• FreeAdvice has a new Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, effective May 25, 2018.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our Terms of Service and use of cookies.

how to serve citation

Accident - Bankruptcy - Criminal Law / DUI - Business - Consumer - Employment - Family - Immigration - Real Estate - Tax - Traffic - Wills   Please click a topic or scroll down for more.

abt123

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Texas

hi. i want to sue a tenant who owes me money, but since they abandoned the property i don't know how to locate them in order to serve them with a citation. i do have their full names and driver license numbers. what can i do?

regards
 


ceara19

Senior Member
abt123 said:
What is the name of your state? Texas

hi. i want to sue a tenant who owes me money, but since they abandoned the property i don't know how to locate them in order to serve them with a citation. i do have their full names and driver license numbers. what can i do?

regards
I've heard www.zabasearch.com is useful. Also, www.publicdata.com is great, but it is a fee based service.
 

abt123

Junior Member
great sources

thank you for that useful link. but i don't think their current location is recorded there, because they moved out only last month. is there any way i can serve them with a citation with the info that i have?

regards
 

JETX

Senior Member
abt123 said:
thank you for that useful link. but i don't think their current location is recorded there, because they moved out only last month. is there any way i can serve them with a citation with the info that i have?
Possibly. There are lots of ways that a landlord can locate skips if they know them. In your case, you would need to hire a private investigator who has the means and knowledge to try to locate 'skips'.
 

abt123

Junior Member
JETX said:
Possibly. There are lots of ways that a landlord can locate skips if they know them. In your case, you would need to hire a private investigator who has the means and knowledge to try to locate 'skips'.
private investigator in this case will probably cost too much. my impression is that the in the court i want to sue in, the sheriff or constable are the ones who serve the citation on the defendant. if that is the case, will name and DL number be sufficient for them?
 

ceara19

Senior Member
abt123 said:
isn't there any other way i can find their current address without hiring a private investigator. ANYONE?
You can try a public records search. If they have had utilities or such hooked up at a new address, it should show up. The quickest FREE way to go would be checking directory assistance for a phone number & address.
 

bee0403

Junior Member
certified mail

you can even serve them through the district court certified mail to the last known address. It doesn't cost much to have them mail it for you. If you are lucky and they havn't moved far and have filled out a forwarding request at the post office, the good ole post office will send it right to them. They will have to sign for it still but because it comes from the district court and not you personally, they might just do it. I have done this in the past and it has actually worked. good luck.
 

dcatz

Senior Member
Watched this thread but it hasn't seemed to advance much. You're going to have to reconcile yourself to some things.

JETX is right. There are many different ways to trace, some free, some relatively low cost and some relatively expensive but, if you've never done it before, you may not know where to start or how best to use the information that you have available to you.

You say they were tenants. Even if only briefly, you must know something about them. Did you get a credit app., job information, banking information from rent payments, "emergency contact" numbers, references from prior landlords. The list could go on and be long, but if you want it free or almost free, you're going to have to educate yourself and work. You probably have useful information and don't know how to use it.

And understand a couple of other things. P.I.s can seem expensive but some will charge you a flat rate to provide service and a higher rate only if they're successful. Some P.I.s, who are retired police or F.B.I.,can be successful because they can draw on resources that you can't get to and never will have (part of an "old boys" network) and it comes at a price.

But mostly, P.I.s and skip tracers are using the same tools that are available to you, like public record databases, and those are available online. $25-30 is not free, but it can get you a lot of data that you'd otherwise first have to take the time to learn to gather.

But, unless they simply left a forwarding address, public records can take some time to develop. You may get more information in 3 months than in the first 3 days. New information is established, collected and collated. New telephone numbers get set up. New lawsuits get filed and served at new addresses. Maybe property is purchased, but there's an escrow first. Financing statements get filed for new loans, but the data takes a while.

Your choice to do it yourself or pay for it.
 

Find the Right Lawyer for Your Legal Issue!

Fast, Free, and Confidential
data-ad-format="auto">
Top