Is it possible to divorce somebody if you don't know where they are?

Question

I'll try to make this as short as possible. But I have a friend, who was married for I believe 2 years. The marriage kind of went south while he was serving in iraq, and just before he got home, he and his wife decided they should get a divorce.

Well he made 2 different attempts to go to court and get it over with, and neither time she showed up. He hasn't heard from her in about a year, but would like to get it over and done with, but has no clue how to contact her. Does he have any options? If it makes a difference he has lived in california for a year, so technically he is a resident. They own no property, and have no kids.

So is it possible to get a divorce if you have no clue where your spouse is? If you need more info to answer better, let me know.

Thanks in advance for your help.

He has made attempts to contact her parents, but they never got back to him. I don't know if he has made any attempts to put an ad in the paper where he lived before though.

Answer 1

Yes and NO ! Legally NO you can't you may think you have and you may think that you have gottin away without the other person signing , but trust me If both people don't sign the other person can contest it , OK let me explain !

Ok my ex-Wife got arrested for DV and I decided to file separation , but not a divorce well I had filled out , Parenting Plan, child support papers and all , but I decided I didn't want a seperation. So she filed for a divorce well she had all the papers she needed except the divorce papers and she sent them in with out me know it I found out right after she sent them in and she told me too late , I knew that I had a right to show up in court for the situation and she never told me the court date I asked her when the court date was because I knew if I showed up and told my end of the story he would not grant a divorce ! So she told me that the court date was a later date than it actually was ! I called her like two days before the date I thought was the court date and she told me it was too late and that we were already divorced , I told her funny Ha Ha. So I called the court and they said yes your court decree has been finalized , I about fell to the ground thinking how could they give her everything she wanted , well the fact is the overlook that alot ,but at any time after that the other person can go and ask the court to have the Orders Removed and legally your married again ! It took me talking to my lawyer to find this out ! Not only that but now her new marriage is Void and she may have problems with the law because of it ! So basically untill we both agree on what is to be signed we are still married ! So she is going to be really mad that she can't get remarried. Also there are other things it may affect like her credit the taxes she has filed the last two years and more ! Yes it has been two years and they still reversed the divorce ! Basically it's like the divorce papers never were there so now I have public record of her commiting adultry also , beside the fact she did before all this happened !

Answer 2

California is what is referred to as a "no fault state" or "pure" no fault state meaning that there doesnt have to be or should i say you dont have to prove grounds for divorce, so abandenment doesnt really matter as someone suggested. usually in a no fault state such as california (and theres about 16 other states that are no fault) one has to petition the court for a dissolution of marriage(divorce) based on "irreconcilable diffferences" (that;s all that needed for the reason for the divorce) the form can be picked up from the clerk of courts office or maybe found online for free, (some courts have the forms online)the person petitioning the court will be known as the (petitioner) once this is filled out it must be served on the spouse(respondent) however if the petitioner doesnt know the were abouts of the respondent he must make every effort to locate the respondent. first have her served at her last address by a proffessional server, mail a copy by certified with address request etc, etc,,this is called a diligent search and instrctions on how to do this can be found at the clerk of courts, actually they should be able to sell you a packet with instructions and the necessary forms doing this without an attorney is called "pro se" and there is usaully in most states an office were you can get help with filing and filling out papers but, there not aloud to give legal advice (well there not suppose to)
onnce you have copleted your diligent search then you would have her served by publication(pay for an ad which in most cases will run for about 4 weeks) the clerk of court will have the names of publications that they except, If there is stil no response from the respondent you would submit a default, the clerk would verify that they did not recieve a response and enter a default against the respondent after you recieve the default you can schedule a final hearing and the judge will grant your divorce. pretty much in a nut shell. Call the clerk of court first to get started and ask them if there is any office that will assist. you with filing for your divorce and that you are filing "pro se"(without an attorney) doing it yourself(pro se) can save you alot of money easy and educational

Answer 3

actually it is possible...my husband had to do that. he was married about 8 years ago to a girl who just up and left him ...he tried contacting her parents a few times and stuff but never could get a response from them either, so the lawyer ran a ad in the local newspaper of the town of her last known address for a month and after that since there was no response to it, the judge signed the divorce papers since it was a no contest divorce. fully legal and all!!

Answer 4

Have his atorney take care of the details.I am bnot sure about California but in my state (NC) divorces can be granted if after a yr separation and applicant runs legal notice in major newspapers and local area of the last known addresss for a allotted perios of time.If the party does not respond, the divorce is granted and binding...

Answer 5

My wifes ex-husband snuck around and divorced her while they were separated, He kept having papers served to an address where he knew she no longer lived and her failure to respond granted him a divorce a year before she even knew it. This was in Ohio I don't know how many states that would work in.

Answer 6

He can file for divorce himself but both have to appear and sign to actually get a divorce. However he can always go to his attorney and file abandonment charges. That is when your spouse abandons you. Tell him to talk to his attorney about it he or she will know what you are talking about and a judge will be able to grant your divorce.

Answer 7

I request that your friend contact an attorney with that question. Here in WA, if one person wants a divorce, they can get it. Wish your friend the best on this. Take care.

Answer 8

Yes it is. Consult a lawyer. I was married to a guy for years and had no idea where he was. I gave my lawyer his last known whereabouts when we were together and the divorce came through in 30 days. No problems. It becomes your lawyers responsibility once you have retained him or her for the divorce.

Answer 9

Legally, no they can't be divorced if no papers have been served. There are plenty of skip tracer companies and private investigators who can find her. Do a web search for a skip tracer

Answer 10

im pretty sure there is as long as a strong attempt has been made to try and contact the other spouse ...but im no expert but i think there are places you can go to look into it or try online but it is possible ...good luck