System and method for providing partial presence notifications

A computer-implemented apparatus and method for communicating partial notifications relating to a presentity's presence information. The communication may be effected between presence servers and terminals coupled to the presence servers via a network. At least one presentity is identified to which a terminal has requested presence services. A presence document is created, where the presence document includes presence information corresponding to the presentity. The presence information is configured as partial presence information comprising less than a total of the presence information available for the presentity. The presence document having the partial presence information is communicated to the terminal requesting the presence information.