Dispatch desk / Coverage / Sint Eustatius
Service of process in Sint Eustatius
Statia is about eight square miles with a population in the low thousands, one town, and an oil terminal that accounts for a fair share of the commercial work. Like Saba, it is a Dutch public body rather than a separate country, and that governs the procedure.
What the Sint Eustatius desk handles
- Personal service of summonses, complaints, petitions and subpoenas
- Commercial matters connected with the oil terminal and its contractors
- Service on small businesses and their owners
- Divorce, family and probate documents
- Debt, judgment and enforcement documents
- Trace and locate, and confirming whether a person is still on the island
- Corporate documents at a place of business
- 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.
A small island with an industrial corner
Two different kinds of address, on an island you can cross in twenty minutes.
Residential addresses are a district and a house, often without a street name, and a person who lives here is findable by name. That is the easy half.
The terminal and its contractors are the other half. Those sites have controlled access and a security post, and a document tendered at a gatehouse is not service. For that work we need the exact registered name of the company and the name and title of the person to be served, and we plan around shift patterns rather than office hours. Contractor personnel also rotate off the island, so confirm with us that the individual is still there before anyone flies in.
On procedure: as a Dutch public body, your document may need to be in Dutch and formal service may need to go through a deurwaarder, notwithstanding that English is what is spoken. We tell you which applies before you send, and then arrange it.
Access is by light aircraft from Sint Maarten on a limited schedule, so an attempt is a planned trip. We price it once, in advance, and will combine it with a Saba or Sint Maarten matter where you have one.
Timing, and what comes back to you
Locating a resident is usually quick. The flight schedule sets the date, and a formal deurwaarder route runs on that office’s timescale rather than ours. We tell you the realistic date rather than the hopeful one.
- 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 on Sint Eustatius
Because we will confirm the person is still on the island before you pay for a flight, and because we know that terminal work is planned around shifts and gate procedure, not around office hours.
There is a full Dutch version of this information at nl.html.
English is the working language and we report to you in English, but the paperwork may require Dutch. Ask us about the route and any translation requirement before you send.