As a creditor, you may find your attempts to get paid frustrated when a debtor goes to ground in an attempt to stall Court proceedings.

In New Zealand, Court documents must be served on debtors or their legal representatives. When a debtor fails to disclose their address, it can be difficult for creditors to follow through with Court actions. Problems also arise when an individual debtor moves, leaving no forwarding address.

If you cannot locate a debtor, then you can apply to the Court for an order for substituted service. An order for substituted service allows you to serve the debtor in a different way.

In one case, the Court allowed for service of a defendant through email and Facebook. The Court allowed service this way because the Facebook page was active, and it seemed likely the Court proceedings would come to the defendant’s attention.

In another example, the Court allowed service through the publishing of the debtor’s name and the details of the Court proceedings in a local newspaper, together with the Court documents being sent to the debtor’s email address with a request for a read receipt.

When considering an application for substituted service, the Court must satisfy itself that the creditor has exhausted reasonable avenues for finding the debtor. Usually, this means you must have at least called or emailed the debtor, contacted any known next-of-kin, searched the white pages and other public registers (such as the companies office) and had a process server attempt to locate them.

If the Court is satisfied a debtor cannot be found, it can make an order allowing service by alternative means, so don’t give up just because the debtor has gone missing. There are other options that can be used to serve them.