[jessie33]

How Do I get a divorce if I can not find my husband and how do I go about doing it?

[Clough]

Hi, jessie33!

If you are in the United States, then I did find some information on the following site that might be helpful to you. I hope that it is. It's my understanding, according to what I read concerning the copyright, that it would be okay to quote it here given the terms set forth by the holder of the copyright.

I Want a Divorce, but I Don’t Know Where my Spouse Is

I Want a Divorce, but I Don't Know Where my Spouse Is

By Jeffrey B. Peltz, Esq.

What can you do when you want a divorce and don't know where to find your spouse?

Our legal system requires "serving notice on"-that is, informing your spouse that you want a divorce. But if you don't know your spouse's whereabouts, what can you do? There is something called Divorce by Publication.

This is how it works. The law requires, first, that a "diligent effort" be made to "search" for your spouse in the "jurisdiction" where that person was last known to live. Your lawyer does this by contacting various agencies - the post office, the board of elections, the different branches of the military, the motor vehicles department-and asking whether they know of the person's current, or last place of residence. Searches also include telephone directories and the Internet. If a person is found with your spouse's name, an investigation must he done to determine whether that person is actually your spouse. If these efforts result in finding your spouse, notice of your divorce action can be served.

But if the search fails to locate anyone, your lawyer can apply to the court for an Order of Publication. The application lists all the search efforts so that the court sees that a "diligent effort" was made to find the missing spouse. When an Order of Publication is signed by a judge, your lawyer can then publish a legal notice in a newspaper stating that yon are bringing a divorce action against your spouse. This is the legal equivalent of "serving notice" with a "summons."

There are a few rules regarding the Order of Publication. One is that the legal notice-really a legal 'advertisement"-must be placed in the newspaper within 30 days after the judge has signed the order. The order will specify what newspaper-usually one published where the missing spouse was last known to have lived-and how often the notice must appear-three times, consisting of one notice per week for three weeks.

If after 30 days from the date when the third, and last advertisement. was published, the missing spouse does not respond, your lawyer can file your divorce "by default." This means that, despite a thorough search effort and sufficient legal notice in a newspaper, the missing spouse has failed to respond to your intention to seek a divorce. He or she is considered to have "defaulted," and your divorce will then be granted.

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