Treaties and International Law

Service of Court Documents in New Zealand and Overseas

• New Zealand Documents for Service in Non-Commonwealth Countries
• Documents from Non-Commonwealth Countries for Service in New Zealand

The Ministry’s Legal Division can assist in arranging for New Zealand court documents to be served on a person overseas, or for foreign court documents to be served on a person in New Zealand. Details of these processes are set out below. Please contact the Ministry’s Legal Division (lgl@mft.govt.nz) if you need further assistance after reading this information.

Please note:

• The High Court Rules do not require that documents be served through official channels. It is also possible for documents to be served by a local lawyer or private process server. Details of private process servers can be found in the Yellow Pages.
• Because of the many steps involved, it can take up to three months for service to be carried out through official channels. In many cases it may be faster to arrange for service of New Zealand court documents to be carried out privately.
• The Ministry does not handle requests for service from Commonwealth countries or from New Zealand law firms to arrange service in a Commonwealth country. In these countries there is no requirement for documents to be served by court officers and documents can be adequately served by a local lawyer or private process server.
• Service through official channels is available for most commonly encountered non-Commonwealth countries (e.g. Japan, Germany, France, Netherlands, Argentina). In some cases it may not be possible to serve documents through official channels because New Zealand does not have a service of documents treaty or a reciprocal understanding with the country concerned. Please contact the Ministry’s Legal Division (lgl@mft.govt.nz) if you would like to check the situation in respect of a particular country.

New Zealand Documents for Service in Non-Commonwealth Countries

The requirements for service of New Zealand documents overseas are set out in rules 6.27 to 6.35 of the High Court Rules. As noted above, the High Court Rules do not require documents to be served through official channels and it may often be faster to arrange for service through a private process server.

The main elements of the process for service of documents overseas through official channels are:

1. Documents required:
   • A Letter of Request from a New Zealand court to the court in the in the country concerned.
   • Two (2) copies of each document to be served.
   • Two (2) translations (if necessary) of each document to be served.

   Please note that a physical street address (not a PO Box or Private Bag number) is required for service.

2. Process:
   • Requests for service may be forwarded to MFAT Legal Division directly or by the Registrar of the High Court through the Ministry of Justice.
   • MFAT forwards the documents to the New Zealand Embassy in the country in which service is requested, to transmit to the appropriate authorities.
   • Confirmation from the appropriate authorities that service was or was not successful is sent to the New Zealand Embassy. This is forwarded through MFAT to the Ministry of Justice to transmit to the requesting court.
3. Fees:
   • MFAT does not charge any fees for assisting with service.
   • In some cases, the authorities in the country in which the documents are served may charge a fee.

   Please note that in the United States, service of documents through official channels is carried out by a nominated private process server (Process Forwarding International) and is subject to the usual commercial fees.

Documents from Non-Commonwealth Countries for Service in New Zealand

The requirements for service in New Zealand of documents from non-Commonwealth countries are set out in rules 6.21 to 6.26 of the High Court Rules. The main elements of the process for service through official channels are:

1. Documents required:
   • A Letter of Request from a court in the requesting country to the New Zealand court.
   • Two (2) copies of each document to be served.
   • Two (2) English translations (if necessary) of each document to be served.

   Please note that a physical street address (not a PO Box or Private Bag number) is required for service.

2. Process:
   • Requests for service are usually forwarded to MFAT Legal Division by the requesting country’s Embassy in New Zealand.
   • MFAT forwards the documents to the Ministry of Justice to transmit to the Registrar of the High Court closest to the place of service, who arranges for service to be carried out by a Court officer.
   • Confirmation from the Registrar of the High Court that service was or was not successfully completed will be sent through the Ministry of Justice and MFAT to the Embassy to transmit to the requesting court.
3. Fees:
   • MFAT does not charge any fees for assisting with the service of documents.
   • In some cases, expenses may be charged by the court that carried out service (e.g. mileage in cases where the bailiff has had to travel some distance to serve the documents). In such cases, details will be provided so that payment can be made directly to the court that carried out service.

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