Being Served Legal Papers Can be Traumatic

If you are fortunate enough to make it through life without ever being served legal papers, you are doing something right!  There was a bumper sticker craze years ago – the stickers read: “S__t Happens.”  Well, from a Lawyer’s vantage point:  ”Life Happens!”

People are served papers every day for unpaid debts, dog bites, minor car accidents, failure to pay rent, divorce, the list is  l-o-n-g…, if not endless.

The legal act of delivering a court filing to a person is called “personal service.”  You might have heard someone say they have been “served with papers” – it is the exact same thing. Frankly, it can often be be embarrassing and traumatic depending on where and when the Sheriff’s Deputy or private process server found you and served with some kind of court filing. Chances are you will have some sleepless nights where your mind wrestles with the service and your anger at the formality of pulling you into a public legal battle where others – strangers for the most part – are butting into your private life and threatening you, possibly your freedom, certainly your finances and your sense of personal security and well-being.

The Legal Papers you Were Served With will Have the Following:

The papers will:

• Name of the court where the case is pending
• The type: Summons, Complaint, Subpoena, and Discovery Request
• The names of the parties, (e.g., John Doe vs. Jane Doe)
• The case number
• Some kind of certification that you were served (e.g., in person, by mail, etc.)
• Instructions for answering the complaint or a form to fill out.
• Tell you when the court date is or date requiring an “answer”
• A list of allegations, which constitutes the complaint. The paper may or may not be titled “Complaint”

Moreover, oftentimes there is some kind of correspondence, either from an attorney to the court clerk or to the other party. If you have been served personally, the letter might be addressed to you personally.

What You Should Do If Served Legal Papers

Because virtually ALL legal papers that are served contain a deadline, you should take immediate action.  More specifically, you should contact an attorney. Most attorneys, including our office, offer a no-cost consultation about virtually any legal matter that you might be facing. Doesn’t it make good sense to find out all there is to know about your options?

If the filing directs you to be somewhere or do something, you must do so, and to procrastinate or ignore the situation is asking for big trouble. It is just not worth it! If you fail to act, to answer the complaint, or to appear as directed, you could be found in contempt of court and a bench warrant issued for your arrest. Moreover, what might be a simple matter of answering and having the situation “go away” might —if you do NOTHING— cause you to sacrifice any defense you might have had and an unfair or unjust legal judgment could be entered against you. Please don’t put your head in the sand. Take immediate steps to protect yourself. We have had clients come to see us for a free consultation, who entered our offices on the verge of a panic attack — totally stressed out, and left completely calm and relieved as we have agreed to answer the complaint and handle the ENTIRE problem on their behalf.  They likely went home and had their first restful night’s sleep since the papers were served.

Upshot? – Don’t freak out. Personal service is a very important process that does have legal significance, but it won’t affect your ability to live your life, for the most part.  Being served with a Complaint doesn’t mean the whole world will be caving in on you; doesn’t mean you’re guilty of anything, necessarily. Being served is just the formal way that our society and legal system functions as you are notified that a lawsuit has been filed against you. Again, receiving a Subpoena, alone, doesn’t mean you have necessarily done anything wrong. All it means is you’ve been ordered to show up at a court-related proceeding, perhaps provide some documents, or something that someone’s legal case requires to move forward – with little or no potential harm to you.

Most Family Law attorneys get the occasional phone call from the client who claims that their divorce is going to be simple and want the attorney to represent both sides. Unfortunately, there are two fundamental problems with this idea.

First, there is no such thing as a “simple” divorce. Ending a marriage is complicated.

Second, one attorney can never represent two parties in a divorce. According to Nevada Rules of Professional Conduct 1.7, a lawyer “Shall not represent a client if the representation of that client will be directly adverse to another client.” There is simply no practical way to complete a divorce where the parties are not at odds with one another.

There are some simple and cost-effective, non-adversarial approaches for resolving a divorce which are recognized in all states of the union: mediation and collaborative law. These two processes fall under the heading of “Alternative Dispute Resolution: and may be a more practical and certainly less-costly solution for the non-adversarial divorce.

Mediation - Divorce Mediation is pretty straight forward. Essentially, a third party, “the mediator,” is a person who helps facilitate communication. This usually happens in a daylong event where everyone is present in one building. The mediator sits with each spouse privately and has the opportunity to go back and forth between the spouses (who are usually separately represented by their own attorney).

The mediator’s job is to gain insight into what is driving the dispute and the reason why each person is taking a particular position. The mediator works with the both spouses until the dispute is resolved or there is an impasse. Obviously, mediation has the added expense of a third party facilitator (the mediator), but this cost is downright cheap compared to the price to have one’s dispute resolved by a judge in open court.

Collaborative Law – Collaborative divorce is a process in which you and your spouse negotiate an acceptable agreement with legal assistance from your respective collaborative attorney. You and your spouse each hire a separate attorney who advises and assists you in negotiating a settlement agreement – usually in one sitting in one day unless there are lots of property and custodial issues and little initial agreement. You meet separately with your own attorney and then the four of you meet together should it be necessary. A collaborative divorce may also involve other professionals, such as a child custody specialist, therapist, tax professional or an accountant. Normally, both spouses and their attorneys sign an agreement that requires the attorneys to withdraw from the case if a settlement is not reached and then the case goes to court. It is almost always better to reach a settlement outside of the courtroom where the judge, who doesn’t know you, or care about you (or you and your children) – and will then make decisions for you.