Serving and Proof of Service

Serving a Copy of Court Documents

You need to provide copies of all court documents to the other party in the case. This means making them aware that you have given that document to the court. It is very important that you keep any original documents.

Unless otherwise directed by the court, or the Rules of Court, all court documents can be served on the other party by:

Registered post at their last known home or work address. You should keep the certificate of postage issued by the post office as you will need this later. If the court document is returned undelivered by An Post, you can contact the relevant court office for further instructions.

Ordinary post on a limited company. If the respondent is a limited company, you may serve them by ordinary pre-paid post at their registered office.

Personal service, which means serving the respondent personally with the documents. Alternatively, you can serve the respondent’s spouse, civil partner, child (if they live with the respondent), employee, or agent, at the respondent’s last known residence or workplace. The person being served the documents must be over 16 years of age. You may also use a summons server. This is a person who specialises in serving legal documents. There is a fee for this service.

Substituted service. If you cannot serve the documents by the methods listed above, you can apply to the court for permission to serve them in another way, such as by email. These applications are made by filing an Ex Parte Application and an Affidavit in the appropriate court office.

Update Originating (or Original) Documentation

After serving the document(s), the person who served them must sign the original document(s) within 3 days, and include the time, date, method, and place of service. This is called endorsing the court document.

Proof of Service

You must provide proof to the court, that court documents have been served on the other party. This means proving to the judge that the documents were sent in such a way that they could be reasonably received by the respondent.

In order to prove service, you must complete the relevant Statutory Declaration of Service form or Affidavit of Service.

A Statutory Declaration of Service is a legal statement made, declaring that something is true, to the best knowledge of the person making the statement. This form must be signed in the presence of either, a commissioner for oaths, a practicing solicitor (but not your own solicitor), a notary public, or a peace commissioner.

An Affidavit of Service must be signed in the presence of either, a commissioner for oaths, or a practicing solicitor (but not your own solicitor).

Note: The above documents can only be signed and witnessed 10 days or more after the date of posting.