[fruitbat72]

A friend of mine got engaged to her long term partner last night . The issue is that she is still married to her first husband.

Her ex was extremely violent and the court orders state that no contact is to take place. She has no idea where he is (and doesn't really want to know) but obviously she needs to serve him with the divorce papers. Even if he is found, there is no guarantee that he will consent.

Is it at all possible to get a divorce without the consent of one party? As far as I know, they have been separated for 6 years and she has not seen him since.

[Lucretia Borgia]

yes you can....both parties do not need to "consent" to a divorce. She may need to show she has made efforts to find him to serve him the papers (not her personally, but process servers) - but failing that I assume there is a process for when one party cannot be found.

Long time since I have done family law - but the process used to be you would be granted your decree nisi first...setting the thing in motion, then a year later the decree absolut would be granted and you are divorced.....hopefully somone will come on here with more updated knowledge, but she certainly doesnt need his consent to the divorce.

[TwiceThe Woman]

I believe that consent is no longer required - just proof (in the form of affidavits from friends and family) that you have no longer been living as a married couple for one year or more.
I think he does need to be served with the divorce papers though ????
The legals here will set us straight on this.

[opethmum]

I would go to a family law expert and get them the appropriate advice for their situation. EB is not really a place to garner any official advice.
I am sure that they would be able to help your friend much better than we can.

[Liadan]

I would go to a family law expert and get them the appropriate advice for their situation. EB is not really a place to garner any official advice.
I am sure that they would be able to help your friend much better than we can.

I agree with this.

Good luck to your friend (and congratulations to her too), it shouldn't be too difficult for her to get her divorce.

[me-and-my-girls]

This post has been edited by me-and-my-girls: 10/05/2013, 09:05 PM

[HGL]

This is a few years ago but a friend needed had been separated from her husband for 10 years and no longer knew where he lived. She had to arrange a private investigator to locate him. It didn't cost a lot as they often just use the electoral roll and now with the internet I imagine it would be even easier.

[hiddensecrets]

From the family law court website:

I can’t find my spouse to serve a divorce application, what do I do?
If you have made a sole application, you need to serve the divorce application on your spouse. If you have taken all reasonable steps to serve your divorce application on your spouse and you are unable to do so, you can apply to the Court for:
substituted service, or
dispensation of service.
More information can be found in the publication Are you having trouble serving your divorce application? under the Publications section of this website.