Q: A NV sheriff has divorce papers from NY where my husband lives.What happens if I don't accept them?
I don't want to make this easy for him. What he did to me is beyond belief after 24 years of marriage. I would Iike to know my options .
A:
Proper service does not require 'acceptance.' If the papers are handed to you or otherwise placed into your knowing possession, then you have been served. Service can also be made by giving the papers to an adult staying at your home. In Nevada, service can even be made to a guard in a gate-controlled neighborhood.
If your husband is unable to serve you, he may ask the court to allow service by alternative means. Sometimes courts will allow service by email, certified mail, Facebook, or other methods reasonably calculated to give notice. This is especially true if someone seems to be deliberately avoiding service. Alternative service can also be made by publication, which means publishing in a newspaper for a length of time. Some of these newspapers are not widely read, so you run the risk of getting no actual notice of the divorce lawsuit.
If you do not respond to a divorce complaint that has been served, whether it has been served by placing it in your possession, by publication, or by other alternative means, then you husband can obtain a default and automatically win everything requested in the complaint.
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