How do I go about divorcing a woman I cannot locate?
I was married in 2001 and separated in 2004. I have not spoken to my wife in 5 years and have no idea where she is but I have a hunch she is still in southern California where I reside. I cannot afford a lawyer I was barely able to afford filing fees to file the original divorce paperwork. I ran an ad in the city newspaper where I believe she lived and heard nothing back. I paid and wasted my money on a few different people search websites all that came up was old addresses and phone numbers that I already knew were no good. I emailed her last known email address on more than one occasion and got no response back. I even looked her up on MySpace. She has very few relatives and the ones I do know are dead or just as hard to find as her. What can I do to find her and get this divorce over and done with?????
10 Responses
The Fat Man
31 Jan 2010
Muschi
31 Jan 2010
Ask where you filed for divorce. After a certain time, the papers should go through automatically. After being separated more than 4 years you don’t need her signature.
Summer B
31 Jan 2010
I think you may need to save up the money to at least consult at lawyer. You have to document and show the court that you made multiple reasonable attempts to locate her and serve her the papers. That has to be done correctly in court or your divorce may never be finalized.
illeg@lmonkey77
31 Jan 2010
Well if you don’t have the money for it then I dunno man. You’d have to hire a PI if you’ve truely exhausted all possible sources. Ask a lawyer too, maybe they can locate her. You don’t know her social security number or anything unique like that?
Otis F
31 Jan 2010
You’re going to need an attorney. You can file for divorce on the grounds of abandonment. You’ll have to run some ads in the newspapers and things like that, but it won’t be too hard. In fact, it’s probably cheaper than otherwise.
Smokee
31 Jan 2010
Place an ad in the paper of there last know address for 30 days. If there is no response in thirty days a judge will grant you a divorce.
Sandy
31 Jan 2010
I had to find a woman that hit my car a few years back. She never provided me with her location info and took off. I had a private investigator look up her plate and driver’s license number. He looked up every single detail of her life, (kinda scarey actually), everything from where she worked, where she lives, how many children she had, EVERYTHING. That’s when I hired a serving company to serve her the papers. I paid $200 for the P.I. and $70 to serve the papers. It was all done within 2 weeks. It’s well worth the money if you ask me.
If you have any bit of info on her (which I’m sure you have lots since you married her), it shouldn’t be hard to get a hold of her whereabouts now.
rgmx11
31 Jan 2010
I don’t think you even need your wife present at a court hearing to get a divorce. Go to a city court and ask a clerk, they will be able to help you out, and most important, their help is free.
Jessica M
31 Jan 2010
put an ad in the paper where she lives
lorisam7879
31 Jan 2010
You would file a missing spouse divorce. That involves placing a notice of publication in your local newspaper, which is considered "serving" her.
She will be given a certain amount of time to respond, and if she doesn’t reply within the time limit the divorce will be granted by default.
Why bother?
It didn’t matter 5 years ago.
Why does it matter now?