Q: My boyfriend's now ex wife filed for divorce and it was granted without him even knowing that she had filed.
He got the paperwork in the mail today and on the debts part it says he has to pay $2000 for their old apartment that he moved out of, and informed the landlord, before she moved out. Is he able to appeal because he also wants some of his belongings she refuses to give back as well and it doesn't seem like he should have to pay for the apartment when she was the last one there.
Also, he is a Marine Veteran and I was wondering if there is any way he can get either pro bono or VERY reduced legal help, we don't even make it all the way through the month.
A: In Idaho, it is not typical but certainly possible for her to have gotten a divorce without him knowing. Many times a woman may file and not know his whereabouts (or she swore under oath) at the time that she didn't. If she seriously DID know where he lived but lied about it then that is "fraud on the court," and he has six (6) months to file a Motion to Set Aside the Judgment on that basis, fraud. On the other hand, if she filed and honestly didn't know where he was living at the time she filed, the "rules" require only that she "publish" the Summons in a newspaper that he is likely to read (yeah right huh?), and then, if he failed to "find her Summons" then he's stuck with the judgment. Of course, all of these rules carry caveats and exceptions so it pays to have a conversation with a licensed attorney to learn whether it's worth your money to file a motion to "undo" something that he should have been aware of.
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