By law, a divorce case commences with service of the Summons and Petition upon the Respondent.  Service is to be personally made.  That is, by physically handing the documents to the Respondent.  It is not sufficient to mail the Summons and Petition to the Respondent.  Service must be made by a third party.  (In limited circumstances, and with court approval, the law allows service by publication in a newspaper or by alternate means, i.e., mailing).

There are, of course, some other exceptions to these general rules.  Often times, the party initiating the divorce (the Petitioner) may not want to put the Respondent through the embarressment and trauma associated with personal service.  Instead, they prefer to "soften the blow" by personally delivering the documents to the Respondent themselves.  This is permitted, provided that the Respondent is willing to sign an Admission of Service.  In this document, the Respondent admits to receiving the documents in lieu of personal service.  This option also saves the Petitioner the cost of paying a process server.

The Admission of Service route requires some cooperation of the part of the Respondent, as he/she must have the Admission of Service notarized.  If the Respondent is unwilling to do this, then the Petitioner will have to  have the Respondent personally served.

As lawyers, we explain these options to our clients, and let them decide how they want to proceed.  Our advice usually depends upon how comfortable the Petitioner feels with asking the Respondent to sign an Admission of Service.  Sometimes, the Petitioner cannot safely approach the Respondent and sometimes the Petitioner does not feel that the Respondent would return an Admission of Service if mailed, in which case we recommend personal service.

Contact a Gadtke & Beyer attorney at www.gadtke.com if you have questions.