Greg Hulver has decades of experience as a private investigator and process server in the Kansas City area. Today this 1990s former Washington, DC, PI and process server sits down with Greg to discuss the very real human behaviors he is currently seeing on the streets of KC: dogs, protective vests and people answering the door in their underwear.
The Interrogation starts now.
Grab a coffee. Take a seat. Let’s study the tape.
Full Transcript
Greg Hulver
Hulver & Associates
Cell is 816-668-9672
After listening or reading, visit the Detective’s Lounge. We’d love to hear your stories, too.
Chris:
Hey—today I’m sitting down with Greg Hulver of Hulver & Associates. Greg, give people the quick “who you are and why they should care.”
Greg:
Hi, everyone. I’m Greg Hulver. I’m a private investigator and process server here in the Kansas City, Missouri area. And if you can believe it, I’m starting my 27th year.
Chris:
Twenty-seven years. So you started—help me do the math—1999? 2000?
Greg:
January 1, 2000. That’s when I officially opened the doors.
Chris:
And you’re licensed in Missouri as an investigator, plus authorized as a private process server depending on county?
Greg:
Correct. Licensed PI in Missouri, and then authorized private process server in a lot of counties. How it works varies from county to county.
Chris:
Perfect. This is going to be fun because your perspective is “now.” My perspective is the prehistoric age—before the internet, before cell phones… and definitely before Ring cameras.
Greg:
Ring cameras are a process server’s buzzkill. You can’t sneak up on a door anymore. You end up walking up and kind of knocking from an angle, arm out, hoping you don’t look like you’re casing the place.
Chris:
And just so the audience understands: you’re only getting the audio, but Greg’s wearing Missouri gear, and I’m a Kansas Jayhawk. So the fact we’re cooperating at all is… unusual.
EDITORIAL NOTE: This is so good I decided to make the video available to everyone.
ROUTINE SERVES
Greg:
And the fact I served you papers and we’re still cooperating—and you didn’t get mad at me.
Chris:
That’s actually how we met. You were bringing some documents—summons? subpoena? I don’t even remember—and because of my background, I was like, “Just tell me when you’re coming. I’ll be here.”
Greg:
Those are the dream jobs—where the person you’re serving makes arrangements. And until you just told me, I didn’t even know what it was about. I just knew I served you papers about something.
Most of the time, I don’t read the paperwork. I’ll glance at the first page and you can tell if it’s a car accident, eviction, divorce—something like that. But I don’t read it. It’s not my business. My job is to get it served and get out.
I do try to help people, though—when they’re decent to me. If I serve someone who’s never been served before and they ask, “What is this?” I’ll say, “I can’t give legal advice, but if I was your friend standing in your yard, I’d tell you: get this to your auto insurance and let them handle it. Don’t lose sleep over it. That’s why you have insurance.”
PROCESS SERVER AND DEPUTY KILLED
Chris:
Right. And here’s the part people forget: 98–99% of what gets served is routine life stuff. But they’re still real humans. If someone doesn’t know what to do, you don’t have to be a robot about it.
And then… you don’t know when the 1–2% shows up out of the darkness. You mentioned you knew Kansas City process servers who were killed.
Greg:
It was two of them—Jackson County. They were serving an eviction in Independence, Missouri. The subject was lying in wait with a long gun and shot the first process server—killed him. The second guy heard it and was shot and killed too.
EDITORS NOTE: Memory can be fuzzy. See this link for full story.
That one shook me up. I had eviction notices on my desk that day. My phone was blowing up—people checking to make sure it wasn’t me or one of mine. I took three days off. I was mentally wrecked. And I changed how I operate—now I wear a protective vest, which twenty years ago wasn’t even on my radar. - G. Hulver
Chris:
Same. I never wore one back then.
And I’ve been in three shootings in my life—two when I was a process server, one when I wasn’t. I never carried a gun. I had a Maglite. My thinking was simple: if I knew I needed a weapon, I wouldn’t be there.
And for anyone who’s never been in a shooting: even when you hear it, it takes a second for your brain to catch up and say, “That’s real.”
Greg:
I’ve been fortunate—no shootings for me. My closest calls have been animals. Dogs.
Dogs don’t negotiate. People do. I’ve been able to talk people down or just leave. Dogs? They don’t care. I actually carry dog treats—people don’t believe it until they look in my glove box. It works more often than you’d think.
HUMAN BEHAVIOR
Chris:
That is so true. And I want to go deeper on something you said: “I can get them to calm down.” You’ve learned a lot about human behavior doing this work, haven’t you?
Greg:
I can’t even describe how much. It’s helped me be good at my job—partly because I haven’t gotten hurt.
A big thing is not reacting. It’s not my fight. I try to get them to understand: “I’m just a guy like you. This just happens to be my job.”
And what’s really odd? Some of my worst experiences have been in the suburbs.
Chris:
Amen. I wrote that the other day.
Greg:
Some of the worst people live in the nicest places you can imagine. When I started, you couldn’t have sold me on that. I would’ve assumed the opposite.
Now, wherever I am, I’m scanning for animals, signs of animals—dog bowls, chains, fences. That dynamic is weird, for sure.
