# Illinois — Process server licensing and bond requirements by US state — who must be licensed to serve legal papers, and the dollar bond or insurance figure the statute sets, quoted from the statute itself

For Illinois, statute is 735 ILCS 5/2-202, recorded from its source on 2026-09-02.

- **State:** Illinois _(our reading, not quoted from the source)_
- **When regulation applies:** 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 in any county 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. 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. _(verified: appears in its own passage below)_
- **Statute:** 735 ILCS 5/2-202 _(our reading, not quoted from the source)_

## What the source says

> 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 in any county 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. 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.

## Where each value comes from

This source states these in separate places, so each value is shown with the passage that states it.

### When regulation applies

> 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 in any county 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. 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.

### Statute

> (735 ILCS 5/2-202) (from Ch. 110, par. 2-202) Sec. 2-202. Persons authorized to serve process; place of service; failure to make return.

## Source

- https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/fulltext.asp?DocName=073500050K2-202

Last verified: 2026-09-02. Review by: 2028-09-01.
Part of [Process server licensing and bond requirements by US state — who must be licensed to serve legal papers, and the dollar bond or insurance figure the statute sets, quoted from the statute itself](https://referencesource.org/process-server-licensing-requirements-by-state/).