§ 17.063.Method of Service; Notice to Nonresident

The mechanics and the timing, and both are exact.

A certified copy of the process must be served on the chairman not later than the 20th day prior to the date of return stated in the process. That is a floor, not a target — service on the 19th day is late.

Immediately after being served, the chairman shall mail to the nonresident or agent, by properly addressed letter: a copy of the process, and notice that the process has been served on the chairman. Both items, not just the process — the defendant is told how service was accomplished.

The method is fixed: registered mail, or certified mail, return receipt requested, with the postage prepaid.

Subsection (d) is the provision that makes the scheme workable. After the chairman deposits the copy in the mail, it is presumed that the process was transmitted by the chairman and received by the nonresident or agent. The presumption may be rebutted.

Without the presumption, a plaintiff would have to prove actual receipt by a defendant with every reason not to acknowledge it. With it, the burden moves to the defendant to show the mail did not arrive — and the following section supplies the alternative route when the mail plainly fails.