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Child Support Services Policy

Published Date: August 05, 2016
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04 Court

Court Preparation

Document Service

Alberta Rules of Court Regulation - Part 11
Family Law Act
Family Law Act General Regulation


INTENT

To ensure timely, accurate and effective service for court documents.

POLICY

Notice Requirements for Service

Under the Alberta Rules of Court Regulation, personal service of the court documents on the respondent must be at least 20 calendar days before the court hearing to meet the legal requirements.

If the Child Support Worker (CSW) is requesting financial information, the required notice to the respondent is at least one month.

The 20 day notice requirements do not include the day the person was served or the day of the court hearing.

When financial information has been requested by the FL-17 Notice to Disclose and service is less than one month, but the respondent has received at least 20 calendar days notice, the legal requirement for service has been met. If the respondent requests an adjournment as they require more time to prepare for the matter, the CSW agrees to an adjournment to the next List Date.

The court may decide to adjourn if the respondent does not appear to allow for a one month notice from the date of service.

Service Request to Provider
The Provider for document service arranges for the court documents to be served. A private document serving company handles this responsibility. In regions not served by the Provider, the RCMP or local police may serve the documents.

The CSW may serve these documents subject to the FLA. The worker must be able to provide reliable evidence that the documents were served.

Serv-It Bailiff Services Inc. is currently providing court document serving services for Child Support Services (CSS).

Court Documents Not Served

Substitutional Service
It is the Court’s decision whether or not the evidence provided in the Affidavits is sufficient to grant an Order for Substitutional Service. If the order is granted, the lawyer forwards the order to the CSW.