Service of Process
Foreign Civil Process
On June 1, 2003, the Department of Justice
delegated the service of incoming foreign civil process to a private
contractor, Process Forwarding International (PFI).
Although there may still be instances where the
Department of Justice specially requests the Marshal to personally serve
foreign civil process in the United States, this service of process function
is now being handled through the Government contractor, PFI.
The Department
of Justice has also authorized PFI to act on behalf of the United States to
receive and serve outgoing civil process requests pursuant to the
Inter-American Service Convention.
PFI is located at
633 Yesler Way, Seattle, WA
98104.
PFI can
also be reached via the web at www.pfiserves.com.
Private litigants, and not the U.S. Marshals Service, are still responsible for serving
outgoing civil process requests to foreign countries either through the
Hague Convention or other means. The U.S. Marshals Service does, however, make available its
form USM-94, Service of Judicial Documents Abroad, for use by private
litigants.
The
USM-94, Request for
Service Abroad of Judicial or Extrajudicial Documents
is a form, accompanying American judicial process, that is recognized by
the Central Authorities of many of the foreign countries who are
signators to the Hague Service Convention. The form itself is no longer
completed by the U.S. Marshals Service, but by the private litigant who
wishes to effect service in a foreign country pursuant to the Hague
Convention. More information and
instructions on completing the form. For Spanish version of
USM-94, use USM-272A
USM-272, Request for
Service Abroad of Judicial or Extrajudicial Documents Pursuant to the
Additional Protocol to the Inter-American Convention on Letters Rogatory |
USM-272,
En
Español
Note: The information related to the service of
court process that is contained on this web site is general information
and not intended to be an exhaustive or definitive explanation or depiction
of Federal rules of procedures for the service of process.
Readers are directed to the Federal Rules of Criminal and
Civil Procedure; personal legal counsel; the United States Code, Titles 18 and 28;
their local
U.S. Attorney's Office and District Court for
specific, authoritative guidance.
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