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What Is a Certificate of Service?

George Simons | April 11, 2024

George Simons
Co-Founder of SoloSuit
George Simons, JD/MBA

George Simons is the co-founder and CEO of SoloSuit. He has helped Americans protect over $1 billion from predatory debt lawsuits. George graduated from BYU Law school in 2020 with a JD-MBA. In his spare time, George likes to cook, because he likes to eat.

Edited by Hannah Locklear

Hannah Locklear
Editor at SoloSuit
Hannah Locklear, BA

Hannah Locklear is SoloSuit’s Marketing and Impact Manager. With an educational background in Linguistics, Spanish, and International Development from Brigham Young University, Hannah has also worked as a legal support specialist for several years.

Fact-checked by George Simons, JD/MBA

George Simons
Co-Founder of SoloSuit
George Simons, JD/MBA

George Simons is the co-founder and CEO of SoloSuit. He has helped Americans protect over $1 billion from predatory debt lawsuits. George graduated from BYU Law school in 2020 with a JD/MBA. In his spare time, George likes to cook, because he likes to eat.

Summary: A certificate of service is a legal document filed in court that confirms courts documents were correctly delivered to the other party in a case. If you need help responding to a debt lawsuit, SoloSuit's Answer form is a great place to start, and it includes a certificate of service.

When you file documents with the court, it's a requirement that you provide copies of the same documents to the other party involved in the case or their lawyer. To verify that you've done this, the court requires you to attach a certificate of service at the end of the documents you file with the court.

What is a certificate of service in court?

A certificate of service in court is a legal document, usually filed with other court documents, that certifies the accompanying documents were properly served to the opposing party in a case.

A certificate of service can be a simple statement that says, "I have provided a copy of this document to the plaintiff/defendant on this particular date." It has to be signed by the other party involved in the legal matter or by their attorney.

Here’s what a real certificate of service looks like, as filed by the debt collection law firm called Javitch Block:

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Why is a certificate of service important?

When you file a document with the court, the other party in the case has to know that you've filed and responded to it accordingly. For instance, if you want to schedule a trial, you'll need to send a notice of hearing to the court and the other party involved in the trial.

Therefore, you'll need to attach a certificate of service with the notice of hearing to inform the court that you notified the other party about when and where the trial would take place. It's also possible to avoid all the paperwork involved when you use legal software like SoloSuit. This software compiles your answer and sends it to the court and plaintiff on your behalf.

Specific rules govern how you prepare and file documents with the court. These same rules apply when it comes to a certificate of service. For this reason, you'll need to adhere to the rules or risk losing the case due to improper service.

When you file a legal document via SoloSuit, an attorney reviews it to ensure it meets all the requirements for that specific case. This saves you time and money while giving you much-needed peace of mind.

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Is a certificate of service required before a case begins?

You need to provide the other party with a copy of the summons from the court and the original complaint that you filed in court before the case begins. Otherwise, they won't be considered part of the case because they had no chance to respond.

A certificate of service is proof that you served the other party in the right way. In addition, it promotes fairness and orderliness in court cases. In fact, some courts reject court documents that are submitted without a certificate of service.

Is a certificate of service required when a case is ongoing?

When the case is ongoing, you need to serve the defendant with every motion you file to the court. You can do this by personally preparing copies of all documents and sending them to the defendant or using legal software like SoloSuit, and then filing the original documents with the court.

Remember that the court requires a certificate of service attached at the end of the original documents.

Follow these steps to file a certificate of service

You can file a certificate of service in two steps:

Step one

Serve the other party or their attorney with copies of the documents you filed with the court, or let SoloSuit do it for you.

If a limited appearance attorney represents the other party, you'll need to ensure that both are served with copies of the documents you file with the court. But if the limited appearance attorney is no longer part of the case, you don't need to serve them.

Step two

After serving the other party or their attorney, you'll need to include the following in the certificate of service you present to the court clerk:

  • Indicate that the copies of what you filed were served to the other party.
  • Ensure you include their name and address in the certificate of service.
  • Indicate how you served the other party with copies of the document you filed. This can either be by mail, in-person, or any other acceptable method.
  • Indicate the date when you served the other party.
  • After filling out all parts of the certificate of service, sign it and submit it to the court clerk.

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Here’s what to include when you write a certificate of service

Here’s how to write a certificate of service:

  • Heading: At the top of the page, include a heading, also known as the caption. The heading usually includes the court's name and the case details. It should match the heading of the main legal document it's accompanying.
  • Title: After the heading or caption, title the document. In clear and centered writing, add “Certificate of Service.”
  • Body: In the body of the document, introduce yourself and your role in the case. Specify the document served, the date of service, and the method of service. Specify the names and addresses of the persons served.
  • Date and signature: Finish with a statement of truth, the date, and your signature.

These steps are pretty simple, so writing a certificate of service should be pretty straightforward. Note that most courts can provide you with a certificate of service form.

If you are responding to a debt collection lawsuit, SoloSuit’s Answer document includes a certificate of service so you don’t have to write one yourself.

Who can serve court papers?

If court papers aren't served the right way, the judge may have to suspend the case. Even if you include a certificate of service but the defendant wasn't served correctly, the case may be dismissed on the grounds of improper service.

For this reason, always ensure that you follow the correct procedure when serving the defendant. Here are a few basic rules to consider in the process:

  1. Don't serve court papers to a defendant yourself. Find someone at least 18 years of age and not involved in the case to serve the other party or use software like SoloSuit.
  2. The person who serves the other party should fill out the certificate of service form and indicate the documents given to the other parties.
  3. If need be, the person who served the other party may have to appear in court to tell the judge how they served the papers.
  4. A sheriff, marshal, or constable can serve the papers for you at a fee unless a judge waives the fee.
  5. If it's a case of alleged domestic violence, a peace officer may serve the court papers to the other party.

Exceptions where a certificate of service isn't needed

A certificate of service isn't always required to file papers in court. For instance, if you're filing an original pleading, you don't need to attach a certificate of service.

An original pleading document can be in the form of a counter-complaint, third-party complaint, or initial complaint.

When you file the original pleading, the court will have to respond first and prepare a summons. After receiving the summons document from the court, you can then serve the other party with a copy of the summons and the original pleading.

Another situation where you don't need to provide a certificate of service to the court is when the other party is in default for failure to appear in court.

For instance, suppose you serve a defendant with an initial complaint and a summons from the court indicating where and when they should appear in court, and they fail to do so. In such a case, you don't need to serve additional court papers to them.

A certificate of service proves that the plaintiff/defendant sent a copy of court documents to the opposing party or their attorney. Failing to attach a certificate of service could create costly legal issues and hinder the progress of a case.

What is proof of service?

A proof of service is basically the same thing as a certificate of service. It is a legal document that certifies that court documents were properly served to an opposing party to a case.

What is SoloSuit?

SoloSuit makes it easy to respond to a debt collection lawsuit.

How it works: SoloSuit is a step-by-step web-app that asks you all the necessary questions to complete your answer. Upon completion, you can either print the completed forms and mail in the hard copies to the courts or you can pay SoloSuit to file it for you and to have an attorney review the document.

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