Re: Debt Collector at door. Does he have to prove I live there & physically serve pap
As this is a case of personal service of a summons on an individual it would seem that this is a High Court matter, as only the High Court rules require personal service. Both Circuit and District merely require a Civil Bill and Civil Summons to be served by registered post.
Sorry to burst your naive bubble here OP, but what this means is that the High Court Summons has issued, otherwise they couldn't be attempting to serve you. Once a High Court summons has issued the clock stops running for the purposes of the Statute of Limitations, this is also true of the Circuit Court proceedings. So avoiding the summons will not beat the Statute and result in the matter becoming statute barred.
To further rain or your parade, the next step for the plaintiffs will be to bring an Ex-Parte Motion (i.e. you won't be notified) to the Court for an Order of Substituted Sevice, which are virtually automatically granted, what this means is that the Court will grant permission for the legal proceedings to be served on you by ordinary post. Once sent by post, service is effected and whether you actually receive the proceedings or not doesn't matter.
If you then choose to ignore the proceedings; judgment in the amount claimed plus legal costs will ultimately be entered against you in your absence (probably 'in the office' without the need for any further Court appearance). Once judgment has been obtained the plaintiff/judgment creditor will then usually proceed to enforce judgment by execution through the County Sheriff who can call to your property and seize your goods, by registration and publication of details of the judgment in the Judgment Office (resulting in publication of your details in Stubbs Gazette and other debtor such trade magazines, websites, etc.), possibly a judgment mortgage against your property (i.e. the conversion of the judgement to a mortgage registered on the title deeds of your property), an installment order and if not complied with maybe committal to prison and possibly even seeking an Order for Sale of your property to discharge the debt.
OP, this is a serious situation and by adopting the osterich approach and burying your head in the sand the matter will only get worse. Go see a solicitor or if you cannot afford one, talk to MABS and/or Free Legal Advice Centre.