Part I · Rule 54: Issuance and Service of Summons or Other Process · Last amended January 1, 1994 · Last verified July 22, 2026
Adopted Jan. 19, 1973, eff. Sept. 1, 1973. Amended June 1, 1993, eff. Jan. 1, 1994.
Rule 54.14 governs personal service carried out beyond Missouri’s borders. Subsection (a) identifies who may perform that service: a person authorized by law to serve process in civil actions in the state or territory where service is made, that person’s deputy, or a person the Missouri court appoints for the purpose. This lets Missouri courts rely on whatever local process-serving authority exists where the defendant is found, or appoint someone directly.
Subsection (b) ties the substance of out-of-state service back to Missouri’s own rules: the person to be served, and how they must be reached — individual, conservator, corporation, or public body — follows the same categories set out in Rule 54.13(b). There is no separate, different set of delivery methods for out-of-state defendants; the same in-state framework applies once the defendant is located.
Subsection (c) confirms that acknowledgment of service by mail, described in Rule 54.16, remains available for out-of-state defendants just as it is for in-state ones.
A person authorized by law to serve process in civil actions within the state or territory where service is made, that person’s deputy, or a person the Missouri court appoints.
Rule 54.14(b) applies the same categories used for in-state service under Rule 54.13(b), covering individuals, conservators, corporations and associations, and public or quasi-public bodies.
Yes, acknowledgment of service by mail may be made as provided in Rule 54.16.
No. Service may be made by someone authorized to serve process where the defendant is located, that person’s deputy, or a person the Missouri court appoints — not necessarily a Missouri official.
Rule 54.14 is referenced by several other Rule 54 provisions — including the long-arm rule in Rule 54.06, the domicile-based rule in Rule 54.07, and rules covering nonresident motorists, foreign corporations, and unauthorized insurers — as one of the authorized service methods once jurisdiction is otherwise established.