Divorce after 20 years separation - no contact, no known address - is this possible?

[Swishthroughthelonggrass]

Hi, hoping someone here might be able to help.
My mum is 78 and still married however separated since 2003 ish.
The separation happened when he was arrested and imprisoned for fraud. She had no idea of his crimes and has had no contact since.
She would like to be divorced but has found it too complicated and tends to bury her head in the sand when it comes to things like this. So I am trying to navigate this on her behalf.
She solely owns her property and has no financial concerns regarding him staking a claim, but wants to end the marriage for obvious reasons.
She married him abroad in 1994. He was sent to prison in 2003/2004. The marriage broke down when he was arrested. She has had no contact with him since. He is her age, would’ve been released from prison many years ago and she has no contact details for him. He has no children or parents or siblings. He may even be dead by now.
Would be so helpful if anyone had any insight into how we might get this sorted for her. I feel frustrated that it has gone on for so long and just want rid! She obviously doesn’t want to spend a fortune on legal fees, and lives on a pension, but as it’s not straightforward we don’t know what to do.

I feel this is not straightforward and really you need to seek specialist advice.

If she married him abroad, was the marriage recognised in her country of residence and is he a UK national? Also, in the meantime, has she written her Will specifying that he is not entitled to her Estate. She needs to disinherit him pending any divorce proceedings. You probably need a combination of family / immigration / estate planning advice. A decent legal practice will have the wherewithal to track him down.

Thanks for the reply. It was a wedding in the Caribbean so I assume so, but I don’t know how to find that out - I assume births deaths and marriages? She discovered he was born in India but grew up in UK and had a British mother. So I don’t know. She has said he has no claim on her money when she dies, she said she changed her will. The details are very sketchy as he was a prolific liar and very shady so I know very little about him. And she was very naive. It’s a messy situation.

Use a tracing agent to find him. Then she can file for divorce.

If he's dead, that's the end of the matter.

I'd be very worried about him coming after her house if they do not already have a financial settlement. I know somebody who divorced and ex came back years later for money (and got it).

Need professional advice on what is best to do.

Please get her to a lawyer. There is a process to follow before she can apply for a divorce without serving the other party but it can be done.

https://www.gov.uk/divorce-missing-husband-wife

Thank you. I’m making some progress in tracing him, thanks to the advice here, if this leads to a dead end, we might just have to bite the bullet and get a lawyer. Just worried about costs building up, but I suppose the financial price could be much higher if we don’t, so need to think of the long game. Hopefully I can get some kind of estimate of costs first. Am very grateful for the advice given - thanks again.