitions, discovery documents, evictions, landlord/tenant notifications, motions, and more may all be served by our Kansas process servers. In Kansas, Undisputed Legal is the private process server for legal professionals, businesses, and the general public. Our clients include federal, state, and local government entities, law offices, lawyers, and the public.

As a result of our extensive network of statewide professional process servers, we are able to provide all of our customers with three (3) tiers of service across the state of Kansas. We provide Routine service, wherein the first attempt at service may be conducted within five to seven days, or Rush service, wherein the first attempt is undertaken within forty-eight hours. We also offer service by mail, where the documents may be mailed within twenty-four hours of receipt. Bear in mind that our service levels only differ in the timeframe since each level of service will have at least three attempts at service, either in the morning, the afternoon, or the evening. 

OUT-OF-STATE SERVICE IN KANSAS

Any party located outside of the state may be served. Service inside Kansas has the force and effect of service of process if upon a person domiciled in this state or upon a person who has surrendered to the jurisdiction of the courts of Kansas. Otherwise, service has the force and effect of service by publication.

Any official authorized to make service of process in this, or the state where the defendant is located, may effect service of process, or a copy of the process and petition or other documents may be sent to the person to be served. The service’s time, mode, and location must be established by an affidavit or other competent evidence provided by the server. In evaluating whether service has been properly made, the court may examine the affidavit or other adequate evidence. At least thirty days must pass after service before a default is declared. 

Service of process upon any person subject to the jurisdiction of the courts of Kansas may be made by serving the defendant outside this state with the same force and effect as though the process had been served within this state.  Mail with return receipt requested or restricted delivery may be used for out-of-state service of process. A copy of the process and petition or other documents must be placed in an envelope addressed to the person to be served, and amendments thereto, adequate postage must be affixed. The sealed envelope must be deposited in the United States mail as a certified mail return receipt requested with instructions to the delivering postal Commissioner.

 A return on service detailing the nature of the process, the date it was mailed, and the name and address printed on the envelope containing the process when sent via certified mail with a return receipt requested must be executed by the party’s attorney or the party if an attorney does not represent the party. The return on service and any accompanying return receipt or return envelope must be kept in the case files by the party or the party’s attorney. The party serving the defendant, or the party’s attorney, may send the defendant a copy of the process and petition or other documents to be served by regular, first-class mail if the certified mail envelope is returned with an endorsement showing refusal of delivery. 

OTHER REQUIREMENTS OF PROCESS IN KANSAS

A judgment against one or more defendants that holds them jointly or severally responsible should not be understood to preclude a subsequent action against those defendants who were not served with process. Any officer who receives a writ of summons or other processes for service inside or outside of Kansas is required to state penalty of perjury regarding the date, time, and location of the attempted service.

If such process is addressed to and handed to a person other than an officer for service, such person must provide an affidavit as to the time, place, and method of such person’s service. Proof of service via publication must include an affidavit stating the dates and name of the newspaper in which the notice was published. The affidavit submitted in the case must include a copy of the notification as an exhibit. Submission of an affidavit by the person who sent copies of the publication notice is sufficient evidence of mailing and amendments thereto, and such affidavit will be submitted to the clerk of the court in which the action has been filed. In the event that the affidavit was sent through certified mail, a copy of the return receipt must be included in the filing. 

It is often difficult to track the various process service requirements in Kansas. We take the hassle of processing service off our clients. However, we ensure that our clients are kept in the loop as to the status of the service. We offer  GPS affidavits of service to our clients as well as personalized ‘Real-Time’ email status updates. We provide our clients an email copy of affidavit before mailing and a free basic skip trace for new clients.

When an officer or other person is served with legal papers, they must complete a return of service as soon as possible and no later than ten days after the service was made. Unless the period for service thereof is extended by order of the court or judge of the court to which it is returnable, the process must be returned to the court to which it was issued within thirty days of the date of issuance with an explanation of the cause for the failure to serve the same. 

FOR ASSISTANCE SERVING LEGAL PAPERS IN KANSAS

Simply pick up the phone and call Toll Free (800) 774-6922 or click the service you want to purchase. Our dedicated team of professionals is ready to assist you. We can handle all your process service needs; no job is too small or too large!   Click Here for a complete list of our Kansas Process Service Coverage Areas!

Contact us for more information about our process-serving agency. We are ready to provide service of process to all our clients globally from our offices in New York, Brooklyn, Queens, Long Island, Westchester, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C.

“Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction, and skillful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives”– Foster, William A

Sources

1. The state where the defendant was served must recognize the special process server’s authority to make service of summons. 675 P.2d 931, 

Hall v. Quivira Square Dev. Co. (1984)

2. Refusal by the person to be served to accept copies thereof upon delivery by the officer of the fully authorized process server shall constitute adequate serving of the process.

3. All persons authorized under this subsection to serve, levy, and execute the process shall be considered an ‘officer’ as used in KSA 60-706 and 60-240-1 and amendments thereto

4. Service at a residence must be effected by leaving a copy of the process and petition or other documents to be served with a person of sufficient age and discretion who resides at the residence of the person to be served. A copy of the process and petition (or other documents to be served) and a notice that a copy has been left at the defendant’s dwelling house or usual place of abode may be mailed to the defendant via first-class mail if personal or residence service is not possible. This does not apply to minors or the disabled.

5. under K.S.A. 60-706 and 60-2401

6. There’s no need for a judge’s permission.

7. However, only causes of action arising from acts enumerated may be asserted against a defendant in an action in which jurisdiction over the defendant is asserted.

8. Under K.S.A. 60-203 and amendments thereto, service of process shall be deemed obtained upon delivery of the certified mail envelope.

9. A certificate of mailing should be filed with the clerk as proof of the mailing. If you send something in the mail, it will be considered served once it arrives at its destination. If you were served by certified mail but failed to claim it, that does not count as a refusal of service under this section.

10. If there are several defendants, but only some have been served with the process, the plaintiff still has options. If the defendants are jointly liable under a contract, the plaintiff may proceed against those served unless the court orders otherwise. If the plaintiff is successful, judgment may be entered against all of the jointly liable defendants, but only to the extent that it can be enforced against the joint property of all and the separate property of those served. 

Suppose the case is against defendants who are jointly and severally responsible. In that case, the plaintiff may, without affecting his or her rights against the defendants who were not served, continue against the defendants as if they were the sole defendants.