United States · Source-backed procedure guides
When must I serve the authenticated summons and complaint in an ordinary Wisconsin civil action?
The official Stephens order states that section 801.02(1) gives a party 90 days after filing a summons and complaint to serve authenticated copies on the defendants. The party commencing the personal-judgment action arranges legally effective service of authenticated summons and complaint copies. Authenticated copies of both the summons and complaint must be served under the applicable law. Sending papers to a sheriff or placing them in a mailbox is distinct from completed service. Stephens expressly uses the 2023–24 statutes and is a nonprecedential summary disposition. The retained official 2024 Craven representation also reproduces section 801.02(1) from the 2021–22 edition. These sources establish the stated service requirement, not a complete October 2026 consolidation or final service date. No computed date or paid calculation is supplied.
- Period
- The official Stephens order states that section 801.02(1) gives a party 90 days after filing a summons and complaint to serve authenticated copies on the defendants.
- Trigger
- Actual filing of the summons and complaint naming the defendant in the applicable personal-judgment action
- Rule
- Wis. Stat. 801.02(1), represented in Stephens v. Carr, 2024AP785, August 21, 2025, page 2
Stephens expressly uses the 2023–24 statutes and is a nonprecedential summary disposition. The retained official 2024 Craven representation also reproduces section 801.02(1) from the 2021–22 edition. These sources establish the stated service requirement, not a complete October 2026 consolidation or final service date.
Source guide · No automated date
Check the applicable procedure
Stephens expressly uses the 2023–24 statutes and is a nonprecedential summary disposition. The retained official 2024 Craven representation also reproduces section 801.02(1) from the 2021–22 edition. These sources establish the stated service requirement, not a complete October 2026 consolidation or final service date. No computed date or paid calculation is qualified.
Wis. Stat. 801.02(1), represented in Stephens v. Carr, 2024AP785, August 21, 2025, page 2What lawyers say
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When must I serve the authenticated summons and complaint in an ordinary Wisconsin civil action?
The official Stephens order states that section 801.02(1) gives a party 90 days after filing a summons and complaint to serve authenticated copies on the defendants. The party commencing the personal-judgment action arranges legally effective service of authenticated summons and complaint copies. Authenticated copies of both the summons and complaint must be served under the applicable law. Sending papers to a sheriff or placing them in a mailbox is distinct from completed service. Stephens expressly uses the 2023–24 statutes and is a nonprecedential summary disposition. The retained official 2024 Craven representation also reproduces section 801.02(1) from the 2021–22 edition. These sources establish the stated service requirement, not a complete October 2026 consolidation or final service date. No computed date or paid calculation is supplied.
Responsible actor. The party commencing the personal-judgment action arranges legally effective service of authenticated summons and complaint copies..
The official Stephens order states that section 801.02(1) gives a party 90 days after filing a summons and complaint to serve authenticated copies on the defendants.
The party commencing the personal-judgment action arranges legally effective service of authenticated summons and complaint copies.
Actual filing of the summons and complaint naming the defendant in the applicable personal-judgment action
Stephens expressly uses the 2023–24 statutes and is a nonprecedential summary disposition. The retained official 2024 Craven representation also reproduces section 801.02(1) from the 2021–22 edition. These sources establish the stated service requirement, not a complete October 2026 consolidation or final service date.
Wis. Stat. 801.02(1), represented in Stephens v. Carr, 2024AP785, August 21, 2025, page 2How does this provision count time?
- Establish the actual procedure and source branch.
- Actual filing of the summons and complaint naming the defendant in the applicable personal-judgment action
- Authenticated copies of both the summons and complaint must be served under the applicable law. Sending papers to a sheriff or placing them in a mailbox is distinct from completed service.
- Stephens affirms on the independent missing-authenticated-summons defect. It does not decide the requested extension of the prison mailbox rule. Do not describe an unresolved argument as a service exception.
- Stephens expressly uses the 2023–24 statutes and is a nonprecedential summary disposition. The retained official 2024 Craven representation also reproduces section 801.02(1) from the 2021–22 edition. These sources establish the stated service requirement, not a complete October 2026 consolidation or final service date.
The retained ordinary statement uses 90 days after summons-and-complaint filing. Its historical case dates are not new calculation oracles. No current calendar, method or final completion day is qualified.
No current holiday, local-closure or filing/service cutoff model is qualified. Preserve the source interval without inventing an adjusted completion date.
