I'm at a loss...

[iketurner]

Florida

Ok, here's the deal. I filed for joint custody of my daughter in September. The mother lives in Georgia and I attempted to get the papers served by the county sheriffs. Before they could serve her she moved moved on a military base in a different county with her husband. I have been attempting to have her served, but have ran into nothing but snags. The sheriffs office in the new county has no jurisdiction on the base so they sent the papers to the JAG office to be served to her. I have contacted them to see what was taking so long as they have had the papers for over a month. I was told that they might never get served because the JAG office must contact her to come into the office then ASK her if she wants to be served, then find her again to actually serve her the papers. This sounds a bit fishy to me, but I am a former soldier, and nothing about the Army suprises me anymore.

What I'm wondering is, where I go from here? I have contatced several private process servers in her area, and all of them were unable to help. I was told that they cannot go on base to serve her, they must get her out to the front gate willingly to serve her. She does not work, so they cannot serve her there either. The only thing they said they could do was to wait outside the gate untill she comes out and then they coule give her the papers, but thats at a price of around $100 per hour.

I'm not sure what to do from here. A friend mentioned that I may be able serve by publication. I know I would have to get the judges permission for that. Would that be an option? Any other options that might be available?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Ike

 

[BelizeBreeze]

Do you have her address on post?

 

[iketurner]

Yes, I do have it.

 

[Gracie3787]

Since you do have her address you can try something a little unusual- write a letter to ex explaining that you are trying to have her legally served. State that she needs to allow herself to be served within so many days (I would suggest 20 days from reciept of letter). Then explain that if she doeas not allow service you will file a motion asking the court to order her to allow service. Make 3 copies of the letter, send her the original by regular mail and a copy by return reciept mail and see if she responds. A friend did this when her military ex refused to be served and a Judge actually issued an order that if he didn't allow service within so many days that a default order would be issued.

I know this is unusual and might not work with all Judges, but it's worth a try.

 

[BelizeBreeze]

Since you do have her address you can try something a little unusual- write a letter to ex explaining that you are trying to have her legally served. State that she needs to allow herself to be served within so many days (I would suggest 20 days from reciept of letter). Then explain that if she doeas not allow service you will file a motion asking the court to order her to allow service. Make 3 copies of the letter, send her the original by regular mail and a copy by return reciept mail and see if she responds. A friend did this when her military ex refused to be served and a Judge actually issued an order that if he didn't allow service within so many days that a default order would be issued.

I know this is unusual and might not work with all Judges, but it's worth a try.

Well, there's another little thing in the Georgia statutes that will help. And since you must serve the defendent in compliance with the state of service, this is what I would advise.

First read 9-11-4 G (d) Waiver of service.
Then send her(according to what you read) a certified (RRR) letter inserting a Waiver of Service.

You'll see why when you read the statute located here:
http://www.ganet.org/cgi-bin/pub/ocode/ocgsearch?docname=OCode/G/9/11/4&highlight=process