Service of all process may be made within North Dakota by any person of legal age who is not a party to nor interested in the action, and outside North Dakota by any person who may make service under the law of this state, or under the law of the jurisdiction where service is made, or one designated by a court of this state.

Personal service of process within the state must be made by delivering a copy of the summons to the defendant personally, or leaving a copy of the summons at his or her dwelling house or usual place of abode in the presence of a mature persons, or delivering, at the office of the process server, a copy of the summons to his or her spouse if they reside together, or delivering a copy of the summons to his or her agent authorized by appointment or by law to receive service of process, or any form of mail or third-party commercial delivery addressed to the defendant to be served and requiring a signed receipt and resulting in delivery to the defendant.

A defendant, who has not been served personally, may be served by publication. Before service of the summons by publication is authorized, however, there must be a complaint, setting forth a claim in favor of the plaintiff and against the defendant, filed with the clerk of the court in which the action is commenced. The plaintiff asserts that after diligent inquiry personal service of the summons cannot be made upon the defendant to the best knowledge, information, and belief of the affiant. Service of the summons by publication is made by publishing it three times, once in each week for three successive weeks, in a newspaper published in the county in which the action is pending, and if no newspaper is published in that county then in a newspaper having a general circulation therein although published in another county. A copy of the summons and complaint, at any time after the filing of the affidavit for publication, but not later than 10 days after the first publication of the summons, must be deposited in a post office or with a third-party commercial carrier in this state, postage or shipping prepaid, and directed to the defendant to be served at the defendant’s last reasonably ascertainable address.