I have recently been filing several Motions for Subservice to serve our Plaintiff’s Claims on debtors by mail, because we have been unsuccessful at personally serving the Defendants because the address on their Driver’s License is no longer valid.
According to the Ontario Government, you must update your address on your Health Card and Driver’s License within 6 days after it changes. This is news to be, as I thought it was 10 days. You learn something new every day!
Clearly, not everyone follows the instructions of our government. You rebels!
We utilize the Ministry of Transportation as a tool to search for current addresses of debtors so that we can serve our materials, however, the addresses registered with the Ministry aren’t always up to date.
If our attempts at personal service are unsuccessful, we file a Motion for Subservice (in writing) to obtain leave of the Court to serve the Plaintiff’s Claim by mail to the address registered with the Ministry.
Obtaining the Order isn’t very difficult. We just need to establish that attempts at personal service were made, without success.
What are the consequences of failing to update your address and you get sued?
Not our problem. The matter simply proceeds without you. The Court isn’t very sympathetic to parties who fail to provide the government with a current address, and more times than not, the Court will grant the Order without issue.
Debtors who fail to update their address will usually find out about the litigation after a Notice of Garnishment has been issued against their bank account or employment, or if they try renewing a mortgage or obtain other types of financing. It’s always a surprise to them when it happens!
They’re then faced with having to bring a Motion (on Notice) and explain to the Court why they failed to update their address, when it’s required by law. Most times, the judgment and any enforcement are set aside, however, the amount of time to obtain a Motion date to do so can cause issues for the Defendant if there are time limitations with refinancing or requiring access to bank accounts, which stay frozen until an Order says they are not.
Always ensure that your address is up to date incase you’re sued. You can find yourself paying significant fees and costs to the opposing party, which could have been avoided, not to mention the inconvenience you’ve brought upon yourself.
Murray Brown, Licensed Paralegal