Queensland Consolidated Regulations

CHILDRENS COURT RULES 2016 - REG 31

31 Dispensing with, limiting and altering service requirement

(1) This rule applies to a requirement to serve a document, other than a document required to be personally served under an Act.

(2) The court may decide to—

(a) dispense with the requirement; or

Example—

The court may decide to dispense with the requirement to serve a document if a reasonable attempt to locate the person required to be served has been made and the person can not be found.

(b) limit or alter the requirement, including by—

(i) identifying the parts of the document that must be served; or

(ii) imposing conditions about the service.

Examples of conditions—

• requiring the document to be served on a party’s lawyer

• requiring the document to be redacted in a particular way before it is served

(3) In making a decision under subrule (2) about a document to be served on a child, the court must consider whether it is appropriate for the child to be served a particular document in the absence of a decision under subrule (2) , having regard to the child’s age and ability to understand the document.

(4) The court may, at any time, give leave to a party to a proceeding to use a document required to be served under these rules that has not been served or that was served later than the time specified for service of the document.

(5) In making a decision under subrule (2) or (4) , the court must—

(a) consider as paramount—

(i) for a decision in a CAO proceeding or child protection proceeding—the child protection principles; or

(ii) for a decision in an adoption proceeding—the adoption principles; and

Note—

For a decision in an acknowledgement of sex proceeding, see the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 2023 , section 70 in relation to the court’s paramount consideration.

(b) also consider—

(i) any unreasonable prejudice or detriment that may be caused to a party or potential party to the proceeding; and

(ii) the requirement to provide procedural fairness to another person.