Service Terms.

What CoVa Serve accepts.

CoVa Serve provides private civil process service and related support where private service is legally permitted. CoVa Serve is the process-service division of Coastal Virginia Investigations (CVI) and is operated by CoVa Investigations, LLC.

Submission of an assignment does not automatically mean the assignment has been accepted. CoVa Serve may review the issuing court, document type, deadline, service address, instructions, safety concerns, jurisdiction, access conditions, and requested service tier before confirming acceptance.

CoVa Serve will not accept or perform a service, execution, levy, possession, eviction, arrest-related, or other assignment when applicable law reserves that act to a sheriff, high constable, law-enforcement officer, treasurer, court officer, or another specifically authorized person.

The client is responsible for the assignment supplied.

Unless otherwise agreed in writing, the client is responsible for:

• Providing complete, legible, and service-ready documents and all copies required for the assignment.
• Providing the correct subject or entity name, best-known address, unit or suite number, issuing court, case information, and deadline or hearing date.
• Providing any special instructions contained in the process or required by the issuing court.
• Disclosing known safety concerns, hostile behavior, weapons concerns, animals, secured-property issues, or other material field risks.
• Providing useful identifying information when available, including employer, schedule, vehicle, photograph, gate, access, or alternate-address information.
• Ensuring that the requested assignment and any information supplied to CoVa Serve are for a lawful purpose.

CoVa Serve may rely on the information and documents supplied by the client and is not responsible for errors, omissions, expired process, incorrect names, incorrect addresses, insufficient copies, defective documents, missed legal deadlines that existed before acceptance, or instructions that were not disclosed.

Current standard service tiers.

Routine Serve — $95 per address

Includes up to three field attempts at the accepted service address, GPS-stamped attempt documentation, status communication, and return/proof documentation after completion. Routine service does not guarantee three attempts will be necessary or appropriate.

Rush Serve — $160 per address

Includes priority handling with the first field attempt made within 48 hours of acceptance, subject to lawful access, safety, weather, emergency conditions, court instructions, and circumstances outside CoVa Serve's reasonable control. Rush pricing does not guarantee completed service within 48 hours.

Skip Trace + Locate Serve — $225 per subject

Intended for stale, incomplete, or uncertain address information. The service includes a reasonable locate/address review and a service attempt at a likely location identified or approved for deployment. Additional addresses, extended research, unusual travel, or additional attempts may require a separate quote.

Evasive Serve + Surveillance — $550 per subject

Intended for difficult or avoidance matters. The service may include OSINT review, investigative planning, strategic attempt windows, and up to four hours of authorized surveillance-supported or other field activity. Additional investigative or field time requires further authorization or a separate quote.

Published pricing applies to standard assignments within the stated coverage and scope. Multiple parties, multiple addresses, unusual parking or access costs, controlled properties, extended rural travel, special court instructions, out-of-area service, excessive document volume, same-location stakeout requests, or other nonstandard conditions may require a custom quote before acceptance.

What counts as an attempt and how attempts are scheduled.

An attempt generally means a documented field deployment to the accepted service location for the purpose of effecting lawful service or determining whether service can reasonably be completed at that location. An attempt may include reasonable efforts to identify the correct residence, unit, business, entrance, recipient, or occupancy condition.

Attempt timing is determined by the selected service tier, deadline, address type, available subject information, property access, safety, known schedule, and field judgment. Unless specifically agreed in writing, CoVa Serve does not guarantee an exact arrival time or a particular hour for an attempt.

Where practical, unsuccessful Routine attempts may be varied by time or day. CoVa Serve may discontinue attempts before the maximum number is reached when the assignment is served, the address is confirmed invalid, the subject is confirmed not to be associated with the location, further attempts would be duplicative or unsafe, the process expires, the client cancels, or applicable instructions require a different course.

The fee is for management and performance of the assignment, not a purchase of a guaranteed number of door knocks. Successful service on the first attempt does not create a partial refund for unused attempts.

Each accepted address is a service location.

Standard Routine and Rush pricing is quoted per accepted address. If the client later provides a materially different service address, the new location may be treated as a new assignment or additional address unless the accepted tier specifically includes locate work or CoVa Serve agrees otherwise.

CoVa Serve does not guarantee access to gated communities, secured apartment buildings, military installations, federal property, hospitals, schools, universities, workplaces, hotels, industrial sites, shipyards, marinas, private roads, or other controlled locations. Service at those locations remains subject to lawful access and site rules.

CoVa Serve will not trespass, defeat locks or security systems, misrepresent legal authority, impersonate law enforcement or court personnel, or violate a lawful directive from property security or another authorized person in order to complete an assignment.

Evasive and surveillance-supported assignments.

Evasive Serve + Surveillance and other assignments involving investigative research, surveillance, evidence gathering, or investigative field activity are performed through Coastal Virginia Investigations / CoVa Investigations, LLC under applicable Virginia private-security licensing and registration requirements. DCJS # 11-30759.

Investigative work is limited to the authorized assignment and applicable law. Four hours of field time under the standard Evasive tier is a maximum included block, not a guarantee that all four hours will be used. Service may occur earlier, the subject may not appear, conditions may become unsafe, or additional investigation may be recommended.

Additional surveillance, locate research, travel, or investigative work beyond the accepted scope will not be performed as a billable extension without client authorization except where immediate action is reasonably necessary to address safety or preserve already-created records.

Documenting service or non-service.

