Can divorce be granted when the other person is missing?
I received a phone call from one of my dear friends one day, she came back from work and found out a note left by her husband, he didn’t have the courage to tell her in person that he wanted to leave the marriage, he left her a message on post-it. She was heartbroken and desperate and asking me whether a divorce can be granted when the other person is missing?
In this instance, the husband or wife is missing and can’t be located to serve the divorce paper. Court requires some sort of service or legal notification to the non-filling spouse that a divorce action has been filed, giving that person an opportunity to be heard in court. Notice to your spouse can often be satisfied through “Service by Publication” after diligent search has been made. It means you will have to prove that you’ve made every inch of your effort to find your spouse. Once you’ve exhausted all of your efforts and received approval of the court, you can publish an ad in a local newspaper notifying your missing spouse of the divorce proceedings in process.
Assuming your missing spouse does not respond within a given time frame, your divorce would then be granted as a default judgment. The court would grant you a divorce and decide all of the terms of the divorce in the manner which you have requested.
