Legal Question in Family Law in Washington

Re: Serving temp order for maint

Taking you literally the answer to the first part is yes; My guess though is that what you are asking is whether the motion for temporary orders has to be filed before serving the other party, and the answer to that is no, the motion can be served or filed in any order just so that the rules on timely notice and filing time are follwed. The answer to what the server has to say is nothing. The server should be reasonably certain that he/she has served the person to be served, or otherwise followed the rules on service.

Re: Serving temp order for maint

You don't file an order that has not been signed by the Court. You don't have a judge sign an order without giving the other party notice and an oppportunity to respond.

The server does not have to say anything. The server has to establish in his or her own mind that the person they are serving IS the correct person, and has actually understood that they have been served. Papers can be dropped on the ground at the person's feet if the person will not take them.

Papers cannot be left outside a house; papers cannot be served on little kids. There is lots of caselaw on what is appropriate service and what is not, but I assure you that there is nothing the server needs to say to the servee.

But original personal service of signed orders suggests that something has not happened in the right sequence.

Hope this helps; your question is pretty confusing!

Elizabeth Powell