Chris:
We’ve got a whole section of the site coming called “The Tell” that’s basically human behavior like this—what you notice when you’ve been on thousands of doorsteps.
GREGS COMPANY PROMO
Let’s pivot: tell people your company and how to reach you—because folks listening may need a process server in Kansas City.
Greg:
Hulver & Associates. Mailing address is P.O. Box 2257, Lee’s Summit, Missouri 64063. Cell is 816-668-9672. Email is ghulver@comcast.net.
GETTING STARTED… and KNOWN
I started doing investigation work, and an attorney asked if I do process service. I said yes… and honestly I barely knew what it was at first. I learned by doing it. And if someone needs help in Kansas City—or even referrals outside the area—I can help.
Chris:
Now tell the story that put you on the map.
Greg:
2003. An attorney calls and says, “I’ll be amazed if you can get this done.” It was a CEO of a major worldwide corporation. He was in Kansas City speaking at an event. It was a subpoena for deposition.
I bought a ticket, got in, and the room was massive—2,000-plus people. I’m thinking, “How am I ever getting near this guy?”
He finishes the speech and comes down, talking with the person who invited him. I work my way over. My grandfather had worked for the company and retired from it, so I walk up and say hello, talk about my grandfather, just small talk—and while we’re talking, I reach back and hand him the subpoena.
His face said, “I’m going to get you.”
His security and attorneys were 25–30 feet away, in their own huddle. He beelines to them. And I’m already blending back into the crowd and heading out.
Later, their attorneys filed an objection claiming I “jumped on stage” and “grabbed his arm” and embarrassed him in front of thousands of people—which was completely false and easily provable.
The attorney who hired me calls and reads it to me and I said, “That’s bullshit.” Excuse my language. Nobody in that room knew I served him except him and me—and then his security and attorneys. It was as discreet as possible.
And that job became the one people remembered. Because if you can serve him, you can serve anybody.
Chris:
That’s the real lesson: being discreet is professionalism. TV makes process servers look like clowns. In real life, attorneys want it clean.
Greg:
Exactly. People say, “Oh, you’re like that guy on TV.” And I’m like, “No.” I’m not chasing someone down the street with a camera crew. I’m not here to humiliate anyone.
I try to be as invisible as possible—and if someone’s respectful, I’ll help them understand what to do next in a general way: “Call your insurance. Call your attorney.”
And yes, I’ve served divorce papers where the person truly had no idea it was coming… and you think, “Well, maybe that’s part of the problem.”
Chris:
Funny… and heartbreaking. Both.
Before we close, give us one lighter story.
HUMEROUS STORY
Greg:
I’ve got one. Years ago, suburban house. And this is something I tell every process server: when you knock, stand to the side—don’t stand directly in front of the door. And don’t wear sunglasses. Make eye contact.
Guy opens the door. Morbidly obese. At first, I thought he was completely naked. No shirt, no shoes—nothing. Then he turned and I could see white underwear… I literally couldn’t see it from straight on.
And what blew my mind was how casual he was—like opening the door to a total stranger in his underwear was a normal Tuesday.
Chris:
That’ll reframe your idea of “normal,” won’t it? You realize there is no universal normal.
Greg:
Exactly. Everybody thinks their world is normal, and they’re all looking at each other saying, “Those people are crazy.”
SPIDEY SENSES
Chris:
Let’s close with instincts—“spidey senses.” Do you ever get that feeling where you’re grateful you listened to it?
Greg:
100%. You learn to listen to it. If I’ve got a bad feeling about a job, I don’t take it. And I’ve never had a client chew me out for that. They get it—there are other companies. I’m not putting myself in jeopardy.
Chris:
I had a cop ask me once why I didn’t carry a weapon. I told her, “If I knew I needed one, I wouldn’t be here.” This is a $35 paper. I’m not bringing a gun into my life over $35.
Greg:
Exactly. If I roll up and there are five people on the porch drinking, smoking, fighting—whatever—I drive on by. Come back another time. I’m not getting rich doing this, so I’m not risking my safety over a $35 job, like you say.
WANT TO BE A PROCESS SERVER?
Chris:
We’re going to end it here. Do I have permission to reach out again and do another one of these sometime?
Greg:
Absolutely. We can talk about getting into the business, how the landscape has changed—who does this work and what it looks like now. I’d be glad to.
Chris:
If you’re listening because you’re interested in this line of work and you’re in Kansas City—call Greg. He just invited you.
Greg:
I’d love to talk to you. And if you want to work for me, even better. That’d be fun.
The Debrief
P.S. I’m taking this conversation live tonight at 8:30 pm CT. If you have questions about the "CEO Serve" or the "2% Rule," and the human behaviors around them, that’s where I’ll be answering them. You can also ask my anything in regard to what a private investigator or process server can and cannot do.
Curious: See this link
Note: I’m not not broadcasting the zoom link. I don’t want a crowd.
A Chris Writes, LLC Publication
Not legal advice / not professional guidance / do not imitate tactics
Fictionalized/composite/altered details + no identification intended
Read full legalese here
© 2026 Chris Writes, LLC. All Rights Reserved
