Most people hire a process server, then discover that serving papers was the middle third of the job. Somebody had to file the case first to get a summons issued. Somebody has to file the affidavit afterward or the court never learns service happened. Those two ends are where self-represented cases stall, and where firms burn paralegal hours.
Reliant runs all three. Here is the actual sequence, what each step depends on, and what it means for your dates.
Step 1 — We e-file the case
You send us the pleading and the exhibits. We submit the envelope to the correct court on our own e-filing account, with the document types, party fields, and fees set the way that court expects.
If the clerk rejects it, we read the rejection code, fix it, and resubmit the same day. You are not the one interpreting a portal error at 9pm. See the eight reasons Georgia e-filings get rejected for what those errors usually are.
What you get: a filed case, a case number, and an issued summons.
Step 2 — The court accepts, and only then can service begin
This is the dependency people miss. There is nothing to serve until the clerk issues the summons, because O.C.G.A. § 9-11-4 requires the server to deliver the summons together with the complaint. A server dispatched before acceptance is a server standing outside a door with an incomplete packet.
So on a file-and-serve order, service is held until acceptance — deliberately. When you watch the order in Reliant Track, you will see it sitting at "filed, waiting for the court" and then move. That pause is the system being correct, not the system being slow.
Step 3 — We serve it
An appointed process server in that county takes the job. Each recipient at each address is a separate field job with its own attempts, its own photo and GPS record, and its own affidavit — because each defendant's answer clock runs from their own service date.
We route only to servers whose court appointment for that county is current and verified. If an appointment lapses, that server stops receiving work in that county automatically. It is not a courtesy check; it is the routing rule.
Step 4 — We e-file the affidavit of service
The server's affidavit is quality-checked against the case facts, then filed back to the same court, and we keep the acceptance receipt.
This is the step most often skipped by people who handled service themselves, and it is consequential: a defendant who was properly served but whose affidavit was never filed looks, on the docket, exactly like a defendant who was never served. You cannot take a default on a record that does not show service. See what the affidavit has to contain.
What this changes for a pro se filer
The three hard parts of doing this yourself are: knowing what the clerk wants in the envelope, finding an appointed server in the right county, and remembering the return filing weeks later when the case has gone quiet. Handing over all three removes the two failure points that are pure administration and leaves you with the part that is actually your case.
You still choose your court and write your own pleading. We do not do either, and would not — we are not a law firm.
What this changes for a firm
The paralegal time in service is rarely the service. It is the chasing: confirming the envelope was accepted, checking whether the server went out, requesting the affidavit, filing the affidavit, then finding all of that again three weeks later when opposing counsel raises a defect.
A single order that files, serves, and files the return collapses that into one reference number, with the affidavit landing on the docket without anyone remembering to send it. Firms can submit one matter or a batch, apply saved instruction templates, and see everything needing a response in one place.
Take the whole chain or any single leg
End to end is the default, not the only option:
- Serve only — you filed it yourself and have the summons; we serve it and return the proof to you.
- Serve and file the return — you filed the case; we serve and e-file the affidavit.
- File, serve, and file the return — the whole chain.
Pricing shown covers Reliant's work. Any fee the court itself charges to file is set by the court.
What we will not do
Worth stating plainly, because it is the line that makes the rest trustworthy. We do not choose your venue, draft or review your pleadings, tell you what to claim, or advise you on deadlines. We handle documents and logistics. When something requires a legal judgment, that is you or your attorney — and we will say so rather than guess.
This is a service description, not legal advice. Reliant Process Solutions is not a law firm. Court rules, fees, and timelines vary by county and court — confirm with the clerk or an attorney.