In some cases when a person is about to begin divorce or dissolution of civil partnership proceedings, they may not be able to serve the papers on their spouse. This may be due to the fact they do not have a current address for them or because the person is refusing to acknowledge the divorce or dissolution petition.
Whilst it can create some procedural issues with the family Court and can complicate the entire legal process, it is still possible for the divorce or dissolution to go ahead, despite the spouse or civil partner not having been served the notice or having acknowledged it.
How do I serve divorce or civil partnership dissolution papers on my spouse without their address?
In order to obtain a divorce or dissolution without the address of your spouse or civil partner, you must demonstrate to the Court that you have made your best efforts to acquire a current address for them. This can be done in a variety of ways, such as:
Substituted service of the divorce/dissolution notice
In certain circumstances, a person seeking a divorce or dissolution may be able to get the Court to serve the petition on their spouse at their work address or at an address of a close family member or friend. The Court will agree to this request if you can show that your spouse or civil partner will become aware of the divorce/dissolution petition via this method.
Disclosure orders from HMRC
If your spouse or civil partners’ last known address was in the UK, then you can apply for a disclosure order to HMRC. In order to do this, HMRC must be provided with your spouse/civil partners’ last known address, date of birth and, if known, their national insurance number.
If HMRC has an address for the person, then it will be supplied to the Court, who will then send the divorce/dissolution papers to that address.
If it transpires that the person isn’t living at this address and the papers are returned to the Courts, then the Court are most likely to grant the divorce/dissolution without an address. However, an application to dispense with service of the divorce/dissolution petition will need to be made.
Dispense with service of the divorce/dissolution petition
In the application to dispense with service of the divorce/dissolution petition, the person making the application will need to include all of the steps they have taken to locate the other person. If the Court are satisfied that all reasonable steps have been taken then the divorce/dissolution will be granted. There is Court fee of £155 to lodge this application.
I have an address for my spouse/civil partner but they are just ignoring the divorce/dissolution papers. What can I do?
If the other party is failing to acknowledge the petition, then a request can be made for the Court bailiff to serve the papers on the person. There is a cost associated with doing this which is currently £110.
Alternatively, if the person seeking the divorce/dissolution has legal representation then they must seek to serve the papers via a process server instead. Once again there are costs associated with doing this which tend to vary.
With both cases, the attempts made to serve the papers will be recorded with the Court. If the papers are subsequently and successfully served then the divorce/dissolution can proceed and a decree nisi can be granted.
If all else fails you can apply to the Court for deemed service which, if granted, will then enable you to apply for the decree nisi. However, some form of evidence must be supplied to the Courts with the application for deemed service to show that the person has received the papers. This could be an email or even a text message. There is Court fee payable of £155.
How Nelsons can help
If you need advice in relation to any aspects of divorce proceedings or civil partnership dissolution, please contact a member of our team in Derby, Leicester or Nottingham on 0800 024 1976 or via our online form.
The team will be happy to discuss your circumstances in more detail and provide you with more information about the services that we can provide along with details of our hourly rates and fixed fee services.
Contact us