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What Our Valued Clients Usually Ask

FAQs for Expedite Process and Courier Services

Contact Expedite Process and Courier Services, and we will help you manage your legal documents. Here are some frequently asked questions from our clients in Nashville, Tennessee:

Billing

We will bill you through our online system via the email address you provided once the service is ordered. The invoice is due once services are engaged. 


We pay our couriers for their time, energy, and gas within two weeks of service being attempted, so we appreciate your help with prompt payments.


As the guarantor of the account with us, the attorney's office has the responsibility to make that payment promptly. Passing off the invoice to your client to pay at their leisure typically results in significant delays in the invoice being paid.


You can pay via credit card through the system or send a check to the address provided on our invoice. 


We bill per person served or per return. Even if multiple serves are going to one address, we bill for every service of process we were in entrusted to serve and every return we're responsible for properly executing. Just as attorneys charge for their time, we charge for ours in the form of flat-rate services.  


This is industry standard, and cannot be waived unless arrangements are made prior to service being attempted. We do not charge for things like notary, etc.


 The only other charge that would apply is the .35 per page printing charge for anything over 30 pages. We only charge this so we don't lose money on the printing costs. 


Number of Attempts

Your filing will get three video-recorded attempts at service as part of your pricing quote. 


If you would like for us to make more attempts, a reasonable additional fee may be required. 


Even if the initial address is incorrect, we won't charge a new rate unless there is a marked difference in the service mileage,


We do our best not to surprise our clients with charges on the invoice. We will contact you for approval prior to billing for new charges. 

Between the first , second, and third service attempts our servers will leave a letter on the subject's door explaining the process and the importance of getting in contact with us quickly. Then we attempt to contact the subject via every avenue you've provided (phone, text, email, and social media) to arrange a time for service as soon as possible.


After the second service attempt, if we have not heard back from the subject, it's a fairly safe assumption that the subject is avoiding service.  


Once this point is reached, Expedite will help you build your case against the subject for evading service and help you escalate the matter however you choose, whether that is more attempts or moving toward "service via publication."

What happens between the first and second service attempt?

Q: Can a person impede or prevent a process server from making service in Tennesse​e?

T.C.A. 39-16-102 section (c) states "It is an offense for a person to intentionally prevent or obstruct an officer of the state or any other person known to be a civil process server in serving, or attempting to serve or execute any legal writ or process."

This is because a person making service of process is acting as an officer of the court in the action of service of process.

Section (d) goes further, "A violation of this section is a Class B misdemeanor (6 months in jail and fines up to $500.00) unless the defendant uses a deadly weapon to resist the stop, frisk, halt arrest, search or process server, in which the violation is a Class A misdemeanor 

https://law.justia.com/codes/tennessee/2010/title-39/chapter-16/part-6/39-16-602

Q: What is Service of Process?

A: The legal procedure in the United States requires that each party in a court case be notified. Process serving is part of an individual’s right to due process.

Q: Do process serving laws differ from state to state?

A: Yes, process serving laws differ from state to state. They can even be different from county-to-county. Expedite Process and Courier Services is headquartered in Nashville and can serve the entire state of Tennessee.

Q: What is substituted service?

A: This legal process of service is when documents are left with a resident of the named party at the subject's home, or with an employee at their place of business with a person of suitable age. 

Q: Who can serve papers?

A: In most states, any US citizen that is not a party to the case, over the age of 18, and residing in the state specific to the legal documents being served by the respective process server.

Q: Can papers be emailed to a process server?

A: This depends on the local rules in the county/court in which the case is filed. It is best to check with the clerks' office before deciding on the method of delivery. 

Q: Where can the defendants be served?

A: Laws vary from state to state; this is why we at Expedite believe that the best option is hiring a process server that is based in the state where your service needs to be effectuated. Tennessee allows for service at home, work, or an agreed upon place to meet to complete Service of Process. 


A defendant may also appoint an authorized person to receive the documents for them per the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure. 


https://www.tncourts.gov/rules/rules-civil-procedure/404

Q: Can court documents be served on weekends in the state of Tennessee?

A: While we do work on Saturdays, it is "unlawful" to serve process on Sundays per the TN Rules of Civil Procedure governing process of service. 


Only if permission is obtained from the presiding court of your case filing can service be attempted on Sundays. Therefore, we generally try not to bother our judges, and limit attempts Monday-Saturday.

Q: Will a process server file my papers with the court?

A: There are certain circumstances when a process server will file papers with the court
in the state of Tennessee, and that circumstance revolves around your willingness to pay for it. 


A process server does not bear any burden to file a return on our behalf unless they have agreed to do it as a courtesy, or they are being paid for the time and resources it takes to travel to make the filing. 


Expedite Servers are all certified Notaries to make sure using our business will not, in any way, diminish the quality of your case. 

