Getting a divorce is never an easy thing. When you get married you never expect that it is going to end, you probably won’t have even thought that you would be divorcing the person you are with. But unfortunately, not all marriages work out, people grow and change, and soon they realize that they are not with the right person. It’s not a nice thought, but it happens. They might have been right for you when you first were with them, but as you’ve grown and matured, things are different.
Some couples realize that they are better as friends instead of as a married couple. These people can divorce amicable and can sometimes stay as friends after the divorce. Others might not speak again depending on the nature of their divorce. However, whilst some people are more than happy to sign divorce papers straight away, others might decide to disappear and make it nearly impossible for both of you to move on, so how do you go about divorce when your spouse is refusing to communicate? Let’s find out.
Find Evidence of an Informal Acknowledgment
If you are planning on getting a divorce, then the first thing that you will need to do is file a Divorce Petition. This will normally be sent to your spouse and then it will be filed at court. Once issued by the Court, your spouse will have seven days to file an Acknowledgement of Service with the Court. You need to make sure that your spouse acknowledges that they have received the Petition and whether they intend to defend it.
The difficulty lies when they do not acknowledge this, however, there are a few things that you can do. The first is to see if there is any informal acknowledge, e.g. they sent you a text message about it. You might even be able to find something on their social media if they have received it. If you are using this as informal evidence, the court can decide if it is good enough to proceed with your divorce and whether a Decree Nisi can be pronounced. This is known as a Deemed Service.
Use a Process Server
Most people will actually make use of a process server, like someone similar to this Denver process server to help them get their spouse to file a formal acknowledgment. There are many reasons why someone might decide to use a process server. Often it could be because of time constraints (e.g. your soon-to-be ex-spouse is planning on leaving the country). Hiring a process server is a practical and reasonably priced means to an end.
However, hiring a process server is also good for things like when your spouse doesn’t want to communicate with you. If you decide to hire this personal service, they will make sure that your spouse receives the divorce papers, meaning that they have no excuse when it comes to acknowledging them. All you will have to do is give a description of your spouse, including a photo and their whereabouts and they’ll get the job sorted for you.
Wait and Hope
If you are a hopefully person, and trust that your spouse will acknowledge the divorce papers, then the cheapest thing that you can do is wait and hope. However, this is not ideal as your spouse may choose to never address the divorce. This can mean that you will waiting around for a long time. You don’t want to do this though, so it is better to hire a process server to save you waiting.
However, if you trust your spouse then this decision is up to you. Maybe they are just busy and will get to it the next day. But is this really something that you want to wait for? Going through a divorce is already a tough and stressful time, so there’s no point in making things worse for you. Don’t sit around and wait unless you know that they will sort it the next day. If you are contemplating divorce, or think it’s time to end your relationship but aren’t sure what the right thing to do next is though, then why not check out this article here about signs you need to leave your relationship! If you feel like your spouse won’t budge then it may also be time to look into an online divorce service.
