Obtaining a Divorce When Your Spouse Is Missing

An essential element of every divorce is that the court must have jurisdiction over the parties. This requires that at least one of the spouses reside in the state and that the other spouse be served with notice of the legal proceeding. Serving your spouse becomes difficult when you don't know their whereabouts. In Arizona, when you face this situation, you can pursue a divorce by publication, also known as a default divorce.

In order to obtain an Arizona divorce, you must have been a resident of the state for at least 90 days. Then you must follow this procedure for service by publication:

• Attempt to locate your spouse — The initial step is to make genuine efforts to locate your spouse. You need to exhaust available resources, such as the following:
  • Public records — Check property deeds, marriage records, voter registration and other public data that may reveal your spouse's whereabouts.
  • Electronic data — Search for your spouse on social media platforms and other online sites where they may have left digital traces or an email address.
  • Contact friends and family — Reach out to friends and family members who might have information about your spouse's current location.
  • Hire a skip tracer — These companies specialize in tracking down people who are missing or unresponsive.
• File a petition — After you've made diligent efforts to locate your spouse without success, you can file a petition for dissolution of marriage with the court in the county where you reside. You will need to provide the court with the details of your attempts to find your spouse and request permission to serve process by publication of a summons in a newspaper.
• Publish the summons —If the court grants permission to serve notice by publication, it will specify the requirements for doing so, including the content, the duration of publication and the newspaper where it should be published.
• Observe the waiting period — Following the publication of the summons, there is a 60-day waiting period during which your spouse can respond. The newspaper will thereafter send you a document called an affidavit of publication, along with a copy of the published summons.
• Complete the process — If your spouse does not respond within the specified time, you can file a “declaration supporting publication” with court, along with the newspaper’s affidavit of publication. The court can thereafter issue a divorce decree, and your marriage will be legally dissolved.

An experienced Arizona divorce attorney can help you navigate the process correctly and ensure that you are in compliance with Arizona's specific requirements.

At Clark & Schloss Family Law, P.C., we represent people throughout the Scottsdale area in contested and uncontested Arizona divorces. Call us at 602-789-3497 or contact us online to schedule a consultation.