The Writ or other originating processes in the High Court or the Subordinate Courts of Singapore may need to be served on a defendant who is residing or working outside Singapore. This may be done with approval from the Registrar in accordance with Order 11 of the Rules of Court.
The requesting party will need to produce the following documents:
- Praecipe for Service of Documents
- Request for Service of Documents out of Singapore
- Order of Court for Service of Documents out of Singapore
- Copies of Documents for Service on the Party concerned
- Copies of translations, if required
Service of Documents out of Singapore is carried out through diplomatic channels. It may therefore take several months for the documents to be served on the party concerned. Parties who have requested for the service are required to inform the Registry of the progress of the case matter, e.g. whether the case has been settled or discontinued, so that the Registry can keep the relevant authorities informed as to whether the service is still required.
A stamp fee of S$100.00 per party per place of service is payable where the value of the claim does not exceed S$1 million and S$200.00 where the value of the claim is more than S$1 million.
This applies to any process which is taken out in a court or tribunal of a foreign country for a defendant who is residing or working in Singapore. All requests for service matters received by the Supreme Court from foreign countries must be in accordance with Order 65 of the Rules of Court.
A letter from such a court or tribunal requesting for service is forwarded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Supreme Court. This will be accompanied by two copies of the process to be served and its translation in English. Each party to the lawsuit is required to be served with one copy of the lawsuit. The Process Server (a government official in charge of delivering legal documents in lawsuits) will serve the documents.
After service, an affidavit by the Process Server stating the outcome of service together with the service documents, a covering letter and a Certificate of Service in compliance with Form 144 of the Rules of Court will be forwarded to the respective authorities. The requesting party is informed of the costs incurred and one of the copies of the process is returned with the endorsement of service. |