Need advice.

hugojean said:

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California
I filed for divorce in 1994 and lost contact with my ex-wife. It has been 15-16 years since we have last been in contact. I recently found that we were merely legally separated. At the time we had no real property. She has remarried and i do not want to mess up her life. I searched her name and found her on facebook to explain. My question is, being that she does not want anything from me and i don't want anything from her how simple or hard would it be to make the situation right. also what steps should I take?

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hugojean said:

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California
I filed for divorce in 1994 and lost contact with my ex-wife. It has been 15-16 years since we have last been in contact. I recently found that we were merely legally separated. At the time we had no real property. She has remarried and i do not want to mess up her life. I searched her name and found her on facebook to explain. My question is, being that she does not want anything from me and i don't want anything from her how simple or hard would it be to make the situation right. also what steps should I take?

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hugojean said:

If you filed for divorce how are you merely legally separated? Didn't you receive a divorce decree in 1994?

I filed a dissoulution of marriage. I didn't follow up and I didn't recieve a divorce decree so i don't think the divorce was finalized. We had no children together.

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mistoffolees said:

Then you're not legally separated, either.

First, check to see if the divorce was ever finalized by calling the court clerk.

If not, you'll need to file for divorce now. You may end up with property division problems unless you can each agree to just keep what you have now.

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nextwife said:

Has she had children subsequent to your seperation?

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IrishLady47 said:

And, if you've been out of contact for 15 years, she may have filed & followed through on getting a divorce before she remarried. Notice by publication. Did she actually say she never received a divorce?

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hugojean said:

yes she has four children currently,none of which were fathered by me.

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mistoffolees said:

Then YOU have four children, as well. Since you were married when they were born, you are legally the father until you do something about it. You really need to talk with an attorney.

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LdiJ said:

I don't think that's correct in this case.

She remarried. While she is technically a criminal (bigamist) in a voidable marriage its still a marriage and her husband (the second one) would still be the legal father of the children produced of that marriage.

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