How many days do you have to serve process?

A subpoena or summons (or any pack of court paperwork) needs to be serve so the party receiving it has a reasonable amount of time before the court date or deadline in the court order.

This is usually spelled out by the courts as a specific number of days.

Where I am, the packs are usually required to be served 28 days before the court date.

However…

Many times that does not happen (and it’s not the end of the world).

Don’t get me wrong, if you want to keep your clients happy and stay in business(!) – then serve the packs as you are required!

But here’s the thing… You won’t even get a lot of the packs within the “technical” deadline.

Here’s the real answer: It varies from case to case and packet to packet.

But, why?

Some of the people you serve will be “friendly” witnesses. They need to get the court summons just so the lawyer can check off the box with the court, but that witness is going to show up no matter what because they WANT to be there.

A Case Study

Imagen this case… A guy is charged with assault. His buddy was there when the “assault” happened. His buddy knows what REALLY happened was the defendant (his friend) was hit three times before he fought back to defend himself! The buddy (“friendly witness”) is going to show up for that court date whether or not he gets a subpoena from the court! But you still gotta’ serve him.

The Real Measure… Ask your client (the law firm) if they need the papers served by a certain date.

Sometimes they will have a “rush” packet to get served and I recommend you charge extra for those. But if you serve the packs you get within 3 days or so of them being issued, you’re going to be a Rock Star in your client’s mind!

If you like this helpful information, then don’t miss out on my free special report If You Want To Be a Private Investigator Give Up… Unless You Do These Three Things. If not, you can get it right here…

Committed to your success,
Larry Kaye, P.I.

P.S. – Do the right thing even if it’s the hard thing!

Here’s the question I got from a Private Investigator and regular viewer: How much latitude does a PI have in digitally surveillance someone on property not their own (EG. hotel, motel, etc…) .

He went on to ask… If you’re on surveillance and need to record activity at a hotel, can you legally set up recording devices in common areas ( connecting halls, restaurant, gym, pool, etc..) without permission of management. And, if you rented a room as well at the location does that give you automatic rights to film the same areas at the hotel without approval since you rented a room and have legal access to those areas?

My Answer:

Of course, the question of what’s legal is best asked to an attorney, and I am not one, but here are my feelings on this subject. ..

I always ask myself what’s reasonable.

In any given circumstance would a person have a reasonable expectation of privacy?

To me just because a place is a “common area” is not enough.

If a person looks up and down a hotel hallway and see nobody around, they may scratch an itch or adjust his clothing having the reasonable expectation that nobody can see them.

Also, just because the owner of a property gives permission, that may not be enough. It’s only partly (if at all!) the property owner’s decision.

Now, if you are standing in that same hotel hallway or lobby and covertly recording, that seems entirely different to me because the subject knows someone else is there and has no reasonable expectation of privacy. But to leave a covert camera behind to record when you’re not around seems to me (and my also seem to the jury!) unreasonable.

Also, and this is not a small thing, your client may have restrictions on how they want evidence collected even if the method is completely legal.

For example some attorneys don’t want any conversations covertly recorded even if you are a party to the conversation. They just feel a covert recording “feels yucky” to juries and even if you are within your rights, a jury might rule against you because of your methods!

I do have an article and video on placing hidden cameras.

If you like this helpful tip, then don’t miss out on my free special report If You Want To be a Private Investigator Give Up… Unless You Do These Three Things. If not, you can get it right here…

Committed to your success,
Larry Kaye, P.I.

P.S. – The P.I. who asked this question agreed with me. He had been involved in an online Private Investigator forum where this question was being tossed around and wanted my opinion. I’m always happy to answer any questions I can and, in this case, it was nice to see a fellow professional taking such an ethical stand.

You are not making as much money as you think you are as a Private Investigator (or Process Server) because you don’t understand the real bite of Self-Employment and Income taxes!

Currently, in the U.S., self-employment tax is 15.3% of your profit.

If you have a day job, you probably recognize they take a pretty big chunk of money from your paycheck, but not 15%. That’s because your employer is paying about half of that! So you pay part of your Social Security tax and your employer pays part. It’s about a 50/50 split between you and your employer.

But… when you are self-employed, you are the employee and the employer! That means you have to pay it all! And that’s about 15% off the top of what you think is profit!

So if you think you billed out $150 to a client and he paid you $150 and then you paid your expenses, of, say $50, well… you think you made $100 profit!

If you’re budgeting as if you actually have that $100 to keep, save, make a car payment, mortgage payment or whatever… you are going to be way off budget because the government is going to take 15% of that $100 profit as self-employment tax!

That means you really only made $85!

And just to add one more slap to the face, you probably have to pay Income Tax on that $85!

If you are only in the 10% tax bracket, you’re going to pay $8.50 in income tax and that means your $85 “profit” is now only ($85-$8.50=) $76.50

So, in this example, your “$100” in profit is really only about $75 that you actually get! (Real profit.)

You need to know this!

You need to budget accordingly!

Otherwise, on April 15th you will get a tax bill for everything you’ve not been paying all year! And that’s 25% to 33%! OUCH!

How much do I need to set aside for taxes on my detective agency?

Here’s a rule of thumb if you have no idea what’s going on for your business financially…

Set back 33% for taxes.

One third of “what you make” needs to be saved to pay your tax bill.

Just something to think about as you build and grow your detective agency.

If you like that helpful tip, then don’t miss out on my free special report If You Want To be a Private Investigator Give Up… Unless You Do These Three Things. You can get it right here…

Committed to your success,
Larry Kaye, P.I.

P.S. – How you pay your taxes may be just as important! You may be able to increase your withholdings from your day job paycheck and that will help you immensely! And/Or you might need to pay Estimated Quarterly Taxes. But find out NOW so you aren’t burned at tax time!

P.P.S. – Obliviously I am not a tax guy, financial planner, accountant or anything like that so if you need financial or tax advice, go find a licensed professional! Duh.

When you’re a Process Server, what do you do when you have to serve process in a gated community, restricted access work place or some other difficult to get to address?

The simplest solution is to server them someplace else. Maybe you can catch them…

– At work.

– Even in a bar! (Although for me a bar was always the last choice.)

Of course there may be laws in your area that help you in gaining access to a gated community or that allow you to leave the papers with a security guard at the gate, but be sure you know those laws completely and follow them to the exact letter!

Just remember, treat the person with as much respect and dignity as you can. First of all, it’s the right thing to do, but also they may be more inclined to be embarrassed and go into a rage when they are serve and others are around.

If you like this helpful information, then don’t miss out on my free special report If You Want To Be a Private Investigator Give Up… Unless You Do These Three Things. If not, you can get it right here…

Committed to your success,
Larry Kaye, P.I.

P.S. – Do the right thing even if it’s the hard thing!