Wyoming Process Server Summons, Complaint and Subpoena Delivery in All 23 Wyoming Counties

Filing the complaint starts the case

Under Rule 3, filing the complaint is the act that commences a Wyoming civil action. The one exception is a case refiled after a Rule 4(w) dismissal: the new action counts as commenced on its filing date only if service is obtained within 90 days of the applicable statute of limitations.

W.R.C.P. 3

A 90-day limit for each defendant

Rule 4(w), as amended effective September 21, 2026, sets the clock: if a defendant is not served within 90 days after the complaint is filed, the court, on motion or on its own after notice to the plaintiff, must dismiss the action without prejudice against that defendant or order that service be made within a specified time.

W.R.C.P. 4(w)

Good cause and late requests

A plaintiff who shows good cause for missing the 90 days is entitled to an extension for an appropriate period. Rule 6(b) separately lets the court, for good cause, enlarge a period when the request comes before it expires, or permit the act afterward on a motion showing excusable neglect. Service in a foreign country under Rule 4(f) sits outside the 90-day limit.

W.R.C.P. 4(w); 6(b)

Refiling and dismissal for delay

Wyoming’s savings statute lets a plaintiff whose timely action fails other than on the merits, after the limitation period has run, commence a new action within one year after the failure. Rule 41(b)(2) also allows the court, on its own motion and after reasonable notice, to dismiss without prejudice an action not prosecuted with due diligence.

W.S. 1-⁠3-⁠118; W.R.C.P. 41(b)⁠(2)

What the summons carries

Rule 4(a) requires the summons to name the court and the parties, give the name and address of the plaintiff’s attorney (or of a plaintiff without one), warn that a failure to appear and defend may lead to a default judgment for the relief the complaint demands, and bear the clerk’s signature and the court’s seal.

W.R.C.P. 4(a)

One summons per defendant, served with the complaint

When a properly completed summons is presented, the clerk signs, seals and issues it to the plaintiff, and a separate summons issues for each defendant to be served. Rule 4(d) has the summons and complaint served together, with the plaintiff furnishing whatever copies the person making service needs.

W.R.C.P. 4(b), (d)

Who the rule lets serve

Unless the court orders otherwise, Rule 4(c)(1) allows any person who is at least 18 years old and not a party to the action to serve process. If the party who caused the summons to issue asks, the sheriff of the county where service is made or a designee, or a United States marshal or designee, may serve it.

W.R.C.P. 4(c)⁠(1)–⁠(2)

Costs of service by a private person

When the person making service is not a sheriff or U.S. marshal, Rule 4(c)(3) leaves to the court’s discretion what amount of costs, if any, is assessed for it against an adverse party.

W.R.C.P. 4(c)⁠(3)

Four ways to reach an individual

An adult within the United States may be served by delivery of the summons and complaint to the person, by leaving copies at the dwelling house or usual place of abode with someone over 14 who resides there, by leaving them at the defendant’s usual place of business with the defendant’s employee then in charge of it, or by delivery to an agent authorized by appointment or by law to receive process.

W.R.C.P. 4(e)⁠(1)–⁠(4)

Children under 14 and incompetent persons

Within the United States they are served through the guardian; where no guardian has been appointed in Wyoming, through the person having legal custody and control or a guardian ad litem. Outside the United States, Rule 4(g) sends the plaintiff to the foreign-country methods in Rule 4(f)(2)(A), (f)(2)(B) and (f)(3).

W.R.C.P. 4(g)

Partnerships and associations

Rule 4(h)(1) reaches a partnership or other unincorporated association through one or more partners or associates, a managing or general agent, or an agent for process, or by leaving the papers at its usual place of business with any employee then in charge.

W.R.C.P. 4(h)⁠(1)

Corporations and the clerk’s follow-up mailing

A corporation is served through any officer, manager, general agent or agent for process. If none of them can be found in the county where the action is brought, the copies may go to any agent or employee found in that county, and the clerk must then mail copies to the corporation by registered or certified mail at least 20 days before default is entered.

W.R.C.P. 4(h)⁠(2)

Registered agents under Title 17

W.S. 17-28-101 makes every business entity, a term that covers corporations, nonprofit corporations, LLCs, limited partnerships, statutory trusts and registered LLPs, foreign or domestic, keep a Wyoming registered office where its agent, or a natural person associated with the agent, can accept process and is physically present. Section 17-28-104(a) obliges that agent to accept process served on the entity, and 104(c) keeps the Rule 4 methods available as well.

