Foreign Service of Process

Transnational service is a discipline of its own

Serving a defendant abroad is not merely domestic service at a distance. The method must satisfy both the law of the forum and the law — and sovereignty — of the receiving state. Getting it wrong can void a judgment years later, when the time to cure the defect has long passed.

Service under the Hague Service Convention

For defendants in the eighty-plus countries party to the Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents (the Hague Service Convention), service is ordinarily transmitted through the receiving country's designated central authority. Each contracting state imposes its own requirements: translations into the official language, specific request forms (USM-94), document counts, and fees. Several states object to alternative channels such as postal service under Article 10(a), which forecloses shortcuts that would be routine domestically.

Judicial Process prepares the request, assembles conforming documents, manages translation requirements, transmits to the central authority, and follows the request through to the certificate of service — the instrument your court will require as proof.

Letters rogatory

Where the receiving country is not a Convention party, or where the Convention channel is unavailable, service may proceed by letters rogatory — a formal request from the forum court to the judiciary of the foreign state, transmitted through diplomatic channels. The process is slower and more formal, and documents must be authenticated in compliance with the rules governing letters rogatory. We offer apostille and authentication services precisely for this purpose.

Foreign investigators and agents

Our foreign investigators and process servers provide superior levels of diligence and attention to detail. Where local law permits service by agent, we engage vetted professionals in-country and obtain sworn proof of service in a form acceptable to U.S. courts.