Q: What if the person being served court documents does not accept them?

A: In the state of Tennessee, the process server may place the court documents at the feet of any recipient who refuses to accept the documents being served. This is generally referenced as a "drop serve." 


Despite the many bad legal takes we hear on a daily basis, a person cannot refuse service of process. 


It is best to verify this fact by consulting a lawyer, or the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure instead of the waitress who "has seen over 100 episodes of Law and Order." 


Even if a subject hurls the documents at our vehicle in a profanity-laced tirade, or throws them in a garbage can, it is still considered "effectuated service." 


https://www.tncourts.gov/rules/rules-civil-procedure/404

Q: What is an Affidavit of Service?

A: An Affidavit of Service is also known as a Proof of Service. It is a signed document provided to you by your process server upon completion of serving the documents pertaining to your court case.

Q: What are the main types of service of process that Expedite Process and Courier Services provide?

A: The two main categories of service of process that we provide are "RUSH" (24-48 hours) or "routine" (within 48 hours+). 

Q: Where do you provide service of process?

A: We provide service of process to all counties in Middle Tennessee. We will make exceptions to serve outside of Middle Tennessee, but the prices are typically much more expensive, as round trip serves outside of our normal service area usually take 5-8 hours, or roughly an entire work day.


Our regular service area includes the following counties:


Bedford

Cannon

Cheatham 

Clay

Coffee

Davidson

DeKalb

Dickson

Giles

Hickman

Houston

Humphreys

Jackson

Lawrence

Lewis

Lincoln

Macon

Marshall

Maury

Montgomery

Moore

Overton

Perry

Putnam

Robertson

Rutherford

Smith

Stewart

Sumner

Trousdale

Van Buren

Warren

Wayne

White

Williamson

Wilson


A map of our service area and estimated pricing to those counties is provided in our "Where We Serve" page, listed at the top of this website. 

Q: How long does same day service of process take?

A: We guarantee that your same day service of process will be attempted the very day we pick up your filing. 


Unfortunately, we do not have control over whether or not the subject will be at the location you have provided for us, nor do we have police powers to force someone to answer a door. However, you will get our very best effort, and the subject will most likely be highly annoyed with our persistence.


This service does have an additional fee. Additional attempts at service will be made inside a 24 hour window. 

Q: What is the turn-around time for your routine service of process?

A: Unless the subject is evading, in jail, out of town, or the contact info for the subject is incorrect, we will likely have routine service of process completed inside 3-5 days. However, we are typically able to complete our routine service of process much sooner. If you need guaranteed attempts or delivery same-day, other fees may apply. 

Q: How many process servers work at your headquarters in Nashville?

A: We have a network of experienced process servers in Middle Tennessee. 


"The list is long, but distinguished."- LTJG Nick "Goose" Bradhsaw, Top Gun (1986)

Q: Are process servers required to be licensed in the state of Tennessee?

A: Currently, process servers are not required to be licensed in the state of Tennessee. Although we would love for there to be a licensure process, because some of these guys are really bad at their job. I mean really, truly bad. Only Shelby County requires a licensure.

Q: When a client hires Expedite Process and Courier Services to serve court documents, how many attempts are typically made?

A: In most cases, we will make three attempts. Our process servers are trained to gather information and do a thorough job in determining the status of any given address for service of process, and gleaning other methods of contact for our subject.


We are more diligent in making contact with subjects than a robo-call about your car's extended warranty.

Q: What if a process server knocks on a defendant's door and no one answers?

A: The process server can take several actions. Our process server will leave a notice on the defendant's door with explicit instructions on how to contact us and ways the verify the filing is authentic. 


This notification is proof that an attempt was made to serve the respective court documents. Thereafter, we will email, text, call, or slide into their social media DM's like Joe Jonas trying to holler at Sophie Turner.

Q: Who is your target market with respect to process service?

A: Since we are located in Nashville, Tennessee, we can offer a routine service in Middle Tennessee that is typically completed inside 3 days. Therefore, the majority of our clients need service of process in the Greater Nashville Area and Middle Tennessee. 


However, we have made process of service in all 95 counties in Tennessee-- as well as the states of Kentucky, Alabama, and Georgia. If you would like to pay us to go to Guam for a serve, we hear its lovely this time of year.

Q: Does Expedite offer any other services in Nashville?

A: Yes. Expedite does routine filing, courier, notary, and skip tracing services. 


We are really quite good at finding people-- like Dog The Bounty Hunter, but without using cocaine.

Q: If a process server serves someone who is illiterate, does the process server have to read the documents to the recipient?

A: Yes. We are excellent readers. The few times we did this for a subject, we made life-long friends with that person. We read everything from the court filing to the latest issue of GQ magazine with them. 

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