Introduction
This guide explains how to serve documents by personal service outside BC. All the important documents that start a case in either the Supreme Court or Provincial Court must be personally served.
For example,
- the Supreme Court Notice of Family Claim (Form F3), and
- the Provincial Court Application About a Family Law Matter (Form 3)
must be served by personal service.
Options for personal service outside BC
There are two ways to personally serve documents outside BC:
- You can find a process server in that area to serve the documents for you. This can be either a professional or a friend or family member.
- If the other person lives in a country that has signed the Hague Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil or Commercial Matters, the BC Ministry of Justice may arrange to serve the documents for you. See "How Do I Serve a Foreign Court Document?" on the Courthouse Library website.
This guide explains how to serve documents using a process server.
Updated on 17 May 2021