How can i obtain a divorce if my spouse refuses to sign any paperwork or i
don`t know where s/he now lives?.
If you know your spouse
will refuse to sign any court papers you need to have service deemed, if
you don`t know where your spouse now lives you need to dispence service.
What is service?, when you ask for a divorce the court need to send
some forms to the person from whom you are asking the divorce, once they
return the paperwork "service" is complete, if they don`t return the forms
or you don`t know where to send them you need to "deem service" if they
wont return the forms or "dispence service" if you don`t know where they
live.
Deeming service.
Refusal to sign the
acknowledgement of service.
If
this happens you can still have the divorce but it will take a little
longer and cost more money in court fee`s, it should be noted that this
process is far from easy without the assistance of a solicitor, Wikivorce
does offer this service for a fixed fee of £480 plus court costs.
To start with you need to write to your spouse informing them of the
pending divorce and send it recorded delivery so you can proof it was sent,
if no responce then you need to find a process server or inquiry agent, the
court will suggest a
bailiff, they are more expensive and tend to be much
less successful, the server will require a recent photograph and address
details for the respondent, they will then serve the respondent, this is as
simple as handing over an envelope, once done they will provide you with a
statement of truth (affidavit) so you can prove to court the respondent was
served at a certain time and place.
Now you have proof of
service the next step is to file form D11 with court (costs £90) it will
take quite some time to get a short hearing in court, the hearing itself is
quite short, the judge checks the paperwork and if all correct will allow
you to move of to direction for trial under special procedure (form D84)
once complete the next stage is decree
nisi assuming for D80 statement of support is also
complete.
Solicitors follow a slightly different route when
deeming service which usually takes far less time.
Dispensing
service
If you no longer know where your spouse lives you should
make every effort to find their
contact details, dispensing
service is even more difficult than deeming service, again it is far from
easy without the help of a solicitor, Wikivorce does offer a fixed price
service for £480.
To begin with you need to complete the divorce
application along with statement of information
for children if you
have any, then form D13B which is an application to dispence with service
of divorce application, this is an exhaustive list to show you have made
all reasonable effort to contact your spouse, the biggest problem by far
when attempting this yourself is that your are biased, you are asking for a
divorce and also saying to the judge i did my best to find your spouse, for
this reason its rare for a judge to accept this without affidavits supplied
by a solicitor to confirm this, the solicitor is independent and without
bias in the application, if not using a solicitor you will need to make a
D11 application (costs £90), before you do this it is wise to place an
advert in the local paper the spouse was last known to reside in, this will
help convince the judge you have made best endeavors to make contact with
your spouse.
Solicitors who have no vested interest can use a
shorter route involving affidavits, this takes less time and does not
always require a D11 application.