Waiver of service of process in an interpleader suit

What is a waiver of service? When a life insurance company is on notice of a dispute regarding the proper beneficiary of life insurance proceeds, or is uncertain who to pay, it will often file an interpleader lawsuit. An interpleader is a type of lawsuit the life insurance company files to have a court determine who should receive the proceeds.

The insurance company will file the interpleader lawsuit and name the competing claimants as defendants. The insurance company will serve the claimants with a copy of the lawsuit and a command from the court to file an answer. This is referred to as "service of process."

Normally, this is done by hiring a constable or private process server to personally hand the citation and lawsuit to the defendant. However, Rule 4 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides for an alternate method for cases filed in federal court:

(d) Waiving Service.

(1) Requesting a Waiver. An individual, corporation, or association that is subject to service under Rule 4(e), (f), or (h) has a duty to avoid unnecessary expenses of serving the summons. The plaintiff may notify such a defendant that an action has been commenced and request that the defendant waive service of a summons. The notice and request must:

(A) be in writing and be addressed:

(i) to the individual defendant; or

(ii) for a defendant subject to service under Rule 4(h), to an officer, a managing or general agent, or any other agent authorized by appointment or by law to receive service of process;

(B) name the court where the complaint was filed;

(C) be accompanied by a copy of the complaint, 2 copies of the waiver form appended to this Rule 4, and a prepaid means for returning the form;

(D) inform the defendant, using the form appended to this Rule 4, of the consequences of waiving and not waiving service;

(E) state the date when the request is sent;

(F) give the defendant a reasonable time of at least 30 days after the request was sent—or at least 60 days if sent to the defendant outside any judicial district of the United States—to return the waiver; and

(G) be sent by first-class mail or other reliable means.

The plaintiff may mail the lawsuit and a waiver of service form to the defendant and request the defendant waive the need for personal service.

Why would the defendant agree? Primarily, because a waiver provides additional time to answer. Normally in federal court a defendant has 20 days to answer the complaint. But if a defendant signs a waiver, they have 60 days to answer. In an interpleader situation, there typically is not a good reason to wait. Once I am hired, I will typically prepare and file an answer as soon as possible. This allows my client to stake their claim to the policy proceeds as soon as possible.