W.S. 17-⁠28-⁠101, -104(a), (c)

An entity with no reachable agent

If an entity has no registered agent, or its agent cannot be served with reasonable diligence, W.S. 17-28-104(b) allows registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, to its principal office. Service is perfected on the earliest of the day the entity receives it, the date on a signed return receipt, or five days after mailing as the postmark shows, if postpaid and correctly addressed. In those same cases, 104(e) lets the Secretary of State, on accepting a summons, serve the entity electronically instead.

W.S. 17-⁠28-⁠104(b), (e)

When the agency ends

Once an agency is terminated under W.S. 17-28-103, process for the entity goes to the Secretary of State until a new agent is named or the entity is administratively dissolved or revoked.

W.S. 17-⁠28-⁠103(e)

Public bodies and the Secretary of State

A state department or agency, or a municipal or other public corporation, is served by delivering the summons and complaint to its chief executive officer, secretary or clerk, the person in charge of its principal office or place of business, or any member of its governing body, unless a statute provides another way. Service on the Secretary of State as agent for a party follows the statute that authorizes it.

W.R.C.P. 4(i)–⁠(j)

Drivers who cannot be served in Wyoming

W.S. 1-6-301 treats operating a motor vehicle on a Wyoming street or highway, by someone who cannot be served in the state personally or through a resident agent, as making the Secretary of State that driver’s attorney to receive process in a suit over the driving. Within ten days after that service, notice and a copy of the process go to the defendant personally or by certified mail to the last known address, and the plaintiff files an affidavit of compliance with the clerk.

W.S. 1-⁠6-⁠301

Reaching a defendant beyond Wyoming

The long-arm statute lets a Wyoming court exercise jurisdiction on any basis consistent with the state and federal constitutions, with service outside the state made and proved under the Rules or a court order. Where publication is allowed or a statute permits out-of-state service, Rule 4(r) offers personal delivery anywhere in the United States, or clerk-sent registered or certified mail marked Restricted Delivery that asks for a return receipt signed by the addressee or the addressee’s agent.

W.S. 5-⁠1-⁠107; W.R.C.P. 4(r)

Defendants in another country

Rule 4(f) starts with an internationally agreed means reasonably calculated to give notice, such as the Hague Service Convention. Otherwise service may follow the foreign country’s own law, the response to a letter rogatory or letter of request, or, where that country’s law does not prohibit it, clerk-sent mail requiring a signed receipt, or other means the court orders that no international agreement prohibits. An entity abroad is served the same ways except by personal delivery under 4(f)(2)(C)(i). Service under 4(f)(2) or (f)(3) is proved by a receipt signed by the addressee or other evidence satisfying the court that the papers were delivered.

W.R.C.P. 4(f), (h)⁠(3), (s)⁠(3)

Alternative service under the 2026 text

Rule 4(k), effective September 21, 2026, defines alternative service as service by any means other than personal service, including publication or another means reasonably calculated to give actual notice where no specific method is set by law. It is confined to the case types subdivision (k) lists, among them a Wyoming resident who has left the county of residence to delay or defraud creditors or to avoid service, or who keeps concealed with that intent.

W.R.C.P. 4(k)

Motion, affidavit and order first

The party seeking alternative service files a motion with an affidavit stating that service cannot be made within Wyoming, detailing the efforts made to find an address, and placing the case within subdivision (k). The court must find that personal service under Rule 4(e) cannot be made; its order states how service is to be proved, and service may proceed once the order is entered.

W.R.C.P. 4(l)⁠(1)–⁠(2)

Publication only when nothing else will do

Publication may be requested only if no other alternative service is reasonably calculated to give actual notice. The clerk’s notice runs four consecutive weeks in a newspaper published in the county where the complaint was filed, with one insertion a week enough in a daily paper; a clerk’s certificate of mailing confirms the papers were sent to the party, and the publisher’s affidavit is filed as proof. The party seeking publication or mailing bears its cost.

W.R.C.P. 4(l)⁠(3)⁠(B), (n)⁠(1), (x)

Proof from the person who served

Rule 4(s)(1) has the person serving make proof to the court promptly and within the time the served person has to respond. A Wyoming sheriff, undersheriff or deputy files a certificate, a special deputy named for that one service gives an affidavit, and anyone else gives an affidavit stating the date, place and manner of service. Clerk-sent mail is proved by the clerk’s certificate of the mailing date and the date the return receipt came back.

W.R.C.P. 4(s)⁠(1)–⁠(2)

Certifying under penalty of false swearing

W.S. 1-2-104 lets a matter that the law requires to be shown by affidavit be shown instead by a written certification, made "under penalty of false swearing," that states the date and place it was executed and closes with the sentence the statute prescribes.

W.S. 1-⁠2-⁠104(a)

Late or flawed proof

A failure to make proof does not affect the validity of the service itself, and Rule 4(t) lets the court allow a summons or proof of service to be amended unless it clearly appears that material prejudice would result.

