A Louisiana process server serves a citation once the court appoints one: the parish sheriff goes first, and La. C.C.P. art. 1293 opens the appointment after the sheriff’s ten days or a return of non-service. Served 123 LLC arranges service in all 64 parishes, with up to three attempts per address and the server’s affidavit of service; a subpoena return is signed before a notary, as art. 1355(B) requires.
Send the citation and petition, or the subpoena, online at any hour, with the Louisiana address where the person or company can be found.
You get a written quote with the cost and turnaround for that parish, and the art. 1293 appointment steps when your citation needs them.
You receive the server’s affidavit of service (signed before a notary for a subpoena, art. 1355(B)), stating the date, place and manner of service and the person served.
Request a free written quote. Each address starts in Louisiana. Serving someone in another state? Change the first address’s State and we take you to that state’s page with your entries kept.
La. C.C.P. art. 1201(C) requires that service of the citation be requested on every named defendant within 90 days of commencement, which is the filing of the petition (art. 421). A defendant first named in a supplemental or amended petition gets 90 days from that filing and is served with both petitions (art. 1201(C)).
The clerk’s initial fees are due within the same 90 days. A request made and paid on time stays timely even if the service proves insufficient or erroneous (art. 1201(D)).
The key rules of the Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure, Book II, and the Revised Statutes that sit beside it.
When the sheriff has not made service within ten days after receipt of the process or when a return has been made certifying that the sheriff has been unable to make service, whichever is earlier, on motion of a party the court shall appoint a person over the age of majority, not a party and residing within the state whom the court deems qualified to perform the duties required, to make service of process in the same manner as is required of sheriffs.
Rules verified October 2026 against the Code of Civil Procedure articles, Civil Code article and Revised Statutes cited on this page, which the Louisiana State Legislature publishes free at legis.la.gov, and the U.S. Department of State’s service-of-process guidance. General information, not legal advice. The Code controls.
Personal and domiciliary service carry the same effect under art. 1231, and Served 123 arranges either one, plus the other routes below, on one order: an appointed private server, subpoenas, corporations and their officers, mail to a corporation without an agent, the Secretary of State, and defendants outside Louisiana. The parish sheriff, a court-named attorney for an absentee, and a written waiver remain outside it.
Every route above, one order.
Get a Free Quote Online →The sheriff endorses the date, place and method of service on a copy of the citation (art. 1292). Service by an appointed private server is proved like any other fact in the case (art. 1293(A)). Proof of a subpoena served by a private server is a return signed by the server before a notary and filed with the clerk of the issuing court, showing the title of the action, the issuing court, the date and manner of service and the person served (art. 1355(B)).
The server’s affidavit we send you covers the art. 1355(B) items and also states the place of service, the item the sheriff endorses under art. 1292. For a subpoena it is signed before a notary, as art. 1355(B) requires.
For law firms, in-house legal teams, agencies and self-represented parties with a Louisiana defendant or witness.
Send the citation and petition, or the subpoena, online at any hour, with the Louisiana address where the person or company can be found.
You get a written quote with the cost and turnaround for that parish, and the art. 1293 appointment steps when your citation needs them.
A local process server works the Louisiana address, logging each attempt with its date, time and observations.
You receive the server’s affidavit of service (signed before a notary for a subpoena, art. 1355(B)), stating the date, place and manner of service and the person served.
A Louisiana citation goes to our server once the court signs the order appointing that server; the motion under C.C.P. art. 1293(A) is available after the sheriff has held the process ten days without serving it, or sooner on a return of non-service. A subpoena can go to our server after the sheriff’s five days, with no order (art. 1355(B)).
What You Get Back
Louisiana is divided into parishes rather than counties. Find yours on the map or in the list to start a quote.
Each answer cites the Code of Civil Procedure article or Revised Statute it comes from. General information, not legal advice.
Not quite. La. C.C.P. art. 1201(C) requires that service of the citation be “requested on all named defendants within ninety days of commencement of the action,” and an action is commenced by filing the petition (art. 421). A defendant added by a supplemental or amended petition gets 90 days from that filing and is served with both the original and the supplemental or amended petition (art. 1201(C)). The clerk sends a statement of the initial fees, which are due within the same 90 days; additional fees are due within the 90 days or within 30 days of receiving the clerk’s statement, whichever is longer (art. 1201(E)). A request made and paid on time is timely “notwithstanding insufficient or erroneous service” (art. 1201(D)). When the deadline is missed, art. 1672(C) calls for dismissal without prejudice as to that defendant, on the defendant’s declinatory exception or another party’s contradictory motion, unless good cause is shown. Suits naming the state, a state agency, a political subdivision, or an officer or employee of one have their own 90-day rule in R.S. 13:5107(D).
