Depending on the document, you can serve documents in a Supreme Court family case in two ways:
- Personal service
- Ordinary service
Personal service means that someone must physically hand the document to the person who needs to receive it. You can't do this yourself — you must have another adult serve it for you. This can be a friend or relative, or you can hire a professional process server.
Ordinary service means that the document can be dropped off, mailed, faxed, or emailed to the other person's address for service.
The Supreme Court Family Rules set out whether you must serve a document by personal service or ordinary service.
Personal service or ordinary service?
The table below shows which type of service you need for documents that are common in a family case.
| Document to serve | Type of service required |
|---|---|
| Application Response (Form F32) | Ordinary service |
| Counterclaim (Form F5) | Ordinary service unless a new person is named as a respondent |
| Child Support Affidavit (Form F37) | Ordinary service |
| Financial Statement (Form F8) | Ordinary service (although you might want to serve it along with your Notice of Family Claim) |
| Notice of Address for Service (Form F10) | Ordinary service |
| Notice of Application (Form F31) | Ordinary service (but by personal service if your application is to change, suspend, or terminate a final order) |
| Notice of Family Claim (Form F3) | Personal service |
| Notice of Judicial Case Conference (Form F19) | Ordinary service |
| Notice of Withdrawal (Form F7) | Personal service |
| Petition (Form F73) | Personal service |
| Response to Family Claim (Form F4) | Ordinary service |
Once you figure out how to serve the document, select the correct guide below.