Getting Divorced Without Your Spouse

You want a divorce but don’t know where your spouse is. Even if you could find them, you believe that they would not sign divorce papers for you. If you need a divorce in San Antonio and this situation sounds familiar, our team can help. Our attorneys at The Cook Law Firm & Associates PLLC have over 15 years of experience assisting clients in Bexar County through the divorce process.

Understanding The Default Judgment Divorce Process

Your spouse does not have to cooperate or answer your divorce filing in order to get a divorce. However, Texas law requires that you follow certain specific steps. The first step of a default judgment divorce is to file your original petition (the first document filed in a lawsuit). Next, the most difficult part of the default judgment divorce begins. Specifically, you must legally serve your uncooperative or missing spouse with your divorce petition.

Our lawyers will take the following steps to accomplish this:

1. They will make diligent efforts to learn the current address of your spouse.
2.  If they find the address through their search, they will hire a process server to bring the petition for divorce to your spouse and hand it to them in person. This is the most common, effective and well-known way to serve a person with a lawsuit.
3. If our attorneys learn your spouse’s address but they live out of the county, our team will have the district clerk send the petition for divorce by certified mail. Your spouse must sign the return receipt for this service method to work. If your spouse refuses to sign the return receipt, then our lawyers must proceed to the next step.
4. They will draft an affidavit for the judge that states your reasons for not being able to serve your spouse and ask the judge to allow you to use a different method of service.
5.  Upon the judge’s approval, our attorneys will file a notice of the divorce by publication. If notice by publication or posting on the courthouse door is necessary, our team will have to appoint an attorney to represent your spouse in their absence.

In a default judgment divorce, you may not know where in the world your spouse is. That would make it impossible to serve your spouse. Or perhaps your spouse is purposefully avoiding getting served. In that situation, Texas law allows a lawyer to ask for permission from the court to serve the spouse in some alternative way. Sometimes notice is left on the door of the spouse; sometimes notice is published on the door of the courthouse.

Either way, once a court grants permission, you do not have to serve your spouse in the classic way depicted above. Whether our team arranges to serve your spouse in person, by mail or through publication, once the service is complete, your spouse has 20 days (technically, it is the first Monday after 20 days have expired) to answer your service of the lawsuit. If your spouse does not answer, then you can finalize your suit without further notification to the spouse.

Reach Out To Us With Questions

If you need to file for divorce and cannot find your spouse, call us at 210-740-0281 or fill out our online contact form to schedule a consultation at our San Antonio office. Our lawyers will guide you through the default judgement divorce process.