hard to find spouse

[poohby]

i live in new york. my fiance has not seen his wife in about 14 years and we're having a hard locating her especially since we don't have her social security number. we have spent wasted money already and i would like to know if there is a cheaper way to get a divorce - preferably one signature. they do not have any children or property together but he and i have a 6 year old and we would really like to be married. any help would be greatly appreciated. thank-you.

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

My response:

Oh my gosh ! You could have saved a lot of money and time !

The law does not require you, as a Petitioner or Plaintiff, to jump through difficult hoops or hurdles to locate someone in order to divorce or sue that other person; i.e., the law does not require a litigant to hire a private detective, or the like.

All the law requires is that a "reasonable, diligent, effort" be made to locate a missing potential litigant. That means, phone calls to the Tax Assessor's Office, the Department of Motor Vehicles, the Post Office, and other places who might have "location" information. If those agencies do not have such information, you have then completed your "diligent efforts".

Once that "effort" has been made, a Motion can be filed with the court to obtain the court's permission to Publish the Summons and Petition in a newspaper of general circulation in the town where the "missing litigant" was last known to have resided. That's it, and then you have completed your obligations to give Notice of the pending litigation.

If the other party see the Legal Notice in the newspaper, great. If they don't see it, that's tough.

IAAL