What is a court order?
Court orders are formal documents pronounced by the judge and fomalised by either the judge or by the Registry when the authentication process is complete. They can include:
- An order made after a hearing by a judicial officer, or
- An order made after parties who have reached their own agreement have applied to a court for consent orders. Consent orders, if they become a formal court order, have the same status as if the order had been made after a hearing by a judicial officer.
Searching court records and obtaining copies of documents
In general, documents filed in a proceeding may be inspected and copied on payment of the proper fee. However, some documents may be confidential and require an Order of the Court or permission from the Prothonotary, Deputy Prothonotary or Registrar (where appropriate).
Documents filed in criminal proceedings are generally not available for inspection. Permission is required in accordance with rule 1.11(4) and 1A.03(7) of the Supreme Court (Criminal Procedure) Rues 2017 to inspect a document in a criminal proceeding.
Application to Search a Court file or Record form:
To conduct a court file search for a proceeding in the Trial Division or Court of Appeal, an Application to Search a Court file or Record form will need to be completed and submitted in RedCrest. The Application to Search a Court file or Record form must be used if a party seeks to:
- Inspect a court file in the Supreme Court of Victoria Trial Division or Court of Appeal
- Conduct a litigation/name search for any civil proceedings in the Supreme Court of Victoria.
Inspections:
If the proceeding number:
- contains an ‘E’ (referring to ‘Electronic’), documents approved for search will be emailed to the party.
- does not contain an ‘E’, this means that the Supreme Court of Victoria maintains a paper file for this proceeding. The relevant Registry will advise the party as to how documents may be inspected, which may include in-person attendance at the relevant Registry (generally at the Principal Registry at 450 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne).
A fee is payable for each search to search a court file. Further photocopying fees will apply if the party attends the Registry in-person to photocopy documents.
Court fees are charged according to the following three categories – ‘corporate’, ‘standard’ and ‘concession’:
- Corporate: A corporate fee payer means an entity other than a standard fee payer or a concession fee payer.
- Standard: A standard fee payer means:
- A natural person other than a natural person acting in the capacity of a statutory office holder.
- An entity which is not-for-profit organization that:
- Operates exclusively for charitable, civil or other social purposes.
- Does not share or allocate funds or profits of the organisation with the owners, shareholders or executives of the organisation.
- Any entity that has a turnover of less than $200,000 in the financial year before the financial year in which a fee needs to be paid.
- The executor or administrator of a deceased estate.
- Concession: A concession fee payer means a person who holds a current health care card within the meaning of the Social Security Act 1991 at the time a fee is payable.
Subpoenas are legal documents compelling a witness to attend court to give evidence, or a person (or company) to produce documents for evidence. A subpoena directs a named person to appear in a certain place at a certain time in order to give testimony in connection with an investigation or a legal proceeding.
Subpoenas are used when a person or organisation is unwilling or unable to meet the request voluntarily. The person to be served with the subpoena (the addressee’) is required by law to comply with it.
The party who is seeking production of the material should first attempt to get the required material themselves before making their request to the Court. As a subpoena is a court order, the addressee must produce any documents directly to the Court.
The following people can issue subpoenas when they are involved in a legal matter associated with the subpoena:
- A judge who is presiding over the legal proceeding, e.g., a trial;
- The clerk of the court where a lawsuit is pending;
- A private attorney who represents one of the parties to a lawsuit;
- A government attorney, such as a District Attorney or Attorney General.
- A subpoena to give evidence: This obliges the addressee to attend court and provide evidence at a particular hearing.
- A subpoena to produce documents: This obliges the addressee to provide the Court with any documents named in the subpoena. However, it cannot force a witness to create a document.
- A subpoena to produce documents and to give evidence: This obliges the addressee to provide documents to the Court and attend to give evidence. However, this type of subpoena should not be sought if production of the documents would be sufficient.
Chang Accounting Advisory Pty Ltd, we are CPA practice and tax agent. If you or your families or friends need our services, please feel free to contact our team for any assistance.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not form part of our advice. This article is based on Supreme Court of Victoria and County Court Victoria guidelines. Please contact our team if you need any assistance.
Claire Chang, 0497 131 419, claire.chang@changadvisory.com.au, wechat: clairechang26
Michelle Cui, 0433 539 870, michelle.cui@changadvisory.com.au, wechat: michellejc
Claire Chang