Certificate of Service – Delaware

The Certificate of Service is the Delaware Court of Common Pleas form on which a party states, under a notary's seal, that two copies of an attached document were hand delivered or mailed to the person or firm on the other side of the case, on a stated date.

The form carries the court caption: "In the Court of Common Pleas for the State of Delaware in and for (Kent, New Castle, Sussex) County," with the Defendant(s) Below, Appellant(s) and the Plaintiff(s) Below, Appellee(s), and the C.A. No. of the case. Below the caption is a single certification sentence with four blanks: your name, the name of the form being served, whether it was hand delivered or mailed, the name and address of the person or firm that received it, and the date of delivery.

The certificate then has a notary block (notary signature and seal) and a block for your printed name, signature, address, daytime phone number and the date. The form's footnotes set the two rules that matter most: all pleadings must have a Certificate of Service executed and attached before being accepted by the Court, and individuals must sign the certificate in front of a Notary Public and have it notarized.

The certificate is not a pleading itself. It proves that the other party received a copy of the document you are filing.

Anyone who files a pleading with the Delaware Court of Common Pleas completes this certificate, because the form states that all pleadings must have a Certificate of Service executed and attached before the Court accepts them.

The caption on the form names the parties as Defendant(s) Below, Appellant(s) and Plaintiff(s) Below, Appellee(s), so it is set up for a case in which the Court of Common Pleas is hearing a matter on appeal. Enter the names and the C.A. No. exactly as they appear in your case.

Individuals must sign the certificate in front of a Notary Public and have it notarized. The form adds practical notes: notaries may be listed in the telephone book, certain officers of banks are Notaries and will witness your signature at no charge, and many companies have someone in their business offices who is a Notary.

The form has one signature block for the person certifying service. It does not describe who else may sign for you, so ask the Court if someone other than the party will sign.

Complete the certificate when you file a pleading with the Court of Common Pleas. The form states that every pleading must have a Certificate of Service executed and attached before the Court will accept it, so the certificate cannot follow the pleading later.

The date written after "on" in the certification sentence is the date the two copies were hand delivered or mailed to the other person or firm. The "Dated" line at the bottom is the date you sign. The form prints no separate deadline and no processing time of its own; any filing deadline belongs to the pleading you are attaching it to.

The Certificate of Service is not filed by itself: it is executed and attached to the pleading it concerns, and the pleading goes to the Court of Common Pleas.

• Serve the other side. The certificate states that two copies of the attached document were hand delivered or mailed to the person or firm named on it. Do that first, so that the delivery date you write is accurate.
• Notarize. Sign the certificate in front of a Notary Public; the notary adds a signature and seal in the block at the left.
• Attach. Attach the signed, notarized certificate to the pleading before it is accepted by the Court.

The form prints no court address, portal or fee. The Delaware Courts publish their forms at https://courts.delaware.gov/forms/list.aspx, and the Court of Common Pleas can tell you where and how to file your pleading. FillingPDF lets you fill out and download the PDF; submission follows the court's channels.