Service by publication is the most expensive option when serving legal documents. The best and most common type of service is always personal service; if personal service is not feasible, then substitute service is the next best thing. The required first class mail service can be completed in certain circumstances, but most people just won’t sign the envelope and lastly we have the post service. Service by publication requires an order or special permission from the court where your action is filed. There are a few reasons why post service might be warranted. For example, if the defendant is homeless or says the target is evading or evading service. For these reasons, the court may or may not issue an order granting notice by publication. This type of service is by far the most expensive and time-consuming way to serve a defendant. All other options should be fully exhausted before attempting such a service, including multiple attempts at old addresses, depositing neighbors, family, and co-workers to lessen all chances of demanding a good address. If you have not yet obtained a good address from the individual, a Skip-Trace must be performed to demonstrate a good faith effort on your part to locate the opposing party. The process that publication is seeking to serve varies from county to county and each local jurisdiction has its own set of rules that must be followed to satisfy the court. In most cases, the publication service is carried out by lawyers; however, if you can’t afford one, you can try using the prepaid legal service. They offer full service legal consultation on all legal matters for a nominal fee of $17.00 per month with no annual contract. This means you can use the service for the duration of your case and cancel it at any time. Prepaid legal services can be purchased at Legalshield.com. Trying to navigate the minutiae of legal forms can be troublesome, especially if you don’t have a working knowledge of legal documents and civil process. For this reason, we recommend calling an attorney for further instructions before attempting to do it yourself. However, if you can’t get a lawyer, there are some free resources that can help you along the way. Walawhelp.org has an excellent instruction guide and instruction forms available on their site; They are also a great resource for other legal documents and forms. Keep in mind that not all situations are the same, so be careful when using these forms, although they are not foolproof. Once you have completed your declaration for the citation by publication service and all your documentation has been sent to the court, you will need to obtain the court order, keep in mind that you will need to show detailed proof that you have no other way to perform the service. . Google, Wikipedia, walawhelp.org, and the Pierce County Law Library are good resources as well as prepaid legal information on running the service by post.
Publication of your advertisement in the newspaper!
Once you have the court order signed, call your county clerk for a list of newspapers approved to publish legal bulletins in your county (RCW 65.16.070). Also check the Washington State Legislatures website apps.leg.wa.gov or a quick Google search (WA Publication Service), you’ll get the same result. The repeating website samples for the states of (RCW 4.28.110) and (RCW 12.04.100) are below for reference. Most legal notices are usually published in the Tacoma News Tribune or The Tacoma Daily Index. The Tacoma Daily Index will publish 100 words for $31.00 on the first day and $27.00 on additional days, for a total of $409.00 for 3 weeks and $818.00 for 6 weeks. Posts usually last 3-6 consecutive weeks, depending on the court action you have, consult an attorney. The newspaper will generate a mailing affidavit upon completion of your run. You can contact the Tacoma News Tribune at 253-597-8742 or the Tacoma Daily Index at (253)-627-4853. Don’t forget to file the completed Affidavit of Publication with the court.
RCW 4.28.110 and RCW 12.04.100 (short district) samples are below for reference.
RCW 4.28.110 (Service by post as of 12/8/2012)
Mode of publication and form of call.
The publication will be made in a newspaper of general circulation in the county where the action is filed once a week for six consecutive weeks: AVAILABLE, that the publication of the citation will not be made until after the filing of the lawsuit and the service of the call will be considered complete at the expiration of the period prescribed for its publication. The citation must be signed by the plaintiff or his or her attorneys-in-fact. The citation will contain the date of the first publication, and will require that the defendant or defendants who are to be notified by publication, appear and answer the complaint within sixty days following the date of the first publication of the citation; and the citation for publication will also contain a brief exposition of the object of the action. The call for publication will be substantially as follows:
In the superior court of the State of Washington for the county of…
… , Demanding,
against
Nope…
… , Accused.
The State of Washington has said (naming the defendant(s) to be served by publication):
You are summoned to appear within the sixty days following the date of the first publication of this summons, that is, within the sixty days following the… day of… , 1… , and defend the referred action in the before the competent court, and answer the demand of the actor…, and notify
a copy of your response to the undersigned attorneys for Plaintiff… , at his (or her) office listed below; and in the event that you do not do so, judgment will be pronounced against you in accordance with the demand of the demand, which has been filed before the secretary of said court. (Insert a short declaration of the action object here.)
… ,
Plaintiffs’ Attorneys.
Order Address…
County…
Washington.
[2011 c 336 § 98; 1985 c 469 § 2; 1895 c 86 § 2; 1893 c 127 § 10; RRS § 233.]
Grades:
Publication of legal notices: Chapter 65.16 RCW.
RCW 12.04.100 (short district)
(Served by post as of 12/8/2012)
Posting service.
In the event that the personal notification cannot be made due to the absence of the defendant from the county in which the action is intended to be initiated, the summons or notification will proceed with a brief statement of the object and sentence of the lawsuit. or complaint, in a newspaper of general circulation in the county where the action is brought, the notice of which shall be published at least once a week for three weeks prior to the time fixed for the hearing of the cause, which shall not be less than four weeks from the first publication of the notice. The notice may be substantially as follows:
The State of Washington,
| | > | |
H.H.
County of…
In the court of law,… justice.
A…
You are hereby notified that… a complaint (or claim as the case may be) has been filed against you in said court, which shall be heard in my office in… , in… county, state of Washington, on… the day of… , AD 19… , at the hour of… o’clock… m., and unless he appears and answers at that time, the same shall be deemed confessed and granted the claim of the actor. The object and demand of said claim (or complaint, as the case may be) is (insert a brief statement here).
Complaint filed… , AD 19…
… , J.P.
[1985 c 469 § 6; Code 1881 § 1720; 1873 p 337 § 27; RRS § 1766.]
Grades:
Statutory Publications: Chapter 65.16 RCW.
(RCW 65.16.010-160) – (12/8/2012)
(RCW 12.04.100) – (12/8/2012)
(RCW 4.28.100) – (12/8/2012)
(RCW 4.28.110) – (12/8/2012)