However, if your spouse is not in the military, then you should be able to proceed with the divorce.
Call up the attorney and ask how much it costs for a consultation. Also ask what documents or information you must bring. Prepare a list of questions for the attorney. For example, you might want alimony. You should ask the attorney how you can get it if your spouse lives outside the country.
You have children with your spouse. You need a lawyer to help you with child custody issues, as well as getting child support. You want alimony. A U. S. court might not be able to force someone outside the country to pay alimony. For that reason, you should have a lawyer represent you. Your spouse is contesting the divorce.
Every state has its own residency requirements. For example, New Jersey requires that you be a resident of the state for 12 consecutive months before filing for divorce. If you have recently moved, it’s possible that you don’t yet satisfy the residency requirements in your state. In this situation, you may have to wait to file for divorce.
You can also check online. Many courts post their forms as PDFs which you can download. [3] X Trustworthy Source State of Massachusetts Official website for the State of Massachusetts Go to source If there are no “fill in the blank” forms, then ask the court clerk if they have sample forms you could use as guides for typing up your own. [4] X Research source There will be many forms you have to fill out in order to get a divorce. One will be a “petition” or “complaint,” but you will also need to fill out financial forms and other information. Ask the court clerk for everything.
If an item on a form doesn’t apply to you, then write “N/A” or “not applicable” instead of leaving it blank.
Your courthouse might have a self-help center or a family law facilitator. [5] X Research source This person should be able to review your forms to see that you provided all necessary information. You could show them to the attorney you met with for a consultation. Some attorneys are willing to provide “discrete task representation,” which means they only do the work you give them. For example, you could pay for the attorney to look over your forms and offer coaching, but that’s it. You might also qualify for legal aid. Legal aid organizations provide free legal help to people in financial need. You can look online for local legal aid organizations. [6] X Trustworthy Source Legal Services Corporation Independent nonprofit established by Congress with a mission to provide financial support for civil legal aid to low-income Americans Go to source
If you can’t afford the filing fee, then ask for a fee waiver form. The form will ask for information about your finances. Fill the form out and return it to the court clerk.
Getting your spouse to waive service makes the divorce process go much easier because it immediately gives the court power over your spouse. However, your spouse might not agree to waive service. In this situation, you will need to arrange personal service in the foreign country.
You can find rules for specific countries by visiting the State Department website and clicking on the country on a map, located here: https://travel. state. gov/content/travel/en/legal-considerations/judicial/country. html Many countries are parties to the Hague Service Convention. Under this convention, participating countries create a central authority that accepts all incoming requests for service. An officer in the foreign country makes service and then sends a certificate of service back to the U. S. [9] X Research source Some signatories to the Hague Convention allow you to use international certified or registered mail, return receipt requested. In other countries, you will have to go through a consulate in the foreign country. A court in the U. S. will have to issue a “letter rogatory,” which it will then send to a consulate, which then forwards it on to a foreign court.
If the country does not allow service by mail, then talk to your court clerk. The court where you filed your divorce petition may need to forward your papers to a central office under the Hague Convention or issue a letter rogatory to a consulate abroad.
If the court handled service (either through the Hague Convention process or with a letter rogatory), then the court should receive a certificate of service directly from the foreign country. Check with your court clerk to confirm.
If your spouse ignores you and doesn’t file a response, then you should check with the clerk about getting a default divorce. [12] X Research source
However, the discovery period is complicated by the fact that your spouse is not in the country. You might need records from a foreign bank, for example. In this situation, you might need to serve a subpoena on the bank using the service of process you used to serve a copy of the petition. Ideally, your spouse will agree to an uncontested divorce; however, if they don’t, then you should have your lawyer handle the discovery process.
Your spouse might contest the divorce. If so, you will need to come up with a list of witnesses. The witnesses you have will depend on the contested issues. If you filed for divorce on grounds of adultery, for example, then you will need witnesses to help you prove that your spouse cheated on you. Alternately, you might be seeking a “no fault” divorce but disagree about alimony or child support. In this situation, you might need an expert witness to help you value how much your property is worth or how much your spouse can make in income. [14] X Research source
If the divorce is uncontested, then the judge might ask basic questions to check that you made adequate service of process. However, if the divorce is contested, then the hearing will likely be different. You and your spouse can present witnesses to testify. As the person who filed for divorce, you will present your witnesses first. Your spouse then gets to go second.
