Locating a Spouse for Divorce

[leearteaga2003]

My friend was married on May 3, 1995 in NY. In Dec. 1995 his wife asked him to go with her to her immigration appointment to get her permanent resident papers, so he did. In Jan. 1996 he found his wife with another man and when he left for work, she packed her things and disappeared. He tried to look for her through her cousin, but her cousin said she wasn't coming back, so he was over it, he didn't bother to look for her. He felt she was using him for papers. In 1998 he moved to NJ. In 2002 he met someone and he statrted to look for his wife to file for divorce, but his lawyer stated he had to try and locate her. He gave the lawyer the last known address and phone number, but were not able to serve her. In June 2009 he wanted to get engaged to his girlfriend, and he went back to his lawyer & was told they need to verify an address. A new address came up and that was given to his lawyer, but no luck in the past 6 months with getting her served.

Since his wife has an permanent resident number, is there someone he can contact to get a valid address for his wife in order to locate her to serve her with the divorce papers. They have been legally seperated for over 13 years and I feel bad for them, because they seem happy and want to get married. I feel like his lawyer is dragging his feet. What can he do to get this divorce resolved??

 

[fredrikklaw]

Become a Publisher!

File a motion with the court for an order to proceed in the case by way of Divorce by Publication, which when granted, allows a party who cannot locate the spouse for service of process to instead publish the summons in a newspaper once a week for so many months in lieu of personal service. And after the statutory period of publication has expired, your spouse will be considered served for all intents and purposes.

If she does not answer or otherwise appear in the case, you will apply to court for entry of default and for default judgment which would give you the divorce you have been waiting for all these years.

Divorce by Publication will take anywhere from eight months to a year to complete, so the sooner you start the process to divorce, the sooner you can get married.

Best of Luck!

fredrikklaw