October 2021 - Covert LTD

A process server is someone that will deliver legal documents to another person who is involved in a court case. Legal documents need to be delivered for a wide range of reasons and law firms or individuals often can’t deliver these legal documents themselves so they end up hiring a process server.

A person must be notified in person that proceedings have been brought against them and this is done through the use of a process server.

What documents can a process server deliver?

A process server can be responsible for delivering a wide range of legal documents so hiring a professional firm that know what they are doing is going to be very important. If the documents aren’t handled and delivered in the right way it could have a huge impact on your case.

A process server may deliver:

Statutory demands.
Bankrupt petitions.
Summons.
Claim forms.
Court orders.
Witness summons.
Divorce petitions.

And much more.

Cost of a process server

The cost of a process server is going to change from agency to agency. Experience, past results, job requirements and other variables will come into play when hiring a process server.

For example, our process server service can cost between £90 and £150 depending on the requirements of the job at hand.

How are notices delivered?

In our experience, process serving is a service that needs to be carried out quickly. Therefore a notice will be delivered in person at their home or their place of work if contact wasn’t able to be made at home.

In some instances, documents can be delivered through the letterbox of a home but in the majority of circumstances, a face to face exchange will need to happen.

How does a process server find someone?

A process server will use all the tools and experience they have to find a person, this could be anything from using private databases to using public records.

As private investigators, we know how to track down people quickly, so if you need a process server in Cardiff, Bristol, London or the rest of the UK we can help.

Can a process server be hidden from?

You may have seen it in the movies where a person goes out of their way to avoid a process server and possibly gets away with it. In real life, it doesn’t work like that and the only way to hide from a process server is not to get into the situation in the first place.

In extreme situations, a legal document may even be delivered via WhatsApp or social media. When all other avenues have been exhausted sometimes the solutions above are accepted in court. Making it very difficult to hide from a process server.

Substituted process serving

When all standard means of serving a legal document to someone has failed you then may use a substitute method of serving legal documents. Although rare, these methods can be used by an agency that knows what they are doing. These methods include:

Newspaper advertisements.
Social media serving.
International process serving.

Newspaper serving isn’t accepted all too often but it can be used to serve notice in the advertisement section of the newspaper. The process server will need to know the location of the person to run this type of process serving in the local paper.

Serving documents over social media is one of the least common forms of process serving but it can be done if there is proof of post over one of the social media networks. Not all judges will accept this method of process serving.

Should you deliver the documents yourself?

There are many reasons why you shouldn’t deliver legal documents yourself. Law firms and individuals may not have the resources to chase someone up and down the country to deliver documents.

You may also be too close to the case or could mishandle or deliver the documents in the wrong way which could have a huge effect on your case.

Hiring a process server

When you hire a process server you should hire an expert that has experience in delivering legal documents in a way that corresponds to the laws of the country you are in. You should also hire a process server that has experience and knowledge of finding people quickly while being affordable.

If you need legal documents delivered, talk to our staff today. We have process serving offices in Cardiff, Bristol and London while we serve the entire UK.

Finding people who don’t want to be found can be difficult, but when it comes to finding your birth parents sometimes they are equally as curious to find you too.

In this article, we will look at how you can find your birth parents.

1) Adoption Registry

Registering on the adoption registry is a great way of finding your birth parents as you can put their information in as well as yours. If they were ever curious about finding you this can help them too.

The adoption registry website is free to register on and can point you in the right direction to finding your birth parents. The service is also free and you can set up an account in a few minutes.

The adoption registry website is a free option so don’t expect too much of it, but it’s worth a shot when you are starting your search.

2) Using social media to find your birth parents.

You can use social media in different ways to find your birth parents. Firstly, social media can be used as an investigative tool where you can look for people of certain ages, within a location.

You can also use the power of social media to share your image and message all over the world. You could post a picture, along with a message stating that you want to find your birth parents and information you have on them. Then you ask people to like and share your information to hope it can go viral.

If a post goes viral it could help you find the person you are looking for.

3) Use public records search

If you know some details of your birth parents such as where they were born, their age or where they have worked then you can search public records to see if they have moved, died, got remarried and so on.

Public records can give you a foundation for further investigative processes. Public records can include useful information which could be missed by an untrained eye so if you do need help with finding your birth parents hiring a private detective can help.

4) Use DNA registries

DNA Testing and registry companies such as 23 and me can help with finding your birth parents if they have signed up for the service too as it can show your DNA matches when the DNA analysis has been done.

The downside of using services like this is that they aren’t as commonly used and your birth parents may not have used the service so no matches will be found. The service can cost a few hundred pounds so if you have the budget to do so then it could be worth the risk.

5) Use a private investigator

People tracing is a difficult task even for the most experienced private investigators like us. So if you are having trouble tracking down your birth parents you may want to consider hiring a private investigator.

A private investigator can look at public records as well as private databases to track down a person for their clients. If you would like to talk to an expert please get in touch with us and we can provide you with some options to find your birth parents.

We also have offices in Cardiff, Bristol and London but we serve the entire UK with our people tracing services.

Every private investigator at some point will turn to a database to help with their investigations. In this article, we will look at some of the main databases private investigators use, along with their costs and their reliability.

Which Databases Do Private Investigators Use?

The most common database a private investigator will use is the tracers database. The tracers database is fairly accurate and doesn’t cost too much so that a small investigation firm can afford it. For larger firms, they have API access and a bunch of other cool features that make tracking down a person or an asset much easier.

The Tracer database in our experience is accurate around 75% of the time. When it’s not accurate it’s usually because the information is old and out of date.

With that said, no database is going to be 100% correct so hiring the right private investigator for your needs is going to help.

Other databases that are not as common but are still used in the private investigator industry are the TLO and IRB databases. Other databases such as Experian can also help.

Combining databases for best results

As mentioned above no database is going to be correct or have the information you need 100% of the time, so as a private investigator you may want to combine databases for the best results.

If one database is out of date or doesn’t have the information you require then a separate database may have some fresh data that can set you on the right path.

Public record databases

There are also public record databases out there that the public can use to find information. A private detective will have experience and will know what to search for when going through these records so even though they are public records they will find information that you may miss.

Public records such as births, deaths, marriages and divorces are a good source of information for when you want to find a person.

Using the internet

The internet while technically isn’t a database can be used like one and a good private investigator will know how to search it for the information they need. For example, if a detective was looking for a person then they could upload images of them on reverse image websites to see if the same image had been uploaded anywhere else on the internet.

A good detective can also use software to take out the metadata on a photo to see if it holes any location data which would indicate where and when the photo was taken.

The internet can also be used to find friends, partners or known associates of a person that you may be looking for.

A good investigator doesn’t rely on databases

It’s easy enough to run searches on a computed and come up empty and then leave it like that. But a good private detective will only use a database as a starting point of an investigation.

When you hire a private detective they will use all of the tools within their armoury to get the job done. For most detectives finding a person or an asset will come down to doing good detective work such as surveillance and knocking on doors.

Need a private detective?

Hiring a private detective can be difficult as there are so many out there and in an industry that’s not regulated it’s hard to know who to trust.

If you would like to discuss your problems with us, a member of our team can advise the best course of action for you. We also have offices in London, Cardiff and Bristol if you would like to talk to us face to face too.