CoVa Serve records field activity and prepares service or non-service documentation based on the facts observed, the issued process, applicable law, and court instructions.

When applicable law requires a private server to make return to the clerk, CoVa Serve will handle the return in accordance with the applicable requirements and instructions. In Virginia, private-server return requirements generally include the date and manner of service, the person served, private-server identification information, and timely return to the clerk unless the court directs otherwise.

A client copy of completed return/proof documentation may be provided for the file. CoVa Serve does not control the issuing court's docketing speed, clerk processing time, acceptance of a particular filing method, or judicial determination regarding the legal sufficiency or effect of service.

Attempt notes, affidavits, returns, photographs, GPS/location records, and other assignment documentation are factual records and will not be altered to create a desired outcome.

When an assignment is cancelled.

Routine and Rush assignments

If a Routine or Rush assignment is cancelled before the first field deployment begins, CoVa Serve may issue a refund of the service fee, less any nonrecoverable payment, transaction, document, parking, access, courier, or third-party costs already incurred. Once the first field deployment has begun, the accepted service fee is earned and is non-refundable.

Locate and Evasive assignments

Skip Trace + Locate Serve and Evasive Serve + Surveillance include research, review, planning, or investigative work that may begin before a field attempt occurs. Once substantive research, locate work, investigative review, surveillance planning, or field activity begins, the accepted fee is earned and is non-refundable.

Early success or case changes

No partial refund is due because service was completed on the first attempt, fewer than the maximum attempts were needed, a subject voluntarily accepted service, or the matter settled, was dismissed, was continued, or otherwise changed after work began.

If CoVa Serve declines an assignment before substantive work begins, amounts paid for the declined service will be refunded, excluding any clearly disclosed nonrecoverable third-party or payment-processing charges where applicable.

Payment, invoices, and recurring accounts.

Unless approved for invoicing or a Firm & Volume Account, payment may be required before an assignment is accepted or deployed. Quotes are based on the facts known at the time of acceptance and may be revised when the client materially changes the assignment or when previously undisclosed conditions change the scope.

Firm & Volume Accounts may receive centralized billing, batch submission, standing instructions, or other account arrangements approved by CoVa Serve. Account privileges, invoice terms, credit limits, and service volume may be changed or suspended based on payment history, operational capacity, risk, or misuse.

The client is responsible for reasonable, approved charges associated with a scope change, additional address, extended fieldwork, unusual access, or other work beyond the accepted service tier.

Process service is an effort—not a promised outcome.

CoVa Serve does not guarantee that a person will be found, present, accessible, identified, willing to open a door, legally servable at a particular location, or successfully served within a requested period. We also do not guarantee a court ruling, default judgment, continuance, dismissal, hearing result, filing result, or other legal outcome.

Rush service guarantees the timing of the first attempt as described in the accepted tier; it does not guarantee completed service by a particular date unless CoVa Serve expressly agrees to that commitment in writing.

Locate results are based on information reasonably available at the time of research. Records and databases can be incomplete, outdated, inaccurate, or associated with multiple people. A likely address is not a guarantee that the subject resides or can be served there.

CoVa Serve may pause or decline unsafe work.

CoVa Serve may delay, modify, discontinue, or decline an attempt or assignment when field conditions present a safety concern, unlawful access issue, threatening behavior, dangerous animal, weapon concern, severe weather condition, property restriction, conflict of interest, suspected fraud, misleading client instruction, or other circumstance that makes continued work unreasonable or improper.

A client must not instruct CoVa Serve to trespass, harass, threaten, impersonate an official, conceal unlawful conduct, violate a protective order, disregard site security, or use information for an unlawful purpose.

Documents and information are handled through service systems.

Assignments may be submitted and managed through ServeManager / ProcessServers.com and other business systems used for secure intake, communication, documentation, billing, and workflow. Third-party providers may process information under their own terms and privacy policies.

Sensitive service documents should be uploaded through the designated secure order portal rather than ordinary email whenever available. CoVa Serve's handling of personal and assignment information is further described in the Privacy Policy.

Reasonable limits on responsibility.

CoVa Serve is responsible for performing accepted work with reasonable care and documenting the facts of the assignment. CoVa Serve is not responsible for losses caused by defective or expired process, incorrect client information, missing instructions, inaccessible property, inaccurate third-party records, court or clerk error, recipient misconduct, events outside reasonable control, or legal decisions made by the client without advice from counsel.

To the extent permitted by applicable law, CoVa Serve is not liable for indirect, incidental, special, exemplary, punitive, or consequential losses arising solely from an unsuccessful serve, delayed access, inaccurate client-supplied information, or the legal outcome of the underlying case.

Any concern regarding an assignment should be reported promptly to serve@covaprocess.com so the record can be reviewed while relevant information remains available.

Virginia law and changes to these terms.

These Service Terms are governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia to the extent those laws apply. The issued process, applicable statutes, Rules of the Supreme Court of Virginia, issuing-court instructions, and other controlling legal requirements take precedence over any inconsistent business term.

If any provision of these terms is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain in effect to the extent permitted by law. A failure to enforce a provision on one occasion does not waive it for another assignment.

CoVa Serve may revise these Service Terms as services, pricing, law, court practices, technology, or business operations change. The effective date at the top of the page will identify the current posted version. Terms applicable to an already-accepted assignment are those in effect when the assignment was accepted unless the parties agree otherwise.