Virginia

Virginia Rules of Civil Procedure

CODE OF VIRGINIA
Title 8.01. CIVIL REMEDIES AND PROCEDURE

Article 1.

§ 8.01-289. No Service of Process on Sunday— No civil process shall be served on Sunday, except in cases of persons escaping out of custody, or where it is otherwise expressly provided by law.
Article 3. Who and Where to Serve Process.
§ 8.01-293. Who may serve process. The following persons shall be eligible to serve process:

1. The sheriff within such territorial bounds as described in s 8.01-295; or
2. Any person of age 18 years or older and who is not a party or otherwise interested in the subject matter in controversy.  Whenever in this Code the term “officer” or “sheriff” is used to refer to persons authorized to make , return or do any other act relating to service of process, such term shall be deemed to refer to any person authorized by this section to serve process.

Article 4. Who to Be Served

§ 8.01-296. Manner of serving process upon natural
persons.—In any action at law or in equity or any other civil proceeding in any court, process … may be served upon natural persons as follows:

1. By delivering a copy to the party in person; or
2. By substituted service in the following manner:

• If the party .. is not found at his usual place of abode, by delivering a copy … to any person found there, who is a member of the family, other than a temporary sojourner or guest, and who is of the age of 16 years or older; or
• If such service cannot be effected under subdivision 2a, then by posting a copy of such process at the front door or at such other door as appears to be the main entrance of such place of abode [followed by a mailing of a copy to the party served and the filing of a certificate of mailing with the clerk of the court]…
• The person executing such service shall note the manner and the date of such service on the original and the copy of the process so delivered or posted under subdivision 2 and shall effect the return of process as provided in §§ 8.01-294 and 8.01-325.

§ 8.01-299. How process served on domestic corporations and limited liability companies generally.
Except as prescribed in § 8.01-300 as to municipal and quasi- governmental corporations, and subject to § 8.01-286.1, process may be served on a corporation or limited liability company created by the laws of the Commonwealth as follows:

1. By personal service on any officer, director, or registered agent of such corporation or on the registered agent of such limited liability company;
2. By substituted service on stock corporations in accordance with § 13.1-637, on nonstock corporations in accordance with § 13.1-836, and on limited liability companies in accordance with § 13.1-1018; or
3. If the address of the registered office of the corporation or limited liability company is a single-family residential dwelling, by substituted service on the registered agent of the corporation or limited liability
   company in the manner provided by subdivision 2 of

§ 8.01-296.
§ 8.01-320. Personal service outside of Virginia…
A. Personal service of process on a nonresident person outside the Commonwealth may be made by:

1. any person authorized to serve process in the jurisdiction where the party to be served is located; or
2. any person 18 years of age or older who is not a party or otherwise interested in the subject matter of the controversy and notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, such person need not be authorized by the circuit court to serve process which commences divorce or annulment actions..

§ 8.01-325. Return by person serving process.—Unless otherwise directed by the court, the person serving process shall make return to the clerk’s office within 72 hours of service, except when such return would be due on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday. In such case, the return is due on the next day following such [holiday]. The process shall state thereon the date and manner of service and the name of the party served.

Proof shall be in the following manner:

1. If service by sheriff … the return of such sheriff as provided by the Rules of the Supreme Court; or
2. If service by any other person qualified under § 8.01-293, whether service made in or out of the Commonwealth, his affidavit of such qualifications; the date and manner of service and the name of the party served; and stamped, typed, or printed on the return of process, an annotation that the service was by a private server, and the name, address, and telephone number of the server… Case Note Where nothing in the record established that process server was qualified to serve process under Virginia’s procedural requirements, service of process was invalid, and the court did not acquire personal jurisdiction over defendant. Harrel v. Preston, 15 Va.App. 202, 421 S.E.2d 676 (1992).

§ 18.2-409. Resisting or obstructing execution of legal process.
Every person acting jointly or in combination with any other person to resist or obstruct the execution of any legal process shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.