In Cook County, Illinois, statute dictates that the Sheriff must first attempt original service of case initiating documents in most circumstances.
When submitting a service of process order for a Cook County case, you can either have your service delivered to the Sheriff for service or to a private process server.
This article explains how to choose the Sheriff and what happens when you do select this option.
How to order a Sheriff serve in Cook County
Option 1: Place your serve order simultaneously with filing your complaint.
The simplest way to request process serving is to add it as an additional product while filing your case initiating documents. To do so, select “Yes, I want to file and serve documents”:
In the Service Recipients you can select whether you want this serve to be dispatched to the Cook County Sheriff or to a private process server:
When you select Yes, your serve will be dispatched by InfoTrack to the Sheriff. You must enter the additional information that the Sheriff’s office requires at this stage:
Option 2: Manually place the process serving order after your case initiating filing is accepted
From the File & Serve list, click on the Select an Action menu beside your filing. In the menu, choose Order Process Serving.
The process serving order form will open. Party and attorney information will be pre-populated using data from your initial filing.
Next select Yes when asked whether you’d like to utilize the Cook County Sheriff Service option. Lastly, select from your originally filed documents (these will display based on what has been returned from the court from your initial filing) or add additional documents if necessary.
Next select Yes when asked whether you’d like to utilize the Cook County Sheriff Service option. Lastly, select from your originally filed documents (these will display based on what has been returned from the court from your initial filing) or add additional documents if necessary.
After you have validated and reviewed the estimated fees, click Submit at the bottom of the page.
How will InfoTrack handle my sheriff service request?
InfoTrack will automatically submit your process serving request to the Cook County Sheriff’s department and pay the applicable fee (note that there is an additional $20 surcharge on top of the Sheriff’s fee).
Once we obtain a confirmation number from the Sheriff, we will share that with you. Your order will be marked as complete at this stage, and you will be billed.
How will I be updated on status?
Your order is in the hands of the Cook County Sheriff’s department. InfoTrack will automatically check the status of your order, but please be aware that it is the department’s practice to provide only a single status update when your documents have been served or when they are unable to complete service. You will receive this notification via an email from InfoTrack.
If the Sheriff can successfully serve your documents, they will prepare and submit an affidavit of service to the court on your behalf.
Click here to learn more about how to place a Cook County Sheriff service of process order independently of a case filing.