Divorce advice. HELP PLEASE!!!!!

[missymarmite]

Basically, I'm a british citizen, married to a non EU citizen who is habitually resident in Spain. We married in Spain. I thought it would be a simple matter as I have been living here in the UK for the last 7 years while he has been somewhere in Spain and his home country. He phones occasionally, and says he stays with friends on their sofas as he has no job, no money and no address. He doesn't want me to divorce him because he is in the process of getting Spanish Nationality as the spouse of an EU citizen. I have been patiently waiting for over 5 years for this process to go through and have finally had enough!

Reading the advice on divorce I believe that even though we married outside the UK, as I live here permanently I am entitled to apply for a divorce through the UK courts.

However, I have just had divorce papers returned by the court because I have no forwarding address for my ex. Surely one can get divorced without having to contact said ex when they haven't been together for over 5 years???? I just can't seem to find information to help, I just get refered to the Law Society who want me to go to a solicitor I simply cannot afford!

You must always provide his address. You can't get divorced unless you can serve him, or jump through very stringent hoops to dispense with service.

In this day and age it is easy enough to track almost anyone down.

Missymarmite did you resolve your problem? I am curious to know for knowledge and possible future purposes. Usually locating ex in the UK is by tracing the him/her using the NI or electrol register. Will be interesting to know how you locate the ex abroad.

Is there a reason you haven't provided the court with his address? You include his last known address. you then wait for him to return the acknowledgement of service. if he doesn't do this, you won't be able to proceed until you can prove that he received the papers. You cannot hand them to him yourself unfortunately. If there is a recoded delivery service in Spain and you know someone who can put them in the post to him there then you solve the problem. If that's not possible you have to get a bit more crafty and then apply for either deemed service or to dispense with service of the petition. I'm a little rusty on the rules as I haven't practised for two years but there is a procedure set out in the Family Procedure Rules to deal with this situation. If you can give me a bit more info on the circumstances of his address I can point you in the right direction.

Apologies just re read your post (sorry juggling baby on lap!) you say he says he has no address. That's ok. Get him to email you - not about the divorce just anything. Or facebook him and get a response. Basically you can apply to the court for substituted service on the basis you can prove he uses his email/facebook page and has done so recently. The rules also ask you to try other methods such as forwarding to all known addresses, contacting his friends and relatives. I would however obtain your email/fb communication before you do this or he may not respond to you - he has a lot to lose by being divorced! When I get a chance I'll put a link to the relevant FPR for you.