The Sheriff’s Legal Process Division is comprised of the business office and the legal process unit. The personnel assigned to the business office perform the clerical and administrative functions of the division, while the actual service of process is the responsibility of the officers assigned to the legal process unit.
Clerical and administrative personnel assigned to the business office essentially perform the duties of legal assistants to the Sheriff. They must be familiar with a wide range of statutes, rules, fees, and procedures that are necessary to properly perform these challenging and often complex duties. All fees and commissions are regulated by state statute. All monies received by the Union County Sheriff are remitted to the County of Union for the general good of the County. Annual Audits are conducted by independent outside auditors to ensure compliance with established statutory guidelines and practices.
Each year thousands of legal documents are received at our office. They must be reviewed for completeness, proper form, and correct fees before being entered into our system. After docketing and entry, the process is assigned to one of the eight process division officers who are responsible for serving the process. These officers also serve process at night and on weekends.
The duties of the process serving officers must also be performed in accordance with court rules and state statutes. Each officer assigned to this unit must know these rules and statutes to make a proper legal service. The unit serves (delivers) Summons and Complaints, Notices of Motions, orders, Writs, and various other legal documents.
The Legal Process Division also oversees the Foreclosure Department. The Foreclosure Department continues to be very busy due to the amount of foreclosures. The Sheriff’s Office continues to be active with Foreclosure Task Force Committees to help increase awareness about the many programs available to those facing foreclosure.