Wife Filed for Divorce March 6th in Florida

[FloridaCase]

My Wife and I have been seperated for 7 months. We were married
in July 2008 and were together 2 months.

I was in court on another matter and seen she filed for Divorce (Simple)
on March 6th 2009 about 56 days ago in Florida

The only property we have is Jewelry I gave her and Furniture. No cars
or other property.

In Florida I guess she is filing under Simple divorce and is not looking
for anything as her petition is clear and we have no children together.

Why would she not tell me?

I'm at the same place I was before I married her and she knows that,
but failed to have me served.

She could have filed notice in newspaper that she don't know where I am
but there is so many papers she could have listed it in and I can't
find any notice.

Bottom line is I want the Divorce.. But not until July 15th 2009
or close to that date..

What is she up to?

Someone said she will file some document stating she could not locate
me and then get hearing next day and divorce is then done.

Can I file a brief with the court stating where I can be contacted at
without having to answer a petition I was not served?

Thanks in advance

[Proserpina]

Is there a reason you don't want the divorce to be finalized before that date in July?

[Gracie3787]

Originally Posted by FloridaCase

My Wife and I have been seperated for 7 months. We were married
in July 2008 and were together 2 months.

I was in court on another matter and seen she filed for Divorce (Simple)
on March 6th 2009 about 56 days ago in Florida

The only property we have is Jewelry I gave her and Furniture. No cars
or other property.

In Florida I guess she is filing under Simple divorce and is not looking
for anything as her petition is clear and we have no children together.

Why would she not tell me?

I'm at the same place I was before I married her and she knows that,
but failed to have me served.

She could have filed notice in newspaper that she don't know where I am
but there is so many papers she could have listed it in and I can't
find any notice.

Bottom line is I want the Divorce.. But not until July 15th 2009
or close to that date..

What is she up to?

Someone said she will file some document stating she could not locate
me and then get hearing next day and divorce is then done.

Can I file a brief with the court stating where I can be contacted at
without having to answer a petition I was not served?

Thanks in advance

She will not be able to get the divorce finalized until she can prove that you were legally served. She can try to prove that she attempted to locate you, could not and served by publication. (that takes about 60 days from start to finish).

If you file anything with the court, it will be counted as an answer and proof of your knowledge of the petition.

If you want to delay the proceedings, you can just not file anything and keep an eye on the case file to see if she files for a service by publication. OR, you can file an answer stating that you were not served, and that you are constesting the divorce. This will create quite a delay because then you will have to go to mediation.

I'm curious, what is the reason that you don't want the divorce finalized before July?

[FloridaCase]

I guess I want to prolong the Divorce hoping some miracle
will happen and things will work out. I love her more than she
knows but July 15th makes 1 year.

But what reason would she have to file and not say anything
to me? She filed Pro se in the case.

All I can think is 2 things..

1) She still loves me and did so because her X-Husband had
her do it and this makes her look like she is trying to divorce
me.

2) She wants the divorce and was looking to do it without
my involvement. Her x-husband she is with now hates her
even talking to me. He is worried she will leave him again
as she has done 5 times in the past.

However I did call her tonight and left a voicemail telling
her where I was even though she knows this.

So, The answer is.. I'm holding out for that last little bit
of hope, hoping she wants me to fight to stay together
when all family on her side and mine wants us apart.

[mistoffolees]

Separate your dreams from reality.

Deal with the divorce - because you're going to need to do so whether you want to or not. Treat the divorce as if it's real - because it probably is. Her ex-husband didn't put her up to it. The tooth fairy didn't put her up to it, either. She's filed for divorce. Period. Since she's filing pro se, she's probably just making mistakes.

If you think that there's some hope of reconciliation, your best chance of that is by dealing with the divorce as maturely, gently and reasonably as you can (that doesn't mean rolling over and giving her everything, btw). If she is going to realize that the divorce is a mistake, delaying and fighting with her every step of the way is not likely to help. And hoping that delaying it to some magic date (whether it's the first anniversary, 50th anniversary, or 100 month anniversary of the first time you bought her flowers) will make the problems magically go away isn't very realistic.

[Proserpina]

This isn't legal advice, but I have to wonder....

She's left HIM 5 times...she's left YOU....are you really sure she wants to be in a long term relationship with anybody?!

Sigh. Sorry, other than that - I can only cosign Mistoffolees' awesome post.