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My name is Ron Drescher. I'm an attorney practicing bankruptcy and commercial litigation in Maryland,
Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, and today I want to answer the question: The sheriff
came by, dropped some papers off with my housekeeper, have I been served? The short answer to that
question is yes, you have been served. An individual is served if the papers are delivered
to somebody of adult age in the household that's their last known address. This seems
fair to most courts and most attorneys who draft the rules because the idea behind services
shouldn't be a game to see if a person could hand the papers directly into the hands of
the defendant. It's more of is the service reasonably likely to alert the person who
is the defendant in the lawsuit that there's been an action or a proceeding filed against
them, and if the answer to that question is yes, then the courts are going to say fine.
The person knows that they've been served. They know that they need to take some steps
to protect their legal rights and we can begin the process of having the lawsuit, and reach
a decision on the merits. Service issues can be difficult and tricky issues because people
are trying to evade service. They see the sheriff coming. They don't answer the door.
That's why sometimes attorneys have to file affidavits from the process server that the
person seems to be evading service. That happens, the court might enter an order saying all
you have to do is send a mailing with a certification of the mail, post the papers at the person's
last known address. That person will be determined to be served even if you never put the papers
directly in their hands. My name is Ron Drescher. I'm an attorney practicing bankruptcy and
commercial litigation. If you have a question about whether you've been served with legal
papers, please pick up the phone and call me. I would love to hear from you.