Illinois General Assembly - Illinois Compiled Statutes

Updating the database of the Illinois Compiled Statutes (ILCS) is an ongoing process. Recent laws may not yet be included in the ILCS database, but they are found on this site as Public Acts soon after they become law. For information concerning the relationship between statutes and Public Acts, refer to the Guide.

Because the statute database is maintained primarily for legislative drafting purposes, statutory changes are sometimes included in the statute database before they take effect. If the source note at the end of a Section of the statutes includes a Public Act that has not yet taken effect, the version of the law that is currently in effect may have already been removed from the database and you should refer to that Public Act to see the changes made to the current law.

735 ILCS 5/2-202

(735 ILCS 5/2-202) (from Ch. 110, par. 2-202)
(Text of Section before amendment by P.A. 103-671)

Sec. 2-202.

Persons authorized to serve process; place of
service; failure to make return.

(a) Process shall be served by a
sheriff, or if the sheriff is disqualified, by a coroner of some county of the
State. In matters where the county or State is an interested party, process may be served by a special investigator appointed by the State's Attorney of the county, as defined in Section 3-9005 of the Counties Code.  A sheriff of a county with a population of less than 2,000,000
may employ civilian personnel to serve process.  In
counties with a population of less than 2,000,000, process may
be served, without special appointment, by a person who is licensed or
registered as a private detective under the Private Detective, Private
Alarm,  Private
Security, Fingerprint Vendor, and Locksmith Act of 2004 or by a registered
employee of a private detective
agency certified under that Act as defined in Section (a-5).  A private detective or licensed
employee must supply the sheriff of any county in which he serves process
with a copy of his license or certificate; however, the failure of a person
to supply the copy shall not in any way impair the validity of process
served by the person. The court may, in its discretion upon motion, order
service to be made by a private person over 18 years of age and not a party
to the action.
It is not necessary that service be made by a sheriff or
coroner of the county in which service is made. If served or sought to be
served by a sheriff or coroner, he or she shall endorse his or her return
thereon, and if by a private person the return shall be by affidavit.

(a-5) Upon motion and in its discretion, the court may appoint as a
special process
server a
private detective agency certified under the Private Detective, Private Alarm,
Private
Security, Fingerprint Vendor, and Locksmith Act of 2004.  Under the appointment,
any employee of
the
private detective agency who is registered under that Act may serve the
process.  The
motion and the order of appointment must contain the number of the certificate
issued to
the private detective agency by the Department of Professional Regulation under
the
Private Detective, Private Alarm, Private Security, Fingerprint Vendor, and Locksmith Act of
2004. A private detective or private detective agency shall send, one time only, a copy of his, her, or its individual private detective license or private detective agency certificate to the county sheriff in each county in which the detective or detective agency or his, her, or its employees serve process, regardless of the size of the population of the county. As long as the license or certificate is valid and meets the requirements of the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, a new copy of the current license or certificate need not be sent to the sheriff.  A private detective agency shall maintain a list of its registered employees.  Registered employees shall consist of:

(1) an employee who works for the agency holding a

valid Permanent Employee Registration Card;

(2) a person who has applied for a Permanent Employee

Registration Card, has had his or her fingerprints processed and cleared by the Illinois State Police and the FBI, and as to whom the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation website shows that the person's application for a Permanent Employee Registration Card is pending;

(3) a person employed by a private detective agency

who is exempt from a Permanent Employee Registration Card requirement because the person is a current peace officer; and

(4) a private detective who works for a private

detective agency as an employee.


A detective agency shall maintain this list and forward it to any sheriff's department that requests this list within 5 business days after the receipt of the request.

(b) Summons may be served upon the defendants wherever they may be
found in the State, by any person authorized to serve process. An officer
may serve summons in his or her official capacity outside his or her county,
but fees for mileage outside the county of the officer cannot be taxed
as costs. The person serving the process in a foreign county may make
return by mail.

(c) If any sheriff, coroner, or other person to whom any process is
delivered, neglects or refuses to make return of the same, the plaintiff
may petition the court to enter a rule requiring the sheriff, coroner,
or other person, to make return of the process on a day to be fixed by
the court, or to show cause on that day why that person should not be attached
for contempt of the court. The plaintiff shall then cause a written
notice of the rule to be served on the sheriff, coroner, or other
person. If good and sufficient cause be not shown to excuse the officer
or other person, the court shall adjudge him or her guilty of a contempt, and
shall impose punishment as in other cases of contempt.

(d) Except as provided in Sections 1-19, 3-17, 4-14, and 5-252 of the Juvenile Court Act of 1987, if process is served by a sheriff, coroner, or special investigator appointed by the State's Attorney, the court may tax
the fee of the sheriff, coroner, or State's Attorney's special investigator as costs in the proceeding.  If process
is served by a private person or entity, the court may establish a fee
therefor and tax such fee as costs in the proceedings.

(e) In addition to the powers stated in Section 8.1a of the Housing
Authorities Act, in counties with a population of 3,000,000 or more
inhabitants,
members of a housing authority police force may serve process for eviction actions commenced by that housing authority and may execute eviction
orders for that housing authority.

(f) In counties with a population of 3,000,000 or more, process may be
served, with special appointment by the court,
by a private process server or
a law enforcement agency other than the county sheriff
in proceedings instituted under Article IX of this Code as a result of a lessor or
lessor's assignee declaring a lease void pursuant to Section 11 of the
Controlled Substance and Cannabis Nuisance Act.

(Source: P.A. 102-538, eff. 8-20-21; 103-379, eff. 7-28-23.)

    (Text of Section after amendment by P.A. 103-671)
    Sec. 2-202. Persons authorized to serve process; place of service; failure to make return.

(a) Process shall be served by a sheriff, or if the sheriff is disqualified, by a coroner of some county of the State. In matters where the county or State is an interested party, process may be served by a special investigator appointed by the State's Attorney of the county, as defined in Section 3-9005 of the Counties Code. A sheriff of a county with a population of less than 2,000,000 may employ civilian personnel to serve process. Process may be served by a person who is licensed or registered as a private detective under the Private Detective, Private Alarm, Private Security, Fingerprint Vendor, and Locksmith Act of 2004 or by a registered employee of a private detective agency certified under that Act. A private detective or licensed employee must supply the sheriff of any county in which he serves process with a copy of his license or certificate; however, the failure of a person to supply the copy shall not in any way impair the validity of process served by the person. The court may, in its discretion upon motion, order service to be made by a private person over 18 years of age and not a party to the action. It is not necessary that service be made by a sheriff or coroner of the county in which service is made. If served or sought to be served by a sheriff or coroner, he or she shall endorse his or her return thereon, and if by a private person the return shall be by affidavit. In a county of 3,000,000 or more, any person who is licensed or registered as a private detective under the Private Detective, Private Alarm, Private Security, Fingerprint Vendor, and Locksmith Act of 2004 or by a registered employee of a private detective agency certified under that Act and hired to serve summons shall remit $5 of each service fee to the county sheriff.

(a-5) A private detective or private detective agency shall send, one time only, a copy of his, her, or its individual private detective license or private detective agency certificate to the county sheriff in each county in which the detective or detective agency or his, her, or its employees serve process, regardless of the size of the population of the county. As long as the license or certificate is valid and meets the requirements of the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, a new copy of the current license or certificate need not be sent to the sheriff. A private detective agency shall maintain a list of its registered employees. Registered employees shall consist of: