International Service of Process

Our licensed private investigators have a wide variety of skills and diverse backgrounds. With 30+ years of experience, we have an excellent track record of providing high quality investigation services. From start to finish, our knowledgeable, discreet, and detail oriented staff goes above and beyond to manage your expectations, remain 100% confidential and update you daily as events unfold on your case. 

We rely on the best investigative technology and techniques, and comply with the industry’s leading standards for surveillance, locating, record search, and process services. 

Serving process across international borders

If you’re involved in a case that requires service of process in a foreign country, The Night Owls Agency is able to handle the difficult assignment and ensure that service is effectuated according to all the applicable laws in both countries involved. For iron-clad service of process abroad, experts in the field are required to take every step necessary to prevent the service from being quashed.

International service is one of the most technically demanding areas of process service, and it’s an area where mistakes are both easy to make and expensive to fix. A service that doesn’t conform precisely to the receiving country’s requirements — and to the treaties governing service between nations — can be challenged and thrown out, sending you back to the beginning after months of waiting. This is not work to hand to a general practitioner. It requires people who do it regularly and understand its particular demands.

The Hague Service Convention

Most foreign service of process is made in accordance with the 1965 Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil or Commercial Matters — more commonly known as the Hague Service Convention. Although the Convention simplified many aspects of international service, the procedures involved remain convoluted and should be entrusted to skilled process servers with real experience in this specialized field.

Under the Convention, each member country designates a Central Authority that receives requests for service from other member states, arranges for service according to its own domestic law, and returns a certificate confirming that service was completed. In principle it’s an orderly system. In practice, the details matter enormously: documents typically must be transmitted in a specific format, translation into the official language of the receiving country is frequently required, and each country is permitted to attach its own conditions and objections to certain methods of service. Getting any of these elements wrong can invalidate the entire effort.

We partner with a network of international affiliates who understand their side of the procedure and effect service with the same care and attention to detail we bring to domestic service.

When the destination country isn’t a Hague member

The Hague Service Convention has been ratified by a large number of countries covering most of the globe — but not all of them. If you require service of process in a country that is not a signatory to the Convention, a different and considerably more involved path is required: letters rogatory.

A letter rogatory is a formal request from a court in one country to the judiciary of another, asking for assistance in performing some act — here, service of process. These requests travel through diplomatic channels, which means they pass through multiple layers of government on both sides, often including each country’s justice and foreign-affairs ministries. The process is slow and exacting, but for non-Convention countries it is frequently the only proper route, and we are able to assist you in navigating it.

Realistic timelines

The client should understand that international service of process is not fast, and anyone who promises otherwise isn’t being straight with you.

For Hague Convention countries, you should generally expect the procedure to take several months. Much of that time is outside anyone’s control — it sits with the receiving country’s Central Authority and its domestic courts. For countries requiring letters rogatory, the process can typically take up to a year, and sometimes longer, given the number of diplomatic and judicial hands the request must pass through.

We do everything we can to expedite these matters on our end: preparing documents correctly the first time, arranging proper translations, and ensuring every requirement is met before transmission so that nothing bounces back for a correctable error. But the timelines built into these international systems are real, and planning your case around them from the outset will save you a great deal of frustration.

Why getting it right the first time is everything

With international service, the cost of an error isn’t just money — it’s time you may not have. If service is attempted improperly and later challenged, you don’t simply fix it in an afternoon. You may lose the months already invested and have to restart the entire multi-month or multi-year process from scratch, potentially against a statute-of-limitations clock that hasn’t stopped ticking.

That’s why this is precisely the kind of work that rewards experience and punishes shortcuts. Every requirement — format, translation, method, channel — has to be satisfied. At The Night Owls Agency, we are thoroughly versed in every aspect of service of process, and no service is too difficult for our team to effectuate.

Documents commonly served abroad

International service can involve a wide range of legal documents, including:

• Summons and complaints

• Subpoenas

• Divorce and family-law petitions

• Business and commercial litigation documents

• Notices and other judicial and extrajudicial documents

Locating the subject first

There’s a step that has to come before service can even begin: knowing where the person actually is. Sometimes the subject of international service is at a known address abroad. Often they’re not — a defendant may have left the country specifically to make themselves hard to reach. As a full investigation firm, we can bring our international locating and skip-tracing capabilities to bear, working with our overseas affiliates to establish a current address before we attempt service. Locating and serving are two halves of the same problem, and being able to do both under one roof saves you from stitching together separate providers across borders.

Working with attorneys and firms

International service is an area where attorneys especially value working with a firm that has done it before. We coordinate closely with counsel, advise on which route — Hague or letters rogatory — applies to the destination country, handle the translation and documentation requirements, and keep you informed through what can be a lengthy process. The certificate or proof of service that comes back is documented and ready for your filing.

Frequently asked questions

How long does international service take?
For Hague Convention countries, generally several months. For non-signatory countries requiring letters rogatory, up to a year or more. The timelines are largely set by the receiving country’s systems.

Do documents need to be translated?
Frequently, yes — into the official language of the receiving country. Translation requirements vary by country and are one of the details that must be handled correctly to avoid rejection.

What if the country isn’t part of the Hague Convention?
Service is pursued through letters rogatory, a formal court-to-court request routed through diplomatic channels. We can assist with this more complex process.

What if I don’t know exactly where the person is abroad?
We can conduct international locating and skip tracing through our affiliate network to establish a current address before attempting service.

Where to Begin 

We are here to assist you in answering questions you may have in regards to your case. To begin please call, email or submit a request form below.

Serving the entire state of Florida.