How To Serve Divorce Documents
Making the decision to formally divorce your ex-partner can come with a range of emotional hurdles, added to what can be a daunting task for many, when it comes to going through the steps.
Using a professional process server can help lighten the load. Using a third party not only gives you access to professionalism and experience, but also gives you distance from the process, compared to using friends or family.
In addition, a professional process server, knows what steps to take when things don’t go to plan. Often divorce service sees the receiving person (the Respondent) very unhappy to receive the documents. The reaction of the Respondent can vary, between cooperative, stand-offish, refusal, hiding, abusive and denying identity. It is also common to see Respondents make a raft of claims, assuring they’ll accept service at a later time, only to default time and again on those claims.
Fortunately, your experienced process server has seen all of these attempts to avoid service before and has a plan, should they arise.
That said, here are some tips if you want to go it alone with a friend or family member. First of all, if you use someone who already knows the Respondent, half the battle is won. The person serving still needs to go to the door and attempt to hand over the documents. Though unlike the process server, the serving person doesn’t need to overcome the hurdle of identifying the person, given they already know them. If they refuse to take them, the documents can still be served by placing them on the ground in front of them and saying, “Those are documents for the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (or Family Court of Western Australia) for your attention.” The person may protest and become confrontational, however at that point the documents have been served. Later when filling out the Affidavit of Service by Hand, the serving person can tick the box stating the person is known to them.
Sometimes, even when the friend or family member going to the door is known to the Respondent, they still refuse to answer the door. In this case the Court has a method to deal with this, which still allows your matter to go forward. It’s call ‘dispensation of service’. What that means, is the Court is dispensing with the need to comply with the personal service rules. Sounds easy, huh? Well yes and no. Before the Court will agree to dispense with service, they’ll want you to have filed an affidavit demonstrating all of the efforts you have made to bring the documents to the attention of the respondent and the outcome of each of those efforts. The efforts detailed should include at least three attempts to serve at the service address, confirmation from a neighbour that the person still lives there, phone call detail, text message detail, calling cards left for the person and any response you have received to the efforts. Each of the visits, phone calls and text messages and emails should show the respective time and date and they should be in a chronological order. Essentially what you’re doing is drawing a picture for the Court that you’ve made sincere and extensive efforts to serve the person, but the person is ignoring or avoiding you.
On the day of your hearing, you should have already uploaded your affidavit into the portal for the presiding Registrar to review. If they are satisfied with the efforts you’ve made to serve the documents, they will proceed on the basis of dispensing with personal service. If not, the Court will adjourn the matter forward to a new date and advise you what they expect, in relation to your efforts to serve the Respondent.
Remember, while these are tips to help you serve without a process server, a professional process server already knows how to get the response from the Respondent they’re seeking to motivate personal service, else step the matter in the right direction for dispensing with personal service, if need be. If the Court isn’t satisfied with the content of the affidavit, it may delay your matter.
