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In Florida Trust and Estates Litigation, What Constitutes a Valid Return of Service?

Uncategorized • May 2, 2016
post about In Florida Trust and Estates Litigation, What Constitutes a Valid Return of Service?

In Florida probate litigation, what is a return of service required to list in order for service to be valid? Pursuant to Florida trust and estates laws, what must a return of service specifically indicate? Did you recently serve someone who is involved in your trust and estates lawsuit West Palm Beach? Were they properly served according to relevantFlorida Statutes? A February 5, 2015, Florida Supreme Court case discusses very important information that will prove beneficial to your estate lawyer’s process server and to anyone tasked with serving defendants.

Service of Process

  • Florida Statute 48.031 deals with service of process.
  • Estate lawyers in Florida know that service of process is very important.
  • Back before we all could search the internet from our phones, it was difficult to get notice of what was going on in the world.
  • So how would you expect someone to learn that a probate litigation attorney had been retained to file a lawsuit against them?
  • Florida probate lawyers know that is where service of process comes in.
  • Service of process gives notice by having an individual there, in person, to hand someone documents.
  • Surely, that will put them on notice right?
  • Florida estate lawyers Boca Raton know that improper service could destroy the entire probate lawsuit if not fixed.
  • Probate attorneys Delray Beach avoid this problem by hiring properly trained, and often licensed, process servers.
  • Florida estate attorneys still deal with the occasional claim of improper service but can usually overcome it.
  • Check out this recent appeal from the Florida Supreme Court to learn why hiring experienced counsel and experienced process servers to handle yourguardianship matter is so important.

Koster v. Sullivan

  • Here, a process server had delivered the summons and a copy of the complaint to Koster’s home.
  • The process server left the complaint with Koster’s family member, who was at the house at the time.
  • Pursuant to Florida probate laws, can a process server leave a complaint with a resident if the intended recipient is not there?
  • Yes. However, the resident must be at least fifteen years old, and properly informed of the contents.
  • Koster argued that the return of service did not list required statements regarding themanner of service.
  • On appeal, the ” issue was whether meeting the requirements of that section included listing the elements of the “manner of service” from section 48.031(1)(a) to establish that the return was regular on is face.”
  • Florida Statute, section 48.21 requires that a return of service state the date and time the documents were received by the process server, the date and time they were served, the manner of service, the name of the person who got served, andwhether they were served upon the intended recipient or another resident.
  • If the documents were served upon another resident,  instead of the intended recipient, the relationship between that resident and the intended recipient should be stated.
  • Does this mean that the return of service had to specifically state the resident’s age and that she was informed of the contents of the documents?
  • Here, did the return of service meet the requirements of section 48.21?
  • Was it facially valid?

To learn more about service of process, which you may encounter in your estate litigation West Palm Beach, read the entire case by clicking here.

Want to know more about Florida probate litigation? Consider these free resources: