Service of originating summons, etc.
33.—(1)  Unless the Court otherwise directs, the plaintiff must serve the following on the defendant personally or by registered post:
(a)in the case of an originating summons in respect of any proceedings for divorce or nullity of marriage, a copy each of the originating summons and case statement, together with —
(i)a copy of an acknowledgment of service in Form 36;
(ii)a copy of a memorandum of defence in Form 17, 18 or 19, as appropriate;
(iii)a copy of any parenting plan filed under rule 9B; and
(iv)a copy of any matrimonial property plan filed under rule 9C;
(b)in any other case, a copy each of the originating summons and any case statement.
(2)  Unless the Court otherwise directs, the defendant must serve a copy of a cross-application in proceedings for a divorce on the plaintiff personally or by registered post.
(3)  Unless the Court otherwise directs, the applicant in a variation application must serve a copy of the variation application on the respondent personally or by registered post.
(4)  Personal service under these Rules must be effected by a process server of the Court, by a solicitor, or by a solicitor’s clerk whose name and particulars have been notified to the Court in such manner as the Court may direct for this purpose.
(5)  Despite paragraph (4), the Court may, in a particular cause or matter, allow personal service to be effected by any other named person and must, in that case, cause to be marked on the document required to be served personally, a memorandum to that effect.
(6)  Personal service of an originating summons, a cross-application or a variation application is effected by leaving with the person to be served a sealed copy of the originating summons, cross-application or variation application.
(6A)  Personal service of a document under these Rules may also be effected in such other manner as may be agreed between the party serving and the party to be served.
[S 910/2022 wef 30/11/2022]
(7)  Where an originating summons, a cross-application or a variation application is served by registered post, a copy of an acknowledgment of service in Form 36 must be served together with the originating summons, cross-application or variation application.
(8)  Where the solicitor for a party endorses on a document served under paragraph (1), (2) or (3) a statement that the solicitor accepts service of the document on the party’s behalf, the document is deemed —
(a)to have been duly served on the party; and
(b)to have been so served on the date on which the endorsement was made.
(9)  For the purposes of paragraphs (1), (2), (3) and (7), a party’s document is deemed to have been duly served on another party by registered post if —
(a)the document is sent by prepaid registered post to the second-mentioned party; and
(b)the second-mentioned party signs and returns an acknowledgment of service in Form 36 to the solicitor for the first-mentioned party, or to the first-mentioned party (if the first-mentioned party is acting in person), at the first-mentioned party’s address for service.
[S 639/2018 wef 22/10/2018]