Can I file the Verified Complaint if I don’t know where my spouse is?

Filing for divorce in New York requires several legal steps, one of which is serving your spouse with a Verified Complaint for Divorce. Typically, the plaintiff (the spouse initiating the divorce) must serve the defendant (the other spouse) with this document to officially notify them of the divorce action. However, what happens if you don’t know where your spouse is?

The good news is that

Verified Complaint Divorce New York provides a legal path for divorce in cases where a spouse cannot be located. This process is known as “divorce by publication” or “service by publication,” and it involves additional steps to ensure that every reasonable effort has been made to locate your spouse before the court permits this alternative form of service.

Steps to Take if You Can’t Find Your Spouse

Before resorting to service by publication, the court requires that you exhaust all reasonable efforts to locate your spouse. Here are the typical steps you must follow:

Search Diligently for Your Spouse
 

The court expects you to make a thorough attempt to locate your spouse. This might include contacting family members, friends, and past employers; checking social media accounts; and searching public records, such as voter registration, property deeds, or DMV records. Hiring a private investigator can also be a helpful step in demonstrating that you’ve made a serious effort to find your spouse.

Submit an Affidavit of Diligent Search
 

Once you’ve taken reasonable steps to locate your spouse and have still been unsuccessful, you must file an “Affidavit of Diligent Search” with the court. This document outlines all the efforts you’ve made to find your spouse and serves as proof that you have tried to serve them by conventional means.

Request Permission for Service by Publication
 

After filing the affidavit, you can petition the court for permission to serve your spouse by publication. The court will review your affidavit and determine whether your efforts meet the legal standard of “due diligence.” If the court is satisfied that you’ve exhausted all reasonable methods, it will issue an order allowing service by publication.

What is Service by Publication?

Service by publication involves placing a notice of the divorce action in a local newspaper. The notice must run for a specified period, usually once a week for three consecutive weeks. The court will specify which newspaper the notice should appear in, often one that is distributed in the area where your spouse was last known to live. If the spouse does not respond to the notice within a certain time frame (usually 20 to 30 days), you can proceed with the divorce.

Default Divorce

If your spouse does not respond after the publication period has ended, you can request a default judgment from the court. A default divorce allows the court to grant the divorce without your spouse’s participation, meaning the divorce can be finalized based on the information and requests you included in your Verified Complaint.

While it’s more complex to file a Verified Complaint for Divorce when you don’t know where your spouse is, it’s entirely possible through service by publication. By following the proper legal steps and demonstrating diligence in your search, the court can grant you permission to proceed, ensuring that your divorce can move forward even if your spouse is unreachable.