Evidence in Support of Applications for Substituted Service in Bankruptcy Proceedings
Notice to Practitioners - Victoria Registry Only
A significant number of applications for substituted service in bankruptcy proceedings are
refused or adjourned because they are made without appropriate evidence in support and/or
because the evidence relied on is stale.
Applications for substituted service should be supported by evidence of:
- the debtor’s last known residential address (or place of employment, if relevant);
- previous attempts to serve the debtor, including direct evidence of actual
conversations with residents or work colleagues at the particular address or with
neighbours;
- the debtor’s responses to attempts to serve or contact him/her; and
- investigations made to locate the debtor.
By way of example, investigations may include enquiries made of such authorities and
registers as the Australian Electoral Office, the Australian Securities and Investments
Commission, the Victorian Land Information Centre, the Victorian Consumer & Business
Centre, professional registers and telephone listings. This is not a list of prescribed enquiries
which must be undertaken, and nor is it exhaustive of those enquiries which may be done.
Practitioners should note that where a land title search is to be relied upon, the evidence
should show the link between a particular street address and the volume and folio number in
the search result.
Evidence establishing a link between the debtor and the address at which documents are to be
sent and/or delivered ought to show that the link existed no earlier than 6 weeks prior to the
hearing of the application. Practitioners are encouraged to obtain recent evidence of the link
as close as possible to the hearing date in order to avoid the need to adjourn the hearing. That
is, practitioners are encouraged to continue to obtain such evidence after the filing of the
application for substituted service.
Sia Lagos
District Registrar, Federal Court of Australia
Registrar, Federal Magistrates Court at Melbourne |
