District of Columbia Process Servers

In Washington, DC, any adult who isn't a party to the case can serve a summons. There's no license or registration. What trips people up in DC isn't who serves, it's the clock: proof of service is due fast, and the papers that have to go with the summons are more than just the complaint.

The 60-day deadline

In DC Superior Court, proof of service has to be filed within 60 days after the complaint is filed, unless the court extends the time (Super. Ct. Civ. R. 4(m)). That's shorter than the 90 or 120 days many states allow. Collection, subrogation and tax-sale foreclosure cases have their own deadlines.

A defendant who works long hours, lives in a secured building or keeps moving between DC, Maryland and Virginia can burn through that window. A DC process server can make attempts early, late and on weekends, and can serve a DC case in a neighboring state under that state's rules (Rule 4(e)(1)).

What goes in the packet

The summons must be served with the complaint, the Initial Order, any addendum to it, any order allowing alternative service and any other order issued at filing (Rule 4(c)(1), as amended by Promulgation Order 24-02). Missing one of these is a common reason service gets challenged.

Ways to serve in DC

• Personal service: hand the papers to the defendant.
• Abode service: leave them at the defendant's home with someone of suitable age and discretion who lives there.
• Certified or registered mail, return receipt requested, proved by the signed receipt and an affidavit.
• Alternative service: if the usual methods fail after diligent efforts, the court can approve another method, such as leaving the papers with an employer or using email the person has used in the past 6 months. The motion needs an affidavit describing the attempts, so a server's attempt log matters here.

Serving businesses and the District

Corporations can be served through an officer, a managing agent or a registered agent. Look up the agent in the DC business entity search. To sue the District itself, both the Mayor (or designee) and the Attorney General (or designee) must be served.

Proof of service

The server signs an affidavit that includes the case caption and number, the server's name and address, a statement that they're at least 18, the time and place of service, and, for abode service, facts showing the person who took the papers could accept them.

Read the full DC process serving laws, see courts in DC, or order service online.

This is a general summary, not legal advice.