Process Serving

The cost of process service depends on the type of service you need and the timeline required, but here's a general breakdown:

• Routine Service — $85.00 flat statewide. Whether your documents need to be served in Chicago's Gold Coast, a suburb like Naperville or Joliet, or downstate in Springfield or Champaign — the price is the same.
• Rush Service — Priced based on urgency and location. Contact us for a quick quote.
• Same-Day Service — Available for emergency serves throughout Chicago and Cook County. Contact us for pricing.

No hidden fees. No surprises. You'll know the cost upfront before we ever dispatch a server.

Volume discounts are available for law firms and legal departments with ongoing process serving needs. If your firm handles a high volume of serves across Cook County or statewide, give us a call — we'll put together a package that works for your caseload.

Yes — Nationwide Investigations is fully licensed through the State of Illinois. Our Illinois Private Detective Agency license number is 117-001790, issued by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR).

In addition to our agency license, our individual process servers are licensed through the State of Illinois as well — so every serve is handled by a credentialed professional, not a contractor pulled off a list.

We carry our licensing seriously. Illinois is one of the stricter states when it comes to process server regulation, and every member of our team operates in full compliance with the Illinois Code of Civil Procedure. When you work with Nationwide Investigations, your affidavits will hold up in court — whether that's the Cook County Circuit Court at the Daley Center, the Dirksen Federal Courthouse, or anywhere else in the state.

We make up to 4 attempts to serve your subject, strategically scheduled at different times of day to maximize the chances of a successful serve. Our process servers don't just show up at the same time every visit — we vary our attempts across mornings, evenings, nights, and weekends to catch the subject when they're most likely to be home.

Our Illinois-licensed servers use their knowledge of Chicago neighborhoods and surrounding Cook County communities to make smart decisions about timing and approach — whether that's a high-rise in River North, a bungalow on the Southwest Side, or a residence out in the suburbs.

Have additional information about the subject? Send it over with your documents. Any details help — work schedules, vehicle descriptions, alternate addresses, or known hangout spots. The more we know, the better our chances of a successful serve on the first attempt.

Once service is complete, you'll receive a court-ready Affidavit of Service documenting the date, time, location, and method of service. If our process server was unable to complete service after all attempts, you'll receive an Affidavit of Non-Service detailing each attempt made — which is equally important for your case record.

From there, you have two options:

• File it yourself — We'll deliver the affidavit directly to you and your firm can file it with the appropriate court.
• We file it for you — Simply authorize us and we'll handle the eFiling on your behalf. We file regularly with the Cook County Circuit Court, the Daley Center, and courts across Illinois — so your proof of service gets where it needs to go without any extra legwork on your end.

All affidavits are prepared to meet Illinois court standards and are accepted by judges across Cook County and the surrounding collar counties.

Yes — while Chicago and Cook County are our home base, Nationwide Investigations is a full-service process serving company with the ability to serve legal documents anywhere in the United States.

Through our trusted network of licensed process servers, we handle out-of-state serves in all 50 states. So whether you need a summons served in Indiana, a subpoena delivered in Wisconsin, or documents served across the country in California or Florida, we have you covered — all coordinated through our Chicago office so you never have to track down a different vendor.

We're also more than just process serving. As a one-stop shop for legal support, Nationwide Investigations offers:

• Process Serving — Illinois statewide and all 50 states
• Skip Tracing — Locate hard-to-find defendants anywhere in the country
• eFiling — Cook County Circuit Court and Illinois statewide
• Document Retrieval — Court records, case documents, and filings across Illinois

One call, one company, one invoice. Whether your case is in the Loop, downstate Springfield, or across state lines — we handle it all.