Service in the Federal Courts

Court proceedings have specific rules about how and when you need to give certain documents to other parties involved in the proceeding. This process is called “serving” court documents. Failure to follow these rules can have a significant impact on your ability to continue your proceeding. This factsheet covers the rules of service for general federal law proceedings in the Federal Circuit and Family Court (FCFC) (for example, Fair Work, bankruptcy, or human rights proceedings) and the Federal Court of Australia (FCA). 

In this factsheet:  

• a reference to “the FCFC Rules” is a reference to the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Division 2) (General Federal Law) Rules 2025 (Cth); and

• a reference to “the FCA Rules” is a reference to the Federal Court Rules 2011 (Cth). 

Contents 

• What is service? 
• How do I serve court documents?
• When do I need to serve court documents?
• What do I do once I’ve served court documents?
• What if I cannot locate a person to serve documents? 
• What happens if documents are incorrectly served? 

What is service? 

Service means giving court documents to another person, company or organisation. Different courts have different rules about how this must be done. The rules are in place so that the court can be sure that the person or company has been made aware of the document. Usually, every document that is given to the court in a proceeding must be served on every other party.  

How do I serve court documents?

There are different ways of serving documents (or types of service), with each type being used in specific situations. The court rules specify what sort of service is required in different circumstances.  

Generally, for: 

• the documents that start your court case (i.e., the originating application and any accompanying documents such as a form 2), you must personally serve the documents; whereas, 
• non-originating documents (e.g., statement of claim, affidavits, submissions), you follow the rules for ordinary service.   

Please note that there are some non-originating documents, such as subpoenas, that must be personally served. You should refer to division 10.1 of the FCFC Rules for list of documents that require personal service in the FCFC. If your matter is in the FCA, you should check whether the FCA Rules includes any specific service rule for the document you are serving. If you are unsure about how to serve a document, you should obtain legal advice about the type of service you need to use in your specific situation and court.  

The rest of this factsheet will explain more about each of the types of service, so you can understand what you need to do to serve documents correctly in your case.  

Personal service 

Personal service, also called “service by hand”, requires that the document be given directly to the person, company or organisation that is required to be served.  

For an individual, personal service means that:

• • the document must be taken to the person; 

• • the person must be identified as the person named on the document/s; and  

• • the document must be handed to them. 

If the person refuses to take the document, the person serving it may put the document down in the presence of the person to be served and tell the person what the document is.  

The relevant rules for personal service on an individual are rules 10.01 and 10.10 of the FCFC Rules and 10.01 and 10.12 of the FCA Rules.  

For a company (corporation), personal service of a document means you must:  

• • leave the document at the company’s registered office; or 
  • post the document to the company’s registered office; or  
  • deliver a copy of the document personally to a director of the company who resides in Australia.  

The registered office of a corporation can be different from the company’s principal place of business. You should obtain a current company extract from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission which will show the company’s registered address.

The relevant rule for personal service on a company is rule 10.02 of the FCFC Rules and FCA Rules. Rule 10.02 requires that service must be done in accordance with section 109X of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). 

There are separate rules for personal service on other entities such as partnerships, sole traders, unincorporated associations, organisations (e.g., unions or employer associations registered with the Fair Work Commission) and persons under a legal incapacity. You should refer to rules 10.03 to 10.08 of the FCFC Rules and 10.03 to 10.10 of the FCA Rules for how to serve on entities or situations not covered by rules 10.01 and 10.02.    

These steps can be done by you, or you can ask a friend or family member to do it for you. If you prefer, you may be able to hire a professional process server or bailiff who can undertake personal service on your behalf. 

Ordinary service 

If personal service of a document is not required, you can serve a document on a person by way of “ordinary service”. Ordinary service is usually allowed for documents filed once a court proceeding is on foot. 

You can effect ordinary service by following the rules for personal service (see above). 

However, the other methods available under the ordinary service rules are usually easier than personal service. For instance, ordinary service can be completed by:

• • emailing the documents to the email address in the party’s notice of address for service or if the party has not provided an email address, to the party’s usual or last-known email address; 
  • sending the document by pre-paid post to the party’s address for service, or if there is no address for service, their last known business or residential address; or  
  • sending the document, to the lawyer’s email address if the party is represented by a lawyer and the lawyer has filed a notice of address for service.

The relevant rule for ordinary service is rule 10.18 of the FCFC Rules and 10.31 of the FCA Rules.  

The above methods of ordinary service can be used to serve individuals, companies or other entities (e.g., partnerships, unincorporated associations). 

When do I need to serve court documents? 

For originating documents, you must serve the court document as soon as practicable and at least five days before the first court date (rule 8.05 FCFC Rules and rule 8.06 of the FCA Rules).   

For non-originating applications, generally the date and time that a document must be served will be set out in the court orders. Where this is not the case, you should refer to the FCFC Rules and FCA Rules for when you need to serve the document. 

What do I do once I’ve served court documents?

For an originating document, an affidavit of service should be filed. This lets the court know that personal service has been completed, and the other party is aware of the proceedings.

The person who served the document must complete an affidavit of service. This means if you asked a friend or family member to give the document or to post the document to the other party, they should complete the affidavit.  

For: 

• general federal law matters in the FCFC (excluding small claims), you can use this Affidavit of Service form;  
• Fair Work matters under the small claims procedure, you can use this Affidavit of Service (Fair Work – small claims proceedings) form; and 
• FCA matters, there is no specific form for affidavits of service. You should use the general affidavit form, Form 59. 

You generally do not need to file an affidavit of service to show that you served documents that are not originating documents.  

What if I cannot locate a person to serve documents? 

When a court proceeding is started, the other party will be required to provide an address for service where you can serve them documents. 

However, in order to start court proceedings, you will need to be able to locate the other party or parties. If you do not know where the other party is, you may wish to consider engaging a reputable, professional “skip tracing” service. Usually process servers offer this service for a fee.  

If you are unable to locate a person through reasonable enquiries, or you think a person may be deliberately trying to evade attempts at personal service, you may ask the court for an order for substituted service under rule 10.14 of the FCFC Rules and rule 10.24 of the FCA Rules.  Common methods of substituted service include sending the court document by post, email, text message or social media message. Your alternative form of service will only be effective service if the court has granted an order for service by that method. 

Substituted service is not appropriate in circumstances where personal service is merely inconvenient or other methods of service are more efficient. Instead, you should only consider seeking substituted service where personal service is impractical and, in all probability, your proposed method of substituted service would be effective in bringing the document to the attention of the other party.  

You should seek legal advice if you think you need to make an application for substituted service.   

What happens if documents are incorrectly served? 

Failing to properly serve a document could result in your court proceedings being delayed or dismissed.  

If you start a proceeding, it may not be able to progress until the other party is correctly served with the documents and given an opportunity to respond to your case. The court may need to adjourn scheduled hearings until service is completed correctly, which may mean significant delays in having your case heard. Your case could also be dismissed. 

To give yourself the greatest chance of success in court, make sure you are following the court rules and completing service correctly.  

Further Information 

To find out more information about service, the court process, and all the forms you will need to complete visit the court websites: 

Federal Court: https://www.fedcourt.gov.au/ 

Federal Circuit and Family Court: https://www.fcfcoa.gov.au/