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Hi, I would be really grateful for some advice from other Dads who have been there. I'm self representing and need to serve papers on the other side. Do I need to do this via Sheriff Officers? It's expensive! Or canI just send registered mail????
TIA
I'm pretty sure that it's ok to send it by registered/signed for delivery, but if you're in doubt give the court a quick call to confirm.
As you're in Scotland, heres a link to the Scottish Children's Legal Centre that will be able to offer you advice on any legal questions you may have
www.sclc.org.uk
You might also benefit from attending a Families Need Fathers meeting in your area, here's a link to their website where you'll find details of meetings and contact infor of the organisers. The section on Scotland is at the bottom of the page.
www.fnf.org.uk/help-and-support-2/local-branch-meetings
Best of luck
I can't see that registered or any tracked postage shouldn't be ok - if you have proof that they signed for the papers, then I would have thought a court would accept that (certainly fine for business legal matters). But as mojo says, worth speaking to SCLC to make absolutely sure.
Sorry for being late. You need to fo get the papers signed off by the Court then when you get them back you need to get a Sheriff Officer to serve them. They do it either via recorded mail (around £30) or in person (just shy of £100 I believe). It’s up to you to work out if recorded mail will be signed for by your ex (sometimes they play hardball) if they don’t sign you’ve lost 4-6 weeks.
I think the use of the Sheriffs Officers services is advised if you think the Defender (Respondent in the UK) will avoid taking receipt of the court papers if sent by yourself. Using their services is much more expensive, but it does offer some guarantee that the papers will get to her.
I did a little search for Scottish procedure, there's some useful info on a blog by a group of solicitors, I must point out that providing a link to this is in no way a recommendation of them or their services.
https://www.drummondmiller.co.uk/news/2014/04/family-law-an-overview-of-civil-court-procedure/
A section taken from their blog
Serving the action: This is when the Initial Writ is sent to the Defender. There are various methods of serving the action such as by recorded delivery post or by Sheriff Officers. Successful service on the Defender means the court is satisfied the Defender has received the Initial Writ and can therefore decide what to do next.
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