Fee and payment
One all-inclusive fixed fee, agreed with you in writing before we start. The figure you put in front of your client is the figure that appears on the invoice — no supplement, no running meter, and nothing additional ever incurred without your written agreement first.
We know a surprise disbursement is your problem long before it is ours, and that a costs schedule you have already sent to a client is not something you can quietly revise. That is why we look at the file and the address before quoting, and why we will not give you a rate-card figure that an out-island address or a controlled-access registered office would then blow apart.
We ask for payment in advance of service. Established law firms and forwarding companies with a billing history with us are invoiced on agreed commercial terms instead — if your firm would rather be set up that way from the start, ask, and we will discuss it properly rather than sending you a form.
What’s included, and what you can bundle in
Every quote is address-specific — a numbered street in Nassau, a company’s registered office in the UK, and an address in a location currently affected by security conditions are simply not the same job, and we will not pretend otherwise with a flat rate card. That is deliberate: it protects you from a headline figure that looks attractive until the real address turns up and blows the costs schedule you have already sent your client. But whatever the fee comes to, the items below can usually be added to the same instruction and the same invoice, so you are not sourcing three separate suppliers and marking up three separate bills. One file, one point of contact, one number to build your client quote around.
Base process service
Personal service of the documents you send us, attempted according to the rules of the destination island, with a written report of every attempt.
Affidavit or certificate of service
Sworn before a Notary Public or attorney where the island requires it, ready to file with the court. Ask us to confirm whether this is included for your particular island and address.
Address verification & tracing
Where the address on file is out of date, incomplete, or simply wrong, we can confirm or locate it before service is attempted, so you are not paying for a wasted first trip. See our address checker and tracing resources.
Document translation
Where the destination requires it under Article 5 of the Hague Convention, or simply where it helps, we can arrange certified translation of the documents alongside the serve.
Hague or Letters Rogatory paperwork
Model form preparation and dispatch through the correct Central Authority, or the Letters Rogatory route where the destination is not a Hague signatory. See the Hague Matrix.
Court filing & document retrieval
Lodging documents at the local court registry, or retrieving filed documents on your behalf, where that is part of getting the matter moved forward.
Same-day status updates
WhatsApp or email updates as attempts are made, so you can update your own client without having to chase us for a progress note.
Service by publication
Where a defendant genuinely cannot be found after diligent enquiry, we can arrange local newspaper publication as a last-resort route to service, with the paperwork a court expects to see.
Tell us the island, the address and what the file needs, and we will quote the whole bundle as one fixed figure — not a base rate with a trail of “additional disbursements” that turn up after you have already quoted your client.
Credit or debit card
Simple and easy. We email you the invoice with a payment link — no account of any kind is required. You click the amount charged, enter your card details yourself, and pay. We never see or hold your card details.
Bank transfer
We hold accounts in US dollars, Canadian dollars, pounds sterling and euro. Full details for each currency are set out below, and are repeated on your invoice.
What we cannot accept
We regret we cannot accept international cheques or e-cheques in any currency other than pounds sterling.
Bank account details
Published here so your accounts department can set us up as a supplier before an urgent instruction arrives, rather than on the afternoon you need service started. Please quote your case reference or our invoice number as the payment reference, and if your firm needs a W-8, a supplier form or anything else completed, send it over — we deal with that sort of thing every week.
US dollars — USD $
Community Federal Savings Bank, 89-16 Jamaica Avenue, Woodhaven, NY 11421, United States of America
Canadian dollars — CAD $
Wise Canada Inc., 99 Bank Street, Suite 1420, Ottawa ON K1P 1H4, Canada
Pounds sterling — GBP £
Wise Payments Limited, 1st Floor, Worship Square, 65 Clifton Street, London EC2A 4JE, United Kingdom
Euro — EUR €
Wise, Rue du Trône 100, 3rd floor, Brussels 1050, Belgium
A word on payment fraud. The accounts above, and the same accounts repeated on our invoice from Caribbean.Process@hotmail.com, are the only accounts we ever ask you to pay into. If you receive a message purporting to come from us quoting any other account, or telling you our details have changed, telephone the desk on one of the numbers below before paying a penny. Payment-diversion fraud aimed at law firms is common and this simple habit defeats it.
Terms of service
Written plainly, and short enough that you can read them properly before recommending us to a partner. These are the terms on which we accept instructions, and by instructing us you agree to them — but if your firm has its own standard terms for agents and suppliers, send them and we will work to yours instead.
Scope of work
We serve process, trace and locate individuals, file documents at court and carry out the related work described on this website, as instructed by you in writing.
Confidentiality
We treat your instructions and your client’s papers as confidential. We do not disclose the existence or content of an instruction to any third party except as required to effect service or by law.
Fees and payment
The fee is the fixed fee quoted and agreed in writing before work begins. Where credit terms have been agreed, invoices are payable within the period stated on the invoice, and interest may be charged on sums outstanding after the due date. Where collection becomes necessary, reasonable costs of collection are payable.
Cancellation and refunds
If an instruction is cancelled before completion, we are entitled to payment for the work carried out up to the date of cancellation. Once a first attempt at service has been made in the field, the fee is not refundable.
Where service proves impossible
If service cannot be effected after proper due diligence and repeated attempts, we provide a written report of the attempts made, which is itself often what a court requires, and we will discuss the position with you.
Limitation of liability
To the extent permitted by law, our liability arising out of an instruction is limited to the fee paid for that instruction. We are not liable for indirect or consequential loss, including loss arising from a missed court deadline, save where we have accepted that deadline in writing.
Governing law
These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the parties submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.
Changes to these terms
These terms may be varied only in writing. The terms in force are those published here on the date your instruction is accepted.
Last reviewed: SEPTEMBER 2026. A plain-English summary of how we work, not a substitute for a bespoke retainer where your firm requires one. Any question on any line above — telephone the desk and speak to a person who can actually answer it.