A Publication Divorce is needed when the petitioner does not know where his/ her spouse lives or works and hence cannot serve the spouse with Divorce papers. There are certain steps that have to be followed in order for the courts to have a ‘date of service’.
These steps include:
- file a petition for Divorce
- request a search for the spouse using the full name and last known address in a legal newspaper
- contact any persons found in the search
- contact the post office to stamp the form indicating that there is no forwarding address
- send a declaration that the person is not found
- request a judge to sign the order for publication
- publicize the divorce in a legal newspaper for a specified period of time, usually 30 days
- the 7th day after publication is complete will be the ‘date of service’
- default papers can be filed with the court after 30 days
- the Publication Divorce is typically finalized 6 months and 1 day from the ‘date of service’
A Publication Divorce is more complicated and takes longer than a typical Divorce. It is best to make every effort to locate the spouse before considering a Publication Divorce.
However, if the spouse cannot be found, this is an approved method of finalizing a Divorce. As you can see from the number of steps needed, it is complicated and difficult to complete. For a LOW FLAT FEE, Legal Action Workshop can do this for you. For a Publication Divorce, please call Legal Action Workshop @ 888-LGL-ACTN (888-545-2286) or visit www.LegalActionWorkshopLAW.com.