Wis. Stat. 801.02(1), represented in Stephens v. Carr, 2024AP785, August 21, 2025, page 2Which facts prevent one automatic date?
Stephens expressly uses the 2023–24 statutes and is a nonprecedential summary disposition. The retained official 2024 Craven representation also reproduces section 801.02(1) from the 2021–22 edition. These sources establish the stated service requirement, not a complete October 2026 consolidation or final service date. No computed date or paid calculation is qualified.
The complaint is mailed but the authenticated summons is missing. A timely mailing does not cure the independent missing-summons defect identified in Stephens. No computed date or paid calculation.
Papers reach the sheriff before deputies serve the defendant. Dispatch and completed service are different events. Preserve actual service evidence. No computed date or paid calculation.
A user imports Stephens’s historical deadline into a new case. The case dates describe its record. They do not qualify a new event, method or completion calendar. No computed date or paid calculation.
Which conditions and exceptions apply?
- Actual actor and event
- The party commencing the personal-judgment action arranges legally effective service of authenticated summons and complaint copies. Actual filing of the summons and complaint naming the defendant in the applicable personal-judgment action
- Required completion
- Authenticated copies of both the summons and complaint must be served under the applicable law. Sending papers to a sheriff or placing them in a mailbox is distinct from completed service.
- Source and scope qualification
- Stephens expressly uses the 2023–24 statutes and is a nonprecedential summary disposition. The retained official 2024 Craven representation also reproduces section 801.02(1) from the 2021–22 edition. These sources establish the stated service requirement, not a complete October 2026 consolidation or final service date.
- Stephens expressly uses the 2023–24 statutes and is a nonprecedential summary disposition. The retained official 2024 Craven representation also reproduces section 801.02(1) from the 2021–22 edition. These sources establish the stated service requirement, not a complete October 2026 consolidation or final service date.
- Stephens affirms on the independent missing-authenticated-summons defect. It does not decide the requested extension of the prison mailbox rule. Do not describe an unresolved argument as a service exception. Related federal procedures apply to different courts and do not establish this procedure’s period.
What must the responsible actor complete?
Questions about this procedure
When must I serve the authenticated summons and complaint in an ordinary Wisconsin civil action?
Which act does the 90-day statement require?
Service of authenticated summons and complaint copies on the defendants. Filing the action and dispatching service papers are separate acts.
Wis. Stat. 801.02(1), represented in Stephens v. Carr, 2024AP785, August 21, 2025, page 2Does mailing documents to a sheriff complete service?
Stephens recounts mailing and later deputy service separately. The ordinary statement requires legally effective service, not merely sending papers for attempted service.
Wis. Stat. 801.02(1), represented in Stephens v. Carr, 2024AP785, August 21, 2025, page 2Is a complaint alone sufficient?
The order treats the missing authenticated summons as an independent defect. Preserve and verify both authenticated documents and the required method of service.
Wis. Stat. 801.02(1), represented in Stephens v. Carr, 2024AP785, August 21, 2025, page 2Did Stephens extend the prison mailbox rule to this service requirement?
No. The court says it need not decide that argument because the missing authenticated summons independently defeats the action. This guide does not invent a mailbox extension.
Wis. Stat. 801.02(1), represented in Stephens v. Carr, 2024AP785, August 21, 2025, page 2Which statutory editions do the retained sources identify?
Stephens identifies 2023–24. Craven identifies 2021–22 and quotes section 801.02(1). Neither is presented as a complete October 2026 consolidation.
Wis. Stat. 801.02(1), represented in Stephens v. Carr, 2024AP785, August 21, 2025, page 2Can this page supply a service completion date?
No. The actual filing, defendant, authenticated documents, method, statutory branch and calendar need checking against your case. No computed date or paid calculation is supplied.
Wis. Stat. 801.02(1), represented in Stephens v. Carr, 2024AP785, August 21, 2025, page 2Official sources and review
Provisions used (2)
| Provision | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Wis. Stat. 801.02(1), represented in Stephens v. Carr, 2024AP785, August 21, 2025, page 2 | Check the identified procedure, event, counting rule or qualification |
| Wis. Stat. 801.02(1), reproduced in Craven v. JEK Property Management, 2024AP616, November 27, 2024, page 3 footnote 2, 2021–22 edition | Check the identified procedure, event, counting rule or qualification |