Q: In 2002 i got married in ny. Dv left 2005 no contact since. Moved to nj. Can i get divorced still?
I was too scared. He is an illegal immigrant and dont know his whereabouts.
A:
Short answer is yes and since you live in New Jersey and have lived in New Jersey for more than 1 year, you can file a complaint for divorce in New Jersey.
Presuming you cannot locate your spouse and your lawyer conducts a reasonable investigation to try and locate him ( in accordance with the court rules), your lawyer can then file an application with the court for substituted service of process so that he has notice of the pending divorce matter.
Your lawyer will then file the substituted service notice in accordance with the court rules and once the time frame expires after that notice has been given, your lawyer will then move for entry of default and submit all of the paperwork as to his inquiry, the order for substituted service of process, the proof of the substituted process and his proof of the filing of those papers with the court.
The court will then enter default in your favor and then schedule a date for a default judgement hearing.
Your lawyer will then create a form of judgement ( which will include a mutual waiver of support, waiver of equitable distribution claims, etc), which must be filed with the court at least 20 days prior to the hearing date and which must be served on your spouse ( or listed publicly in the same way as the substituted service of process was provided - again at least 20 days prior to the hearing date) and for court purposes ( for the default judgement hearing) your lawyer needs to provide all of the above proofs to the court.
Yes... proceeding with a default type proceeding has a few more steps to it then a setting where you and your spouse have a written agreement, but if you fail to follow the steps correctly, a court will reject your application or your matter will sit and never get a default judgement hearing date.
Alexander Ivakhnenko agrees with this answer
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