My stepson is 27 and does not live with us (over 5 years now). He totaled a friend of his car and has not contacted him to make some kind of payment plan. The friend and his girlfriend are now suing him and sent a summons to our home for him appear in court December 2007. Since he does not reside with us, my wife gave him a copy of the summons and informed him of the situation. He did not go to court because he said he called the court (he claims) and they told him that since the serving officer did not place the document in his hand, he was excused. How legal is this?

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He is entitled to personal service and what you have described is not sufficient, as I understand it. But "service" varies from state to state. You can visit the clerk of court and review the records; just don't disclose his present address in the course of your visit.

What do you mean "personal service"?

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Originally Posted by garrettra

What do you mean "personal service"??

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Personal service means the documents are handed to him or left with a responsible person at his home. The definition varies from state to state, and may be different between different courts in the same state, say between a superior court and a magistrate court.

Sorry to disagree with George but no, there are many various levels of service, in your case, they sent it to perhaps the last address on file, or served it to you as a form of substitue service which is very legal in most states.

And the plain fact is that the court case went on without him and they would have gotten a judgement, so if he wants to fight it, he will have to appeal this with the court. And of course you could be ordered into court to testify you gave it to your son.

So in all of the states I have been in, this would have been legal service for civil court actoin.

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Originally Posted by garrettra

What do you mean "personal service"??

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What state do you live in? Do you know which court he was sued in?