Valrie said:
i am from massachusetts. i would like to know if i can file a divorce by publication myself. my husband has been gone over a year and hasn't been in contact with me. i don't know where he lives. i filed for a divorce through a lawyer but they could not serve him the papers because they couldn't find him. i have bills galore and cannot afford a lawyer for $2500 which are the quotes i have been getting.
help!!!!!
My response:
You'll need to follow your States' laws to publish a Summons. In most States, a Motion to the court needs to be filed, which includes a declaration of due diligence of your attempts to have him served personally. The declaration would also include your facts concerning all other reasonable attempts to locate him; e.g., through the property tax and voters Rolls, through the Information Operator, through the Department of Motor vehicles, etc.
Then, you'll need to have an Order signed by the court, directing a newspaper to publish the Summons.
Figure all of your costs to do this of between 400 to 700 dollars.
You should pick up a book on Divorce from a major bookstore. Within that book, it should give you instructions for this procedure pursuant to your States' laws, and the forms with which to accomplish this task. If it doesn't have the forms, it should make mention of which forms to obtain from the Court Clerk's office.
In short, you just can't bring your Summons to a newspaper office and say, "Here, please publish this". It doesn't work that way.
Good luck to you.
IAAL
