Serving Divorce Summons in Another State

by Sally from Texas

My daughter in law is saying she is trying to have a summons served on my son for a divorce. He is in Texas she is in Florida.

How will this work?

Answer to Florida Divorce Question

Dear Sally,

If your daughter in law has a current and accurate address for your son she can have him served in Texas by a private process server or a sheriff in the county where your son resides.

She would need to file the Petition for Dissolution with the clerk of court in her home county in Florida.

Then forward the same papers to the process server for service of process.

Sometimes the clerks of court will assist in this process; other times they are not able to help -- their assistance depends on local court rules.

Once the papers are successfully served on your son by either the private process server or the sheriff, he has 20 calendar days to respond. If there is a court hearing that your son needs to attend, he can likely appear telephonically.

He must file a Motion for Telephonic Hearing with the clerk of the court in Florida for permission to appear over the telephone. These motions are almost always granted, because they save time and expense for one of the parties.

A good resource to locate private process servers is The National Association of Private Process Servers also known as NAPPS. On their website you can locate private process servers that work in any county in the nation.

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