Service abroad of judicial and extrajudicial documents in civil or commercial matters

Request to the Central Authority for Québec for the service of documents from abroad

Requests for the service in Québec of judicial or extrajudicial documents under the Hague Convention must be sent to the Central Authority for Québec (second paragraph of article 3 of the Hague Convention ) and contain:

• the duly completed and signed form required by the Hague Convention, in duplicate (only the version published on this website will be accepted) ;
  
  
• the judicial or extrajudicial document¹ to be served, translated into French, in duplicate so a copy can be sent back to the requesting authority in order to permit that authority to identify exactly the document which has been served (article 3 paragraph 2);
  
  
• a cheque drawn on a bank in Canada or a travellers cheque in the amount of CAN$50, for each recipient to be served, payable to the Ministre des Finances du Québec. In other words, for the service of documents on more than one recipient at the same address, the fee of 50$ must be multiplied by the number of recipients to be served.

Processing of the request

• The Central Authority for Québec affixes the seal of the Ministère de la Justice du Québec to one copy of the form and forwards both copies of the form to a bailiff who has jurisdiction in the area in Québec where the addressee resides, together with both copies of the judicial or extrajudicial document to be served and translation if applicable;
  
  
• When the documents are accepted by the addressee, the bailiff completes and sends the return of service (optional) and the Certificate required by the Hague Convention to the Central Authority for Québec (article 6 of the Hague Convention );
  
  
• The original of the duly completed Certificate and the bailiff's return of service are sent to the forwarding authority, together with the second copy of the form and judicial or extrajudicial documents which will enable the forwarding authority to identify the documents that have been served.

If service is unsuccessful, all the documents, together with the bailiff's return of non-service (return of non est inventus or affidavit of attempted service) will be returned to the forwarding authority.

Where the address of a recipient is incorrect, the Central Authority for Québec is under no obligation to determine it. The Central Authority will, however, make the searches as provided in article 1 of the Hague Convention to find the correct address in order to proceed with service of the documents in Québec.

If the search is unsuccessful, the Central Authority for Québec will return the request to the forwarding authority.

If the search shows that the addressee resides in another province or territory in Canada, the Central Authority for Québec will forward the request to the competent Central Authority for that province or territory and inform the forwarding authority.

Affidavit of bailiff

Bailiffs are public officers and, as such, are not required to be sworn. Furthermore, their duties do not include requiring the recipient of a document to provide specific information (such as marital status).

________
1. A summons and a complaint are one document.

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