Duty

In the context of process serving, duty refers to the obligation a certified process server owes to the court and to the parties in a case. That duty includes:

• Faithfully attempting service in the manner authorized by the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure.
• Filing an accurate Return of Service that truthfully describes what was done.
• Acting impartially — the process server is an officer of the court for purposes of service, not an advocate for either party.

The duty arises the moment a process server accepts a document for service and ends only when the Return is filed (or the document is properly returned to the issuing party).