How to serve court documents in Queensland

The rules about how to serve documents in Queensland civil proceedings are in Chapter 4 of the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 1999 (UCPR). This guide is a summary. Check the rules and your court’s requirements, or speak to a solicitor, before acting.

Personal service of originating process

The starting point is that an originating process, such as a claim and statement of claim, has to be served on an individual personally (rule 105). Rule 106 sets out how personal service is performed. In practice, the server must make sure they have the right person and then give them the document.

Special cases

The UCPR has separate rules for serving corporations, young people, people with impaired capacity and prisoners, and for proceedings in the Magistrates Courts. The correct method depends on who you are serving and the type of document.

Ordinary service

Documents that are not an originating process are often served in other ways, such as by post or leaving them at an address for service. Which methods are allowed depends on the document and the rules that apply.

Who can serve?

Parties can sometimes serve documents themselves, but many people engage a process server so that service is done properly and the person who serves has no stake in the outcome and can swear an affidavit about it.

Proving service

The usual evidence is an affidavit of service. See our guide to the affidavit of service.

When personal service fails

If it is impracticable to serve in the way the rules require, the court can make an order for substituted service under rule 116. You have to show that reasonable efforts were made first. Our guide on substituted service explains how this works.