How to serve Supreme Court documents by personal service

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How to serve the documents by personal service

If you have to serve a document on the other party by personal service, you can ask a friend or relative to do it for you or hire a professional process server to do it. You need to make copies of the document(s) first. After the documents are served, you'll need a completed Affidavit of Personal Service (Form F15) to prove to the court that the documents were served on the other party.

You can find a list of process servers in the yellow pages of your telephone directory. You may want to get quotes from several process servers because prices vary. Confirm with the process server that he or she will provide you with a sworn Affidavit of Personal Service.

Tips: For more information about what to do if you can't serve the documents (for example, if the other party is avoiding service), see our guide on How to arrange for alternative service.

For more information about what to do if the other party lives outside BC or outside Canada, see our self-help guide on How to serve Supreme Court documents outside BC. If you don't know where the other party lives, see our frequently asked questions about Court forms.

Step-by-step instructions for serving the documents

1. Make the necessary number of copies of the documents you want to have served (to find out how many you need, see the relevant step of the appropriate self-help guide or contact family duty counsel). You need at least one copy for the other party and one copy to attach to the Affidavit of Personal Service (Form F15).
2. If you have more than one document to serve, keep the originals together as one set. Make other sets that contain one copy of each document.

3. Give the process server (a professional or your friend or relative):
   • the two copies of the document (or two sets of the documents) — the ones for both the other party and the affidavit,
   • a photograph of the other party,
   • the other party's address at home and at work, and

   • the other party's telephone number (so the process server can call to arrange a time for service).

4. If you don't have a photograph, give the process server a written physical description of the other party. Include height, hair colour, eye colour, and any other characteristics that might help the process server identify the other party. The process server will also have to ask the other party for photo identification at the time of service to prove that he or she knew it was really the other party who was being served.
5. The process server must then:
   • compare the copies of the documents you've given him or her to the originals to make sure they're the same;
   • give one copy to the other party, and save the other copy to attach to the affidavit; and
   • make a note of the date and time where the documents were served (this information is needed for the affidavit), and record the number of any photo identification that the person being served provided (if necessary).
6. If you hired a process server, he or she will now provide you with a sworn Affidavit of Personal Service. If a friend or relative is your process server, they'll need to help you fill in the affidavit. Then you must attach the copies of the served documents and the photograph (if used) to the affidavit. Each copy must be marked as an "Exhibit" and labelled "A," "B," "C," etc. (depending on how many documents there are). If the documents aren't attached and properly marked, your affidavit won't be accepted by the court and you'll have to have the documents served again.
7. Your friend or relative must then take the affidavit (with the attachments) to a lawyer, a notary public, or a clerk at the court registry to swear or affirm that the documents have been served. (There's a fee for this.) The lawyer, notary, or clerk will sign the affidavit, and stamp and sign each attachment.

 

You can then use the Affidavit of Personal Service as evidence that the documents were served on the other party.

Note: Affidavits must be sworn by a commissioner of oaths. Lawyers and notaries public are always commissioners. Usually at least one person at the court registry or government agent's office is a commissioner. Ask about the fee, as different offices charge different amounts for the same service. To find out who else can act as a commissioner, see our fact sheet called Swearing an Affidavit — Who can do it.

How to complete the Affidavit of Personal Service

To prove personal service of the documents, you need to fill out an Affidavit of Personal Service (Form F15). The form has instructions to help you fill it out. You can either fill the form out online or print it and fill it out by hand (print neatly using dark-coloured ink).

Important: At this time, earlier versions of Acrobat Reader and the Preview application on Mac computers (and some servers and the Google Chrome browser) don't support these new forms, so you may need to either update your Acrobat Reader or use a PC at your local library or a friend's place to access them.

Be sure to keep the completed and sworn Affidavit of Personal Service with your file.

Tip: To find out how the forms work, see the Supreme Court Civil and Family Forms "How To" Guide on the Court Services Branch website.

If you need help, see Filling out court forms — Who can help.

If you're in Vancouver and need help with these forms, the Vancouver Justice Access Centre Self-Help and Information Services can help you.

For more information about serving Supreme Court documents, see Rules 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 and 6-4 of the Supreme Court Family Rules.

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