can I divorce somebody who has disappeared?

[RelentlesslyPositive]

Decree nisi was pronounced last month. Around about this time, my stbxh walked out of work and hasn't been seen since. I'm sure he's alive, because his ex work colleagues said that he's been actioning things on Facebook. I don't have a clue where he is and there is nobody I can ask.

The background to this is that he was abusive, there's a non molestation order against him (that is due to expire next month). All the court papers have been taken to him at his place of work by a process server, and he has refused to engage with anything at all. I'm in family court next week to try and sort financial matters (he hasn't produced any paperwork, and has now been 'adduced' from doing so, and I'll probably be there on my own with a legal aid solicitor).

I'm hoping the judge will sign the house over to me, even though I'm on my bottom dollar and can't pay the mortgage since the child maintenance stopped. There's hardly any equity, but I can't even sell and move into rented at the moment, because I need absent stbxh to consent, I think.

Will I not be able to go through with the divorce if nobody can find stbxh to serve him with the paperwork?

Well you can certainly do the divorce bit easily enough by signing the application for decree nisi 6 weeks and a day after decree nisi, however your solicitor will advise you to wait until the financials have been sorted.

You'll probably have to get a private investigator to track him down, or at least attempt to do so; the court isn't just going to sign the house over at this relatively early stage. As the equity isn't massive, you may be able to persuade a judge to make an order for sale if you can prove that you've made all reasonable attempts to track your husband down and serve him with notice of the application/s.

Thanks for your answer - it's reassuring to know that nothing can stop decree absolute being pronounced.

I'm hoping the judge will be kind to me about the house. There is so little equity, and the joint bank loan that stbxh walked away from pretty much wipes it out. His behaviour also prevented me from working for a year, and I know that judges often take behaviour into account but it has caused me serious financial difficulty.

Again, thanks. That's set my mind at rest a bit tonight.