Copy LinkYes, once the court appoints one for the case. The sheriff of the parish serves first (art. 1291). When the sheriff has not served within ten days after receiving the process, or has returned it certifying that service could not be made, whichever is earlier, the court on a party’s motion appoints a person over the age of majority, not a party, residing in Louisiana and whom the court deems qualified, to serve “in the same manner as is required of sheriffs” (art. 1293(A)). In a summary proceeding under art. 2592, the court may appoint a private server without waiting for the sheriff, on a motion stating the reasons verified by affidavit (art. 1293(B)). We tell you at intake when your case needs an appointment and give you the steps to have our server appointed.
Copy LinkA subpoena is served like a citation (art. 1355(A)). If the sheriff has not served it within five days after receiving it, or has returned it unserved, any person over the age of majority who is not a party and lives in Louisiana may serve it, with no court order (art. 1355(B)). Proof is a return signed by that server before a notary and filed with the clerk of the issuing court, showing the title of the action, the issuing court, the date and manner of service and the name of the person served. A party called as a witness may be served through that party’s attorney of record. For a trial or hearing, the party who wants the testimony first deposits the witness’s estimated attendance fee and travel expenses with the clerk of court, and the clerk pays the witness once the witness appears (R.S. 13:3661(C), (D); art. 1353).
Copy LinkYes. Domiciliary service under art. 1234 leaves the citation “at the dwelling house or usual place of abode” of the defendant with “a person of suitable age and discretion residing in the domiciliary establishment.” The article sets no number of years; the person must be suitable and must live there. Personal and domiciliary service have the same effect (art. 1231), and personal service may be made anywhere the server may lawfully go to reach the defendant (art. 1233).
Copy LinkA corporation is served on any one of its agents for service of process (art. 1261(A)), and its registered agent is that agent (R.S. 12:1-504(A)). If no agent was designated, the agent has died, resigned or been removed, or the server certifies the agent cannot be served after due diligence, service may be made on any officer or director, or a person named as one in the last report filed with the Secretary of State, or on any employee of suitable age and discretion where the business is regularly conducted, or under R.S. 13:3204 if the corporation is subject to R.S. 13:3201 (art. 1261(B)). If the officer certifies that this also failed after diligent effort, service may be made personally on the Secretary of State, who forwards the citation to the corporation’s last known address (art. 1262). An LLC follows the same pattern, with a manager (or a member where management is not vested in managers) in place of an officer, and the Secretary of State forwards the citation to the LLC’s last known address (arts. 1266, 1267).
Copy LinkIn a suit under R.S. 13:3201, the plaintiff’s counsel, or a plaintiff without counsel, sends a certified copy of the citation and petition by registered or certified mail or commercial courier, or has it served by an individual the court designates or by “one authorized by the law of the place where the service is made” to serve process there (R.S. 13:3204(A)); that service has the same force as personal service in Louisiana. An affidavit of the person who mailed or delivered it is then filed in the record: for mail, showing proper address, postage and the mailing date, with the defendant’s return receipt attached; for a courier, the courier’s name and the date and address of delivery, with its confirmation attached; for delivery in person, the date, place and manner of delivery. Except in protective-order actions under R.S. 46:2131 et seq., no default judgment may be rendered until 30 days after the affidavit is filed (R.S. 13:3205). If service cannot be made by mail or delivery, the court orders service on an attorney appointed to represent the defendant (R.S. 13:3204(B)).
Copy LinkThe Code of Civil Procedure reaches an absentee through an attorney the court appoints to represent the defendant. An absentee includes a nonresident, a resident who has left the state, and a person whose whereabouts are unknown or who cannot be found and served after a diligent effort, with no agent for service of process (arts. 5251, 5091). The court appoints the attorney only where it has jurisdiction over the person or property of the defendant, or over the status involved (art. 5091(A)(1)). For a defendant domiciled in Louisiana, service on that attorney supports personal jurisdiction (art. 6(A)(2)); for a nonresident sued under R.S. 13:3201, the court orders it only when mail or delivery under R.S. 13:3204 cannot be made (R.S. 13:3204(B)). The attorney writes to the absentee’s last known address by certified mail or commercial courier (art. 5094), and the plaintiff pays the attorney’s reasonable fee, taxed as costs (art. 5096). Skip tracing the defendant’s current address first can avoid that route.
Copy LinkYes. Article 1231 provides that service, “whether personal or domiciliary, may be made at any time of day or night, including Sundays and holidays.” R.S. 1:55(C) also makes it lawful to issue and serve citations on Wednesday and Saturday holidays and half-holidays.
Copy LinkUnder R.S. 13:3825, the Louisiana Uniform Interstate Depositions and Discovery Act, a party presents the original or a certified copy of the foreign subpoena to the clerk of court of the parish where discovery is to be conducted, and the clerk promptly issues a Louisiana subpoena. Requesting it is not an appearance in Louisiana courts. The issued subpoena must be served under Louisiana law, including art. 1355, so the sheriff goes first: a private server may serve it after the sheriff’s five days or a return of non-service. A subpoena duces tecum reproduces art. 1354 in full, and the person served may send written objections to the party or attorney designated in the subpoena within 15 days after service, or before the compliance date if that comes sooner (art. 1354(B)).
Copy LinkUpload the citation and petition with the address. A written quote comes before any work begins.
