The applicant must generally serve (give) a sealed copy of the claim documents on each respondent and interested party (if any) as soon as practicable [Uniform Civil Rules 2020 (SA) rule 63.3(2)].

A Multilingual Notice (Form 31) must also be served with the claim [rule 63.3(1)(b)].

The claim may be served by personal service, email service or post service [rule 63.4(3)].

Personal service [rule 42.1]

When court documents are served in person, this is called personal service. Personal service may be carried out by the applicant, another adult, the Court Sheriff or a private process server. The Court Sheriff and private process servers will charge a fee which may or may not be recoverable from the respondent.

Personal service on an individual means that either:

or

Email service [rule 42.2]

Court documents may be served by email if:

*Documents should only be served by email if the applicant knows that the respondent uses that email account. This means that the respondent has consented to being served documents by email, or the respondent has previously communicated with the applicant about the dispute using the email account.

If documents are sent to an email that is not known to be used by the respondent, then the Court may not accept that the documents have been properly served.

The documents are regarded as having been served when the applicant's email account records the email as having been sent, or when the respondent replies or actively acknowledges receipt of the email.

Post service [rule 42.3]

Court documents served by post must be sent by express post to a physical address or post office box if the respondent:

The applicant should retain proof that that they posted the documents by taking a copy of the express post envelope before sending it and keeping the Article Lodgement Receipt showing when the envelope was received over the counter at the post office.

The applicant must also demonstrate proof of delivery of the documents by using a printout of Australia Post’s online tracking facility showing when the envelope was delivered to the address shown on the envelope. The applicant must state in the Affidavit of Proof of Service (Form 42) that the tracking number shown in the online tracking printout matches the envelope sent to the recipient.

Electronic service [rule 42.4]

Court documents may be served electronically on a data storage device (such as a USB drive) or through download from an internet address accessed from a link. The applicant must have either the consent of the respondent or a court order to serve documents electronically.

The data storage device or link must be served by personal service [rule 42.1], post service [rule 42.3] or email service [rule 42.2]. Those rules must also be complied with.

Proof of service

The person who serves court documents must complete an Affidavit of Proof of Service (Form 42) which the applicant must file with the court registry. Unless this is done the Court will not know that the claim has been served on the respondent and the applicant's claim will not proceed.

A claim must be served within 6 months of it being issued. This may be extended with the Court's permission if the Court is satisfied that there are good reasons why it was not served within that period [r 64.1].