Charlotte, NC asked in Divorce for North Carolina

Q: Can I get divorced without serving them papers?

We've been separated for 7 years, I've lived in NC since the beginning of the separation & they have lived in CA their whole life. My spouse has changed addresses & jobs a lot & they won't give me their address so I can't serve them divorce papers and I don't know which newsletter to publicly post the divorce request in. What can I do?

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1 Lawyer Answer
Amanda Bowden Johnson
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Answered
  • Jacksonville, NC
  • Licensed in North Carolina

A: You can not divorce without proper service of process. Also you can't just skip to going the legal publication route. There are certain steps you need to take. Look, when the transmission in your car goes out, you call a mechanic. Unless you are a mechanic, you'd never in a million years think yourself 'you know what, I'mma go out there and fix that bad boy myself'. So why in the world do you think you are competent to do your own legal work? You really need to shop around and hire an attorney before you end up wasting a lot of time and money.

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