3. Serve the defendant
Question & Answer
What if I don’t agree with the defendant’s terms of payment?You must give a copy of your completed Request to Clerk form to each or their lawyer or paralegal, if they have one. This is called serving the documents and you must do this in a way that follows the court's rules.
Keep the original copy for yourself.
Serve the Request to Clerk
You can your Request to Clerk yourself or you can use a process server.
A is someone you can hire to serve documents to another person for you. You can search for a process server in your area at www.canada411.ca.
You can also serve by courier. Keep a copy of the receipt or courier slip as proof that the documents have been served.
You can also serve by email. There are rules for what information you must include in your email.
If the defendant is a company, you must serve a manager at the place where they run their business. Get the name of the person you served and make a note of the date and time they were served.
Some people refuse to take the documents. If this happens, the documents can be dropped on the floor in front of them. This counts as serving them.
The Guide to Procedures in Small Claims Court explains the rules that you must follow. For example, if you serve a document by mail, the court doesn't consider it served until 5 days after the day you put it in the mail.
Complete the Affidavit of Service
The person who serves the Request to Clerk must complete a Form 8A: Affidavit of Service. This proves to the court that the document was served on the defendants.
The Affidavit of Service includes:
- the date and time the Request to Clerk was served
- where it was served
- the first and last name of the person it was given to
- how it was served
The person who completes the Affidavit of Service must swear or affirm it is true. This means they promise that the information in the document is correct. To do this, they must sign the affidavit in front of someone who has the authority to supervise an or .
Court clerks at the Small Claims Court can supervise for free. Lawyers, paralegals, and individuals called commissioners of affidavits can also supervise but they usually charge a fee.
File your documents
Once the Affidavit of Service has been completed and signed, it must be filed at court with the Request to Clerk.
