Personal Service Under the CPR: When It Is Required and How to Prove It

Personal Service Under the CPR: When It Is Required and How to Prove It

Personal service is the most direct way to serve a document, and for some steps in litigation the rules will accept nothing less. Knowing when personal service is required, how it is carried out and how it is proved can be the difference between an order that bites and one that is set aside for a technical defect.

When personal service is required

Most claim forms can be served by post or another permitted method, and personal delivery is only one option among several. Certain documents, though, call for stricter treatment. Injunctions and orders carrying a penal notice are usually served on the respondent in person, so there can be no argument that they knew of the order before any committal step is taken. Committal applications themselves generally have to be delivered this way. Several family orders, including non-molestation and occupation orders, are served on the respondent directly. Where the rule or the order makes such delivery a condition of enforcement, cutting corners can leave a party unable to act on the very order it fought to obtain.

How service in person is carried out

Under CPR Part 6, serving an individual means leaving the document with that person. For a company or other corporation it means leaving it with someone holding a senior position, and the rules treat a director, the treasurer, the secretary, the chief executive or a manager as holding such a position. For a partnership sued in the firm name, the document goes to a partner or to a person who has control or management of the business at its principal place. If the other side has confirmed that a solicitor is authorised to accept service, service on that solicitor is the correct route instead. The recipient does not have to take the papers in hand; telling them what the document is and leaving it with them, or setting it down in their presence, will ordinarily be enough.

Proving personal service

Service is only useful if it can be shown to have happened. The server records what was done in a certificate of service on form N215, giving the method, the date, the time and the place, and identifying the person served and how they were recognised. In contested matters a witness statement or affidavit setting out the same detail, sometimes with a description or a photograph, may be needed. A clear, contemporaneous account of how service was carried out is what lets the court treat the document as served if the point is later disputed, and it is often the difference between an enforceable position and an argument about whether the respondent ever received the papers.

Common mistakes to avoid

Problems tend to come from a small set of recurring errors: serving the wrong individual, handing papers to a company employee who does not hold a senior position, or failing to record enough detail to prove what happened afterwards. Confusion over the date can also cause trouble, because response and hearing deadlines run from when service takes place. Where a respondent is deliberately avoiding contact, repeated informal attempts by a party in person tend to waste time and can prompt an application to dispense with service or to serve by an alternative method. Getting service right at the first attempt keeps the timetable intact and protects any later enforcement or committal step.

If a document has to be served in person and the recipient is hard to pin down, Tremark’s process servers carry out personal service and provide the proof the court expects. Complete the form below to get started.

Frequently Asked Questions

What counts as service in person?

It means leaving the document with the person to be served, or with a senior officer of a company. The recipient does not have to physically accept it for service to be effective.

Which documents usually need to be served personally?

Injunctions and orders with a penal notice, committal applications and certain family orders commonly require it. If in doubt, check the rule or the order that governs the document.

How is personal service proved?

By a certificate of service, and where necessary a witness statement or affidavit, recording the method, date, time and place, and the person served.