W.R.C.P. 4(s)⁠(4), (t)

Asking the defendant to waive

Rule 4(u) gives a defendant subject to service a duty to avoid unnecessary service costs. The plaintiff may send a waiver request by first-class mail or other reliable means, allowing at least 30 days to return it, or 60 days for a defendant addressed abroad. A domestic defendant who refuses without good cause bears the later service costs; one who returns it on time need not answer until 60 days after the request was sent, and keeps every venue and personal-jurisdiction objection.

W.R.C.P. 4(u)

Written acceptance of service

Rule 4(v) recognizes a written acceptance, in the form 4(v)(2) prescribes, executed directly by the defendant or the defendant’s counsel, telling the defendant to answer or move under Rule 12 within 20 days after signing, and filed by the party who asked for it. Once filed, the case proceeds as though served at signing, with no proof of service required, and no defendant can be compelled to accept.

W.R.C.P. 4(v)

Answer deadlines and service defenses

Rule 12(a) gives a defendant 20 days after service of the summons and complaint to answer, 30 days if service was made outside Wyoming, and 30 days after the last day of publication. Insufficient process and insufficient service of process are Rule 12(b) defenses that Rule 12(h)(1) treats as waived unless raised by motion under Rule 12 or in a responsive pleading.

W.R.C.P. 12(a), (b), (h)

Process sent by telecommunication

W.S. 1-6-110 allows any summons, writ, order or other paper requiring service to be transmitted by any form of telecommunication, and the copy received may be served by the officer or person it was sent to, with the same force and effect as the original.

W.S. 1-⁠6-⁠110

Certified mail in place of registered

Wherever a statute or court rule calls for service or notice by registered mail, W.S. 1-6-111 accepts certified mail with proof of mailing.

W.S. 1-⁠6-⁠111

How Rule 6(a) counts the days

The day of the triggering event is left out and the last day is counted, unless it is a Saturday, a Sunday or a legal holiday, in which case the period runs to the end of the next day that is none of those. A legal holiday is any day the legislature designates, the governor or the chief justice of the Wyoming Supreme Court appoints, or local officials designate.

W.R.C.P. 6(a)

Wyoming legal holidays

W.S. 8-4-101 lists New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King, Jr., Wyoming Equality Day (third Monday in January), Washington’s and Lincoln’s birthdays (third Monday in February), Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving (fourth Thursday in November) and Christmas. When New Year’s Day, Independence Day, Veterans Day or Christmas falls on a Sunday, the Monday after is the holiday; the governor may also declare a day the President sets for national observance.

W.S. 8-⁠4-⁠101

Issuing and serving a Wyoming subpoena

The clerk issues a subpoena signed but otherwise blank for the requesting party to complete, and an attorney as an officer of the court may issue and sign one. The sheriff, a deputy sheriff or any person who is neither a party nor a minor may serve it anywhere in Wyoming by delivering a copy to the person named, tendering one day’s attendance fee and the mileage allowed by law when attendance is commanded. A subpoena for documents or inspection alone needs notice served on each party first.

W.R.C.P. 45(a)⁠(3)–⁠(4), (b)⁠(1)

Subpoena proof, travel and objections

Proof states the date and manner of service and the names of the persons served, certified by whoever served. A witness from another county is paid the state-employee per diem after the hearing or trial; a deposition witness attends only in the county of residence, employment or regular in-person business, or where a court order sets. Objections to a production command are due within 14 days after service, or sooner if compliance is due sooner, and each subpoena sets out Rule 45(c), (d) and (e).

W.R.C.P. 45(a)⁠(1), (b)⁠(1)–⁠(2), (b)⁠(4), (c)⁠(2)⁠(B)

Subpoenas from other states

Rule 28(c) covers a subpoena from another state, a term that includes the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and U.S. territories. A party submits it to a clerk of court in the Wyoming county where discovery is to happen, which is not an appearance in Wyoming courts; the clerk promptly issues a Wyoming subpoena that incorporates its terms and lists every counsel of record and unrepresented party with address and telephone number. It is served under Rule 45, Rules 30, 31, 34 and 45 apply, and any application goes to the court for that county.

W.R.C.P. 28(c)

Checked in October 2026 against Wyoming Rules of Civil Procedure 3, 4, 6, 12, 28, 41 and 45 in the compilation effective September 21, 2026, published by the Wyoming Judicial Branch, and Wyoming Statutes 1-2-104, 1-3-118, 1-6-110, 1-6-111, 1-6-301, 5-1-107, 8-4-101 and 17-28-101 through 17-28-104, published by the Wyoming Legislature. This summary is general information rather than legal advice; where it differs from the rule, the rule governs.