Family Law

Fremont Divorce Attorney Discusses Notice of Divorce

By Scott Sagaria

Fremont Divorce Attorney Discusses Notice of Divorce

Deciding to get a divorce is a difficult decision, sometimes made more difficult by the fact that you may no know where your spouse is to tell them that you want to get a divorce. This happens more than people think. One spouse moves away or leaves the other spouse without telling them where they went or for how long. Since a divorce petition needs to be served on the other party or the other party must have notice of the petition, this problem can cause an obstacle to getting a divorce. In this instance, notice to your spouse can often be satisfied through ?service by publication". This means that you must publicize your divorce petition in a regularly circulated newspaper or magazine. This process takes about 3 months in order for service be considered proper. To get the court to accept this form of service, you'll have to prove that you have made a diligent effort to locate your spouse and by "diligent", we mean more than just a few phone calls.

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. Notice that the ad is run after the divorce is filed and the choice of which newspaper is typically left up to you, although you may want to verify this with the court clerk as there may be a recommended paper typically used by the court or a requirement as to the size of the paper's circulation for such matters.

Assuming your missing spouse does not respond within a given timeframe, 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.

If you have questions about divorce, child custody, or child support, or any other family law matter, the attorneys at Sagaria Law can help. We have a team of family law attorneys experienced in all types of family law cases, including divorce, paternity, support and property division. We offer a free thirty minute consultation, either over the phone or in person at any of our six Northern California locations: Redwood City, Fremont, San Jose, Sacramento, and Salinas. Call 1-800-941-6730 today to schedule your free consultation.

Full post as published by California Family Law Blog on January 19, 2009 (boomark / email).