Serving Court Documents in BC Family Cases

A family law case in the Supreme Court of British Columbia only moves forward if the other side has been properly told about it. That is what service is: the formal delivery of court documents, done in a way the rules recognize. Get it right and deadlines start running. Get it wrong and orders can be set aside, hearings adjourned, and months lost.

SiLaw Group Family Lawyers is a boutique family law and mediation firm in South Surrey. This guide explains the two kinds of service under Part 6 of the Supreme Court Family Rules, who is allowed to serve documents, what to do when a spouse cannot be found or is avoiding service, and how service is proved to the court.

Two kinds of service under the rules

The rules divide service into ordinary service, the everyday method, and personal service, the stricter method reserved for documents that start a case or expose someone to serious consequences. Unless the court orders otherwise, documents may be served by ordinary service (Rule 6-2(1)), except for the specific documents that Rule 6-3(1) says must be served personally.

Which documents need personal service?

Rule 6-3(1) lists them. The ones most people meet are:

• a notice of family claim, the document that starts most family law cases
• a petition
• a counterclaim, when it is served on someone who is not yet a party
• a notice of application to change, suspend or terminate an existing final order, or to set aside or replace a filed agreement, together with its accompanying documents
• a summons to a default hearing, show cause hearing, or committal hearing
• a notice of application for a contempt order
• a subpoena to a witness who is not a party
• generally, any document served on a person who is not a party or who has not provided an address for service

The logic is simple: before the court will hold something against a person, it wants confidence the documents actually reached them.

Can I serve the documents on my spouse myself?

No. Personal service on an individual is effected by having a person who is not a party, and who is at least 19 years of age, leave the document with the individual to be served (Rule 6-3(2)(a)). You are a party, so you cannot do it yourself. A friend or relative over 19 can, and many people hire a process server so that the details and the affidavit are handled cleanly. Under the rule, the server's job is to leave the document with the person to be served; there is no requirement for a dramatic doorstep scene.

Ordinary service, the everyday method

Once a case is underway, the back-and-forth documents move by ordinary service. Every party has an address for service. A party with a lawyer uses the lawyer's office address plus an email address if available (Rule 6-1(1)); a self-represented party must provide an accessible address within 30 kilometres of the registry, or a BC postal address or fax number, plus an email address if available (Rule 6-1(1.1)).

Under Rule 6-2(2), ordinary service is effected by:

• leaving the document at the person's address for service
• mailing it by ordinary mail to the address for service
• faxing it to a fax number given as an address for service, with a cover sheet
• emailing it to an email address given as an address for service

The rules also fix when service is deemed complete. A document left, faxed, or emailed before 4 p.m. on a day that is not a Saturday or holiday is served that day; later than that, or on a Saturday or holiday, it is served the next such day (Rules 6-2(3) and (6)). A mailed document is deemed served one week later on the same weekday it was mailed (Rule 6-2(4)). Long fax documents of 30 pages or more may only be sent overnight unless the recipient agrees otherwise (Rule 6-2(5)).

What if my spouse cannot be found or avoids service?

The rules have an answer for the spouse who will not answer the door. If personal service is impracticable, or the person cannot be found after a diligent search, or is evading service, the court may make an order for substituted service allowing an alternative method (Rule 6-4(1)). The application can be made without notice to the other side.

Alternative methods are tailored to the case. When a document is served by the alternative method, a copy of the substituted service order must normally be served with it (Rule 6-4(2)). Where the court permits service by advertisement, the advertisement must be in Form F11, titled Notice of publication on the province's Supreme Court family forms index (Rule 6-4(3)).

Before applying, document your diligent search: attempts at home and work, dates and times, messages sent, and what friends or family said. That record becomes the evidence supporting the order.

Can documents be served outside British Columbia?

Yes. A notice of family claim or other document may be served on a person outside BC without permission of the court if the court has jurisdiction over the case under section 10 of the Court Jurisdiction and Proceedings Transfer Act, section 74 of the Family Law Act, or section 3 or 4 of the Divorce Act (Rule 6-5(1)). In any other case, leave of the court is required first (Rule 6-5(2)).

As for the mechanics abroad, the document may be served in the manner the BC rules provide, in a manner allowed by the law of the place of service if it could reasonably be expected to come to the person's notice, or under the Hague Service Convention in countries that have signed it, with Forms F12 to F14 used for Convention service (Rules 6-5(9) to (12)).

How do you prove service happened?

The court does not take your word for it; it takes an affidavit. Under Rule 6-6:

• personal service of a notice of family claim, counterclaim, petition, or other personally served document is proved by an affidavit of personal service in Form F15
• service is also proved if the person simply files their response, since responding shows the document arrived
• ordinary service is proved by an affidavit of ordinary service in Form F16, or by a Form F17 requisition attaching a signed acknowledgment of receipt
• a sheriff proves service by certificate in Form F18

Whoever serves the documents should note the date, time, place, what was served, and how they identified the person, right away. Those details go into the affidavit, and a vague affidavit is how service gets challenged.

What happens after my spouse is served?

Deadlines start. A person served with a notice of family claim has 30 days after service to file a response to family claim (Rule 4-3(1)). A person who does not respond in time is not entitled to notice of the rest of the case, including hearings and the trial (Rule 4-3(2)), and in a divorce case the claim can then proceed as undefended. Our step-by-step desk order divorce guide shows how that paperwork path works, and our divorce in BC guide covers the wider process, including where to file in Surrey.

One more clock to respect: an original notice of family claim remains in force for 12 months, and if a respondent has not been served in that time the court must order a renewal before service can proceed (Rule 4-2(1)).

When service problems are really strategy problems

Most service headaches are predictable: a spouse with no fixed address, a move abroad, a person avoiding the process out of anger or fear. Handling them well is partly rules and partly judgment about how hard to push and when to seek a substituted service order instead of burning months on attempts. If the case itself can be kept out of court through negotiation or mediation, service stops being an obstacle at all. Our divorce lawyers handle both the paperwork path and the contested one.

Talk to a family lawyer about your case for free

The first 30 minutes with SiLaw Group are free, in English or Punjabi, by phone, video, or in person at Suite 201, 3108 Croydon Drive in South Surrey. Call (778) 381-9977.

This page is legal information, not legal advice. For advice about your own situation, speak with a lawyer.