Milwaukee Process Servers
Fast, Diligent Process Service in the Badger State’s Biggest City: Milwaukee
Not surprisingly, we serve a lot of individuals and corporations, including GEICO, in Milwaukee. It’s Wisconsin’s biggest city and has a large number of papers filed every year. It also happens to be where we have the densest server coverage.
The best way to make sure your papers get the diligence they need in Milwaukee is to give them to Southeast Wisconsin Process.
For individuals representing themselves pro se, you will not find another process serving company willing to put in the same amount of time and effort as we do. You will get diligence, if not service, and the affidavit you need to prove it. No matter where in Milwaukee County your papers are going, Franklin, Shorewood, Glendale, Cudahy or anywhere else, we will take care of it.
Our Milwaukee process servers handle many types of cases, including:
Law firms large and small can take advantage of our free pick up and filing service. If you let us know you need a case picked up and/or filed in Milwaukee County, give us a ring. We have a dedicated courier who is at the Milwaukee County Courthouse almost daily. If we’re serving your papers, the pick-up and filing are free!
Milwaukee County Process Server vs Sheriff’s Civil Process Department
You have choices when getting papers served in Milwaukee County. While the Sheriff’s Office is located near the courthouse, you should bear in mind that you might get better results working with a professional process server. Here’s a brief look at the differences between the Sheriff and Southeast Wisconsin Process.
1) Process Serving Fees
The Milwaukee County Sheriff’s civil process department has surprisingly high fees for service. Their routine service fee is close to our rush service fee. Not only is their base fee very high, the cost of serving papers varies depending on the kind of paper you send the Sheriff. At Southeast Wisconsin Process, we do not charge different amounts based on the type of paper being served. Evictions, foreclosures, subpoenas, it doesn’t matter, the fee is always the same. Further compounding the price difference is the fact that the Milwaukee County Sheriff only includes three attempts in their service fee. If you need them to make more than three attempts, be prepared to pay even more.
2) Process Serving Success Rate
It may seem counter-intuitive, but process servers may be better at getting papers served than Sheriff’s deputies. Some research has shown that papers given to private process servers are more likely to be served than those given to a Sheriff. Exactly why this is the case is open to speculation, but we wouldn’t be surprised if it’s partly linked to the fact we don’t wear uniforms. Some people may refuse to open the door for a Sheriff but have no problems answering a knock from an innocuous process server.
3) Customer Service
Frankly, it’s our job to serve legal papers while the Milwaukee County Sheriff has better things to do. All of our resources are devoted to finding and serving documents. The Sheriff’s office can get bogged down dealing with other problems plaguing the County. We don’t blame the Sheriff for focusing on crime prevention over serving routine summons and complaints. Rather, we think you’ll get better customer service dealing with an organization founded specifically to deliver legal documents.
4) Jurisdictional Reach
The Milwaukee County Sheriff is limited in where they can go to serve your papers. If it turns out the person you are trying to serve has moved out of Milwaukee County, a private process server can easily cross county lines and serve your paper (assuming your case can be served in a county other than the one in which it was filed). The Sheriff won’t. Instead of getting your papers back from the Sheriff and sending them to another county’s Sheriff, your process server could simply re-route the papers internally and begin attempts at the new address soon.
The Sheriff Does NOT Have to Serve Your Eviction in Milwaukee County
Evictions are a pain for landlords. The way the eviction process works, it almost seems like the court makes landlords jump through a surprisingly large number of hoops to get their property back. Because of this, we understand why some landlords prefer to walk down the hall and have the Sheriff serve their eviction. It’s one less stop to have to make and there can sometimes seem to be pressure from the Clerk of Courts to use the Sheriff.
It’s important to note that you do have options and the Milwaukee County Sheriff is not the only person who can serve your eviction.
A private process server like Southeast can do everything the Sheriff can do with regards to serving the eviction papers. We’ll make all the attempts necessary to serve the papers and, if necessary, post them. You’ll receive a notarized affidavit of service listing everything we did to serve the papers, including a USPS Certified Mail tracking code in the event your papers were posted.
Like we mentioned above, the money you can save by using a professional process server instead of the Sheriff is no small amount. The Milwaukee County Sheriff’s eviction process service fee is several times what our standard charge is and they make up to three attempts while we normally make at least five in Milwaukee County. For smaller landlords, saving potentially over $100 is great news. You’re already spending quite a bit to file the papers and start your case, don’t spend more than you have to on getting your papers served.
Larger landlords and landlord tenant law firms that start eviction processes fairly regularly will see a dramatic reduction in their annual service fees by using a private process server instead of the Sheriff. The next time you have an eviction to serve, please call us for an instant service quote. You’ll be surprised how much you can save.
The only thing the Sheriff can do that we can’t is actually evict the tenant. Assuming you win your case, eviction day will eventually come and you will need a Sheriff’s Deputy to remove the tenant. This is the only time you will actually need the Milwaukee County Sheriff throughout the eviction process.
Milwaukee Process Server in Business for Over 25 Years with Over a Century of Combined Process Serving Experience
It’s surprisingly easy to start a process serving company but very hard to stay in business. Quite frankly, this job isn’t for everybody and that’s probably why we’ve seen process serving companies pop up out of the blue only to quietly close for good shortly thereafter.
When choosing a server to handle your case, be sure they’re not going anywhere.
For over 25 years, Southeast Wisconsin Process has been serving legal documents to individuals and businesses all over Milwaukee County. We have an actual office you can visit with a full time staff to answer your calls. Some of the short lived companies are really just one man working out of his home.
Not only have we been around for decades, we employ dozens of servers, many of whom have over ten years experience as full time process servers. The depth of experience and range of expertise Southeast brings to the table is matched by very few other companies in the Milwaukee area. We have over a century of combined experience between all of our servers. Take advantage of our superb server bench by having Southeast handle all your process serving needs.
What Is a Private Process Server in Milwaukee?
The name is a bit misleading, but a private process server is open to the public. The distinction that is being made here is not that the process server is reserved for specific individuals like a private island. Instead, the word private indicates that the process server is not a member of the government’s public services, like a privately owned business. So, when looking for somebody to serve your papers in Milwaukee, you can and should contact private process servers like Southeast Wisconsin Process, which also suffers from a misleading name. We’re private process servers based in Southeast Wisconsin, but we serve the entire state and country, accepting papers from all individuals.