SteveBrandt
Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida.
I was married to my wife for only a year and 2 months when she packed up and left and I never heard from her again (thank God). We had NO children and owned NO property, just rented.
That was in November of 2002 when she left. In April of this year I filed for divorce in absence. The attorney I hired did a search for her as required by law and claims he located her in Miami, FL, however the search showed she's been living in different parts of the country in addition to different parts of Florida during these last 8 years. The search also showed that she had been living at other addresses while still married to me (She used to say she was travelling due to her job & would be away for a week at a time once a month). But the Miami address was shown by the database to be the most recent.
My attorney sent a process server to that address to serve her papers. The process server never actually saw her, my attorney said, but someone who answered the door supposedly said that she lives there, so apparently that's considered a proper serve (?).
Well, since April she has made no contact with the court, nor has responded in any way despite being ordered by the judge to respond. I've read on the internet that in Florida the other spouse has 30 days to respond and if they don't the divorce proceeds without them.
However my attorney says we have to wait for the judge to have her arrested for contempt before we can proceed. As far as I'm concerned how can we even know if she's still there or ever even was if she wasn't seen? This has been dragging on since April of this year and solid proof exists that she and I have not seen each other since 2002, since her searches revealed multiple addresses all over Florida and the U.S., whereas I have lived in the same state and city since 1993.
Am I getting the run around? And is it by the court or my lawyer or both? I mean it seems to me this should have wrapped up by now after 7 months, yet it still drags on with no apparent end in sight. Please help.What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
I was married to my wife for only a year and 2 months when she packed up and left and I never heard from her again (thank God). We had NO children and owned NO property, just rented.
That was in November of 2002 when she left. In April of this year I filed for divorce in absence. The attorney I hired did a search for her as required by law and claims he located her in Miami, FL, however the search showed she's been living in different parts of the country in addition to different parts of Florida during these last 8 years. The search also showed that she had been living at other addresses while still married to me (She used to say she was travelling due to her job & would be away for a week at a time once a month). But the Miami address was shown by the database to be the most recent.
My attorney sent a process server to that address to serve her papers. The process server never actually saw her, my attorney said, but someone who answered the door supposedly said that she lives there, so apparently that's considered a proper serve (?).
Well, since April she has made no contact with the court, nor has responded in any way despite being ordered by the judge to respond. I've read on the internet that in Florida the other spouse has 30 days to respond and if they don't the divorce proceeds without them.
However my attorney says we have to wait for the judge to have her arrested for contempt before we can proceed. As far as I'm concerned how can we even know if she's still there or ever even was if she wasn't seen? This has been dragging on since April of this year and solid proof exists that she and I have not seen each other since 2002, since her searches revealed multiple addresses all over Florida and the U.S., whereas I have lived in the same state and city since 1993.
Am I getting the run around? And is it by the court or my lawyer or both? I mean it seems to me this should have wrapped up by now after 7 months, yet it still drags on with no apparent end in sight. Please help.What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?