Not everybody who needs to be served can be easily found. This is why process servers use debtor and fugitive recovery techniques like skip tracing. Such techniques uncover information about a person’s whereabouts in order to serve them papers without further delay.
The Basics of Skip Tracing
The phrase “to skip down” serves as the inspiration for the term skip trace, since it implies that a trace is being completed about someone who is no longer responding to previously established communication information.
When a skip trace is employed, the skip tracer uses various tools to collect as much information about a subject as possible. The information is synthesized and then used to locate the subject who cannot be found through existing contact information.
Who Uses Skip Tracing and Why?
Most skip tracing circles back to money or crimes. Debt collectors and repossession agents are two of the most common entities who use skip tracing to locate a subject who has failed to pay an obligation and has also fallen out of contact with the creditor. In terms of crime, bail bondsman, bounty hunters, lawyers, police detectives, and even journalists can all use skip traces to track down accused criminals and witnesses.
While some skip tracing information is available publicly, other sources of information can only be accessed by a law enforcement agent or licensed private investigator with a search warrant. Skip tracing may search through phone number databases, credit reports, job applications, criminal background checks, utility bills, and public tax information to obtain the information necessary to track down the subject.
Alternate Forms of Service
If you can prove that you have exhausted all available resources in an effort to complete personal service, your attorney can request permission from the judge to perform “service by publication.” This involves publishing a notice in a local newspaper for a specific span of time. The recipient will receive between 30 and 60 days to respond to the posting; and if no response is received, proceedings will begin in his or her absence.
Electronic service is also becoming more prevalent in difficult divorce cases. Defendants who lack specific home addresses sometimes have a strong social media presence that makes it possible and even convenient to provide service of process through Facebook, email, or other platforms.
The experts at Accurate Serve Port St. Lucie pride themselves in achieving personal service in difficult circumstances. Call us to learn more about the process of service offered at Accurate Serve.
