Our process server in Derby was contacted by a solicitor to serve a Divorce Petition. As the service of the Divorce Petition went very smoothly, we thought we would share the details in this case study with you to help future divorce petitioners understand the process of getting the documents to the right place, at the right time.
The Derby based solicitor contacted our Process Server in Derby after speaking to a woman who had been separated from her husband for about five years. The solicitor provided all of the necessary paperwork in order for us to complete the service within current legal guidelines. Some of the documents were issued by the court, however we also needed some more personal information. This included:
Supplied by the petitioner:
- A photograph of the Respondent.
- The most recent address the client had for the Respondent.
- Where they had worked. In this case this the address was from a few years before so our process server, who also happened to be a private investigator, used her skills to locate the respondent still living in Derby and complete the process serve.
Supplied to/by the Court:
- The original marriage certificate, which is needed to complete the divorce. In this case the petitioner did not have the original so a certified copy was obtained from the Derby Registry Office.
- Rather obviously you must include the copy of the divorce petition. (Remember to keep a copy for yourself.) This is the form D8. The petitioner and respondent (the person against whom the divorce is being filed) had four children so they needed to ensure that the ages and date of births of all of their children were included in the petition. The petition does need to have been sealed by Derby Court This means that our process server covering Derby does not check the documents (however we always do, just in case).
- A notice of proceedings, which is a form numbered DH9. This is an informative document that tells the respondent what is happening.
- An Acknowledgement of Service which is form D10 that has not been filled in yet. It is to confirm that the respondent has received the divorce petition and the respondent is responsible for returning this document to the court within the stipulated timescale of 8 days.
For this case we quickly located the Respondent. They had moved house but were still working at the same company, so we were able to serve the legal documents there. Once the process server in Derby had completed the serve, they completed in the relevant paper work (FL415) to confirm that the Respondent had been served and returned it to the solicitor managing the divorce case.
As we said at the beginning of this post, this was a straight forward process serve for our experienced process server in Derby. However for the petitioner it was the first, and hopefully the last, time they would need to file for divorce. Engaging the solicitor (who passed the process serve requirement to Alpha 1 Legal Services) reduced stress and created a cost effective solution for the petitioner.
Our Process Server in Derby works on a fixed fee basis, with the exception of Legally Aided cases, these are charged at current Legal Aid rates.
The closest County Court to Derby is DERBY COUNTY COURT
As a Process Server in Derby, we serve all legal documents issued from Derby County Court.
