If the sheriff has contacted me and asked me to meet him so that he can serve me papers, can I get into trouble if I don't set up a meeting time? Can I legally get into trouble, as in arrested? This would be in King County, Washington

If he has civil papers to serve you then no. However, if he makes several attempts to serve you and cannot, then they can mail you the paperwork and or post it on your door and you are considered served. You might want to know what the paperwork is. You have to commit a criminal act to get arrested and that is not a criminal act.

Hi, ohbrother!

I know that it can really make a person nervous when the sheriff, or some other police type official, is wanting to meet them in some way to serve them papers. If you know that you haven't committed a crime of any kind, then I would suggest setting up the meeting. The sheriff, deputy, or other agent of the court oftentimes have to be the ones to serve things in order for them to be processed properly and officially.

I'm sure that someone else can explain about that much better than I have above, though.

If you know what this is concerning and that you haven't committed any crime, then why be afraid?

Thanks!

Hello oh:

No, you don't have to meet him... But, somebody is suing you, and you're going to get served one way or another. They can do it by publication, meaning that it's published in your local legal journal for a couple weeks, and then you're considered SERVED.

Then, of course, you won't know anything about it. You won't show up in court. They'll get a default judgment, and the first time you're going to be hearing about any of this is when they empty your bank accounts.

Sooooo, ifin it were me, I'd want to know who's suing me, and I'd want to go to court to defend my good name (well as good as the name excon can be defended).

excon

Yes, hiding will not make it go away, and not finding out just means they will have a court hearing without you and you will lose.