THE WAPI NEWS – “ROUNDUP”
Say Goodbye to Cheap Process Serving
by Brandon Boyce, P.I.
Working PI Magazine – Issue 84
07/2026
It’s one of the last good deals in America—the $75 process serve. In some parts of the country, even that is considered overspending. In a business that chugs along by the slimmest of margins, some process servers are charging fifty, sixty bucks to hand off a summons in a never-ending race to the bottom. And making five or six attempts to get it done. Enjoy it now, because the days of getting a competent RPS to touch paper for less than a C-note are critically numbered.
Come January 1, 2027, cheap service will disappear faster than a door-knock on the CALI Listserv. That’s when a new California law goes into effect that will almost certainly have repercussions nationwide. “As go New York and California, so goes the country,” says industry veteran Michael Kern, CEO of Direct Legal Support, Inc. The law, AB 747 (named, presumably, for the passenger-jet-sized hole it may rip through the industry), ushers in a suite of changes that could unintentionally force a much-needed correction in an undervalued industry.
Most notably, affidavits of service will now be required to include photos and GPS coordinates for every attempt made. And at least one photo must be of “the entrance” to the home or business. Does that mean the front door? The gate at the end of a mile-long driveway? The law is unclear, as will be its implementation. Regardless, “Filling out a proof of service by hand is not going to be an option anymore,” said Jackie Janney of Janney & Janney Legal Support and the president of CALSPro, the California Association of Legal Support Professionals, a leading trade association.
READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT:
https://workingpimag.com/2026/07/30/say-goodbye-to-cheap-process-serving/
COMMENT BY IAN D. WITHERS – WAPI
The low cost of UK Process Serving has been a bone of contention for more years than I care to remember. If regulation ever catches up with the Investigator Sector, and if it will include process serving, then the costs will need to rapidly ‘professionalise” given the ever increasing costs of running a business and the rising insurance premiums.
This US Article provides an interesting review of what will likely happen here in the UK at some future date…….
Posted by: Ian (D. Withers)
www.WAPI.org
Copyright Notice: All article titles, trademarks and copyrights remain the property of their respective owners.
WAPI provides links and editorial summaries for informational purposes only.
Readers should access the original articles through the publishers’ websites or authorised services.
Disclaimer: WAPI is not the originator of this content and does not endorse or verify the accuracy of the material.
Complaints or requests for correction should be directed to the original publisher.
WAPI will review any substantiated notice of defamation and, if appropriate, remove or update the content.