5 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Process Server

Why this matters (to you, personally)

When service goes well, nobody mentions it. When it goes badly — wrong address, weak affidavit, no updates for a week — it lands on your desk first. The right vendor makes you look organized, prepared, and on top of things. The wrong one makes you spend Thursday afternoon on the phone explaining why the Proof isn't filed yet.

Question 1: How will I get status updates, and how often?

Look for a vendor whose default is proactive updates after every attempt— same day, with the time, what happened, who answered the door (if anyone), and what the next step looks like. Bonus points for a portal you can check without sending an email.

Red flags: "We'll let you know when it's served." Translation: silence until they bill you. You should be able to walk into your attorney's office and answer "where are we on the Smith serve?" without checking.

Question 2: What's your process for hard-to-find defendants?

A strong vendor talks about skip tracing, varied attempts (different days, different times), neighbor and employer outreach, social media verification, and clean documentation of each step. They tie this back to California's diligence requirements rather than just citing a "three attempts and we're out" policy.

Question 3: How fast can you do rush, and what does it cost?

Real rush capability is a tiered menu — typical examples:

• Standard: first attempt within 48–72 hours
• Rush: first attempt same day or next business day
• Same-day / 4-hour: served within hours of receiving the documents

Each tier has a price you can quote without picking up the phone. If "rush" means "we try harder," that's not a tier — that's a vibe.

Question 4: Can I see a sample Proof of Service?

Always ask. A redacted POS-010 should have specific times (not round-number "10 a.m., 11 a.m., 12 p.m."), a detailed description of the person served, the substitute-service mailing date when applicable, and a clean diligence narrative.

Question 5: Are you registered and bonded?

California Business & Professions Code § 22350 requires process servers to register in their home county (with a $2,000 surety bond) before serving more than 10 papers per year. A vendor operating across counties should be registered in each one or have a clear chain of registered servers handling the work.

For the deep dive on what registration actually entails, see our guide on becoming a registered process server in California.

Bonus: the checklist of what to send

Once you've picked the vendor, the next move is sending them what they need to make the first attempt count. We have a full service request checklist — bookmark it.