Full question:
My wife and I were married seven years ago. For the last few years we had many issues while living together and my wife moved out of the marital home. Even after separation, we were not able to resolve the problems. Therefore I decided to file for divorce. Since my wife has moved around several times since we first separated, I don’t’ have a good address for her.So, is there any other way to give her a valid notice of the divorce proceedings and get an order of divorce?
- Category: Divorce
- Date:
- State: National
Answer:
The traditional method of initiating divorce action is by serving the spouse with the divorce notice by the movant’s attorney at the spouse’s last known address. But despite the diligent efforts, if you cannot trace the spouse, then you can ask the court to issue an Order of Notice by Publication. This method is by publishing a “legal advertisement” of your intention to divorce in a newspaper near the area of the spouse’s last known whereabouts. This publication will run for about three weeks and the spouse will be given time to respond to the final notice. If the spouse doesn’t respond within the time period, then you may proceed to finalize the divorce by default.By this method, one can divorce the spouse even if the spouse could not be located or has not participated in the divorce proceeding. However, in such cases the Judge should be convinced of the service of notice of publication of the divorce proceeding and that you were not able to locate the spouse despite diligent efforts. This method is best, when the spouse is Missing In Action (M.I.A).The court will require the filing of an affidavit of marshal service attesting to the publication along with the copy of the publicized notice in the state court. In addition, some states require the filing of an affidavit of military service stating that the spouse is not in the military.
Through this method, the court can also enter final orders even without the spouse’s effective participation in the dissolution of marital estate, including property division, division of assets and debts, and orders affecting children’s custody, visitation, child support among others.
This content is for informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Legal statutes mentioned reflect the law at the time the content was written and may no longer be current. Always verify the latest version of the law before relying on it.
