Oppenheim Law’s Summer School: Dealing With Process Servers

Hi, this is Foreclosure Defense Attorney and Legal Blogger, Roy Oppenheim, from the trenches.

Now I’ve done probably about 75 or so of these You Tube videos over the past three or four years, and it just came to my attention that I never really talked about what you’re supposed to do when you’re about to get served by a process server, particularly in foreclosure, and there are different types of things that one can do when that goes through your mind, and I just want to very quickly kind of go through this thinking process with you.

First of all, there is no obligation to make yourself readily available to a process server. Now you legally are not allowed to evade service, but you have no obligation whatsoever if someone leaves you a note at your door, at your front step, and says that we have some important documents or something important to give to you, you have no legal obligation, no legal duty whatsoever to pickup the phone and call and say, “I am home, come on over and serve me.” At the same token, you legally are not allowed to run away from the process server when he pulls up to your driveway and that would be called illegal evasion of service of process.

But the idea that you need to be a chicken in the hen house opening the door when the fox knocks or rings and allow the fox into the hen house, is obviously not something that you are obligated or required to do. So when in fact, you have missed a number of payments and the bank is attempting to foreclose upon you, the first thing they will need to do is serve you. If they’re unable to serve you, in different states they will have different options, but suffice to say for the purposes of this discussion, it is unnecessary for you to allow the fox into the hen house.

Roy Oppenheim, from the trenches, have a great day.