Why do sometimes people have to wear disguises to serve court papers in person whereas most other important documents are just emailed or mailed
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You send a text message to your friend saying “let’s hang out tomorrow at 6”. You wait for your friend for an hour and leave. Next time you meet them you ask “why didn’t you meet me?” They say “I never got your text”.
You can email, text, call about a legal document all you want without read receipts or an email back, nothing beats asking your friend face to face whenever you’re with them and getting an answer or commitment
I used to serve process (process server) for matrimonial cases.
Many people think that “evading service” will buy them time, or maybe even delay the whole thing indefinitely. Some people just can’t/don’t wanna deal with it.
“Buying time” will just cost them more, and they’re delusional when they think they can escape their fate.
The attorneys I worked for had a pretty good idea when a respondent would be “a tough serve”. So, I went prepared with a “gag” to basically con them into identifying themselves to me.
Flower delivery (once) worked very well, but had overhead I didn’t wanna deal with (a $10 bouquet from the Korean market).
Best ruse was an empty pizza box (couple bucks) and a page of green guest check (free, nabbed a pad from a friend’s job). I would go to the house and ring the bell “Pizza delivery” (this was early thru mid 1990’s). From behind the door someone would say “we didn’t order a pizza”. And I would say the man/woman’s full first/last name and whatever type of pie. They would inevitably open the door with a quizzical face and I would give them a slightly annoyed yet puzzled face and then say their home phone number, holding a large pizza box.
If it wasn’t them, they would be summoned or… If it *was* them I would pause and say “…first and last name?” And they would say “yeah, but” and then I would grab the pizza box with my free hand, revealing the divorce papers underneath and hand it to them. “You’ve been served”. And I would split.
Now, there’s no legal requirement to say “you’ve been served”. But I grew up on it in movies and TV, and for “the tough serves” it was a flex. I *got* them.
There’s definitely people who are dodging service just to be a jerk to their ex. Those jobs tasted the sweetest.
The documents have to be served in person, and the correct person, so there is an undeniable/unrevokable paper trail that the document was given to and received by the intended recipient. It’s the only fair way to do it. Otherwise people can claim that it was sent when it wasn’t, or it wasn’t received when it was.
The disguise part is when the intended recipient is avoiding receiving it to delay whatever the paper is for. And I think that only happens in the movies. Like the person orders a person and “I have a pizza for Jane Doe, is that you?” “Yes”, “OK, here’s the pizza, and also divorce papers. Good day!”
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