Dispatch desk / Coverage / Honduras and Roatán
Service of process in Honduras and Roatán
Most of what we receive for Honduras concerns Roatán and the Bay Islands — English-speaking, expatriate-heavy, and full of property matters. The mainland is a different proposition, and we will be straight with you about which parts of it we will and will not attempt.
What the Honduras and Roatán desk handles
- Personal service of summonses, complaints, petitions and subpoenas
- Property and title disputes on Roatán, Utila and Guanaja
- Corporate service at a registered office or place of business
- Judgment enforcement and debt documents
- Divorce, custody and family documents, including diaspora matters
- Trace and locate — frequently the larger part of an expatriate matter
- Discreet enquiries to establish whether a person is still in the country
- Document retrieval and certified copies
- Swearing of the affidavit before a notary or attorney
If what you have is not on this list, ask. We will tell you plainly whether it can properly be served here.
The Bay Islands, and the mainland
Treat these as two jurisdictions in practice, because operationally they are.
Roatán is small, English-speaking in daily life, and full of North American and European residents, many of whom came here to simplify their affairs. Property and title disputes dominate. Addresses are typically a community name — West End, West Bay, Sandy Bay, French Harbour — with a landmark rather than a number, and that works locally. A good proportion of files are really traces: a business that changed hands, a name used socially that is not the name on your complaint, a person who has moved on to Belize or Panama.
The mainland is ordinary Spanish-language work in much of San Pedro Sula, Tegucigalpa and La Ceiba, and is not advisable in certain neighbourhoods at all. We will tell you which before you commit, rather than taking the file and reporting failure later. Where a mainland address is one we will not attempt, we say so and tell you what we do think is achievable.
Utila and Guanaja are separate islands reached by boat or light aircraft, so those attempts are planned and priced as trips.
If your Honduras address came from a property record, a company filing or a file more than a year old, treat it as a starting point rather than a residence, and let us verify it before attempting.
Timing, and what comes back to you
Roatán is usually days once the person is confirmed to be on the island. Mainland timescales depend on the city and the area. Where the work is really a trace, we quote the enquiry and the service together, in writing, before beginning.
- A court-ready Affidavit or Certificate of Service, sworn locally
- A record of every attempt — date, time, address and who was spoken to
- A description of the person served and the circumstances of the handover
- Photographs of the location where lawful and practical
- Progress updates by email or WhatsApp while the matter is live
- A reasoned report if service cannot be effected, with what we established about the true address
- A single point of contact who knows your file, start to finish
Why instruct us in Honduras
Because we distinguish between the Bay Islands and the mainland before you spend anything, and because we will decline an address we will not safely attempt rather than bill you for the attempt.
And because we work in Spanish on the mainland and report to you in English. There is a full Spanish version of this information at es.html.
Spanish on the mainland, English on the islands, and we report to you in English throughout. Ask us about the correct service route and any translation requirement before you send.