In an interesting article out of Kansas, Sedgwick County sheriff says that only half of all legal papers get served. These are mostly restraining orders, abuse and stalking orders. The County in Kansas offers free filing and service of these papers, but only about 54% of them ever get served. The sheriff said most of the papers come to him with less than 2 weeks left to serve, some come with less than 24 hours and are almost impossible. Many come with wrong or incomplete addresses. If we are given the proper amount of time and information the number served would go up greatly. The lawyers, judges and sheriff blame the clerk for the delay. They can hire private process server to serve the defendant but that is not free and can cost the client. A private process server can “sit” on a person where they are likely to be found and wait to see them to serve the papers, which a Sheriff does not have the time to do. This process is not free and here at processserverstl.com we only charge $50 per service in St. Louis City and St. Louis County. If you have any questions, please contact me regarding service of process.
http://www.kansas.com/2013/06/09/2838994/about-half-of-protection-papers.html