What
does the U.S. Constable Service do? The U.S. Constable
Service is responsible for serving civil process and
making civil arrests throughout Massachusetts. There is a mobile
office in Boston to accommodate for the high volume of civil processes that needs to be served each day. All Constables and Agents of the
U.S. Constable Service are Highly Trained, Licensed and
Bonded and have extensive experience in the requirements and
ramifications of serving Civil Process.
Who should call the Civil Process
office? Any
individual that needs to have papers served (including legal documents, letters,
notice of court dates, and eviction notices), should contact the
U.S. Constable Service either in person or by telephone.
If you have questions regarding papers you received from court
or papers that you have had served by our office, feel free to call
our office and we will answer any questions to the best of our ability. While we are not allowed to give legal advice, we can
often advise you regarding legal procedures, including the process
of evicting a tenant from your apartment or house.
How
do I contact your office? What are their hours of
operation? The
U.S. Constable Service PO Box 555
Boston,
MA 02128
617-391-8517
office http://www.usconstableservice.com
All
correspondence should be mailed to: The U.S. Constable
Service Civil Process Division
PO
Box 555
Boston,
MA 02128
How
are papers served? Our trained Constables/Agents will
deliver papers to the individual being served either by serving in
hand or by leaving “last and usual”, depending on the rules and regulations guiding Massachusetts’ Civil Process. A “last and
usual” service consists of the U.S. Constable Service
Constable/Agent going to the last known address of the person being
served, and if the individual is not home, leaving the document at
the house or apartment. In the case of this type of service, a copy of the document is also mailed to the individual by First Class mail.
How
do I know when my papers have been served? After the service has been
completed, the U.S. Constable Service will complete and
type out a return of service for the document, which is an affidavit stating exactly how and when the service was completed. The
affidavit will be attached to the original document (copies of
the documents are always served), and the original will either be
returned directly to court for filing and a copy will be sent to the
Plaintiff and/or Attorney, or if requested, the original will be sent directly
to the Plaintiff/Attorney.
What are the fees for
service? There
is a fee involved for the delivery of all civil process, which depends on the
type of service, the type of document, the number of individuals
being served, and the town or city that it is being delivered to.
Please call the office for the exact cost of a particular
service.
What should I do if I have a
Capias? Plaintiffs
and Attorneys, who have gone to court and have been issued a Capias against a Defendant for funds owed, can either send in or drop off the
Capias at the office with the fee for service. The U.S. Constable Service will make all possible attempts to contact the
Defendant, by telephone, mail and by visits to the individual’s home
and workplace, if necessary, to either set the Defendant up for a court date or to collect the entire amount owed. If we arrange a
court date with the Defendant, we will contact the other parties
involved in the case so that they can make arrangements to be in
court on that date. If the amount owed is collected in full,
we will either call you or send you a check for the amount.
If all
attempts to collect the money and to get the Defendant into court have been unsuccessful, you can opt to have the individual arrested for an
additional fee. The Defendant can be arrested at home or at a
workplace. Please be aware, however, that a Physical Arrest
will only guarantee to get the Defendant into court – there is
no control over any judicial decisions or payments once he or she is in court. Furthermore, if you have a Capias against a business or
organization, it will be necessary to go to court and have an
individual’s name added to the Capias in order to make a Physical
Arrest.
In order to properly serve the Capias, we will need from
you:
The original Capias
Address of the Defendant (Any
additional information you can provide will also be very helpful –
such as his/her phone number, workplace, etc.)
Fee for service
Your contact information
Total amount owed by the
Defendant
How
long does it take to deliver a document? Our office takes great care to
ensure that services are delivered promptly and in accordance with
the rules and regulations of Massachusetts. Usually, documents are served either the same day or the next day from when they are
received. In order to ensure that a service is delivered on a
particular day, it needs to be in the office by 9:00 AM at the
latest. While we do our best to ensure a speedy delivery of
all documents, services that need to be in hand can take longer if an individual
is avoiding service or being unresponsive. A Capias is also
not on the same timetable as other services and may take several
months due to the high volume of Capias that come in on a daily
basis.
Which towns are
served? Thanks
to our network of Highly Trained, Licensed and Bonded Constables and Agents here in Massachusetts and throughout The Unites States, The U.S. Constable Service can have papers served in every city and
town.