Divorce

While I can’t speak to your specific situation, here’s information on starting divorce proceedings when one spouse lives outside the U.S. I also included some information about possible issues with “personal jurisdiction” and “service of process” when divorcing a spouse outside the U.S.

Starting a Divorce Case

Generally, when one spouse lives outside the U.S., the spouse living in the U.S. may still get a divorce in the U.S. Generally, states have certain requirements for getting a divorce there. A common requirement is residency. In general, when someone wants to get a divorce, s/he would file in the state where s/he is a resident. Generally, a person may be a resident for the purposes of divorce in

• the state where they currently live, depending on how long they have lived there so far; or
• the state where they were married.

You can see those requirements for STATE here (check to see if the state has divorce info and change the link) OR

We unfortunately do not have information about these requirements for STATE on our website. However, we do link to other places that may have these resources on our STATE divorce page.

Personal Jurisdiction

An issue someone getting a divorce from a non-resident spouse may face is personal jurisdiction. A judge must have power or “personal jurisdiction” over someone in order to make them do something. For instance, if the two spouses own property, a judge may not be able to order the property be divided between the spouses if the judge does not have personal jurisdiction over the non-resident spouse. However, some states may allow a divorce decree even if property cannot currently be divided. This may be useful for a person who is trying to remarry, for instance. I am not sure if this is the case in your state. You would need to speak to a lawyer in your state about this. You can also read more about personal jurisdiction on our preparing for court pages.

Service of Process

Another issue that may come up when divorcing a non-resident spouse is notifying them about the case. Generally, someone getting a divorce is required to notify the other spouse about the case through “service of process.” This is because the parties to a lawsuit have the right to appear in court if they want. After being served, the other spouse can choose to come to court, send a lawyer to court, or not respond at all, but the law generally requires the other spouse is notified regardless of what they later choose to do.

In terms of serving someone whose whereabouts are unknown, the actual process for doing this – and whether or not it’s possible– may depend on the state laws regarding service and what the judge allows. Depending on the state, there may be different ways that divorce papers are served.

If they are served through the mail, for example, and a petitioner tells the judge that s/he doesn’t have a current address for the other person, sometimes a judge may allow a person to send it to the other person’s last known address in order to see if the mail is forwarded to the person’s new address. Other times, a judge may allow the petitioner to mail it to the other person’s closest relative or to his/her workplace if those addresses are known if the judge determines that this would actually get the papers to the person being served.

In some cases, a judge may not allow any sort of alternate service and the person may not be permitted to continue with a petition for divorce until s/he is able to get the person served in person or through certified mail. In some states, if no other methods of service can be accomplished, some states allow “service by publication,” where notice of the divorce is published in a specific newspaper for legal notices. In some states, if the judge approves an alternate form of service and the defendant does not appear in court, the judge can still move forward with a “default judgment.” A default judgment is generally when one person gets what they asked the court to do by default, because the other person did not come to court or send a legal representative to court.

Again, a lot of this may depend on the state’s rules for how divorce petitions have to be served. I do not know if you have an address for your husband or how proof of service in another country is accomplished in your county or state. You can read more about possible kinds of service and accomplishing service on our preparing for court pages. You may want to discuss this with a lawyer in your state as well.