Divorcing after long term separation

We are often approached by people who have been separated from their spouse for many years. If there are no children arising from the relationship, the parties often do not know where the other party lives. There are various options.

If you have a current address for your former spouse, divorce proceedings can be issued citing five years separation without consent as the reason for the marriage breakdown. The divorce will proceed in the normal way and the consent of your spouse is not required.

If you have been separated for many years and you have no idea where your spouse is, you should check that you have not been divorced without your knowledge. To do this a search of the Decree Absolute Records should be undertaken. Full details of how to do this can be obtained from the www.gov.uk website. There will be a fee payable which varies depending on the type of search that is undertaken. If divorce proceedings have concluded, then the search will mean that you will obtain a copy of your Decree Absolute, proving you are divorced. You are then free to re-marry.

If you do not know the whereabouts of your spouse and no search has confirmed that you are already divorced, you will need to try and trace them and obtain up-to-date contact details. A useful first step can be to use social media for this purpose and have friends and family “spread the word”. Even if you cannot find up-to-date contact information for them, it may be that you can obtain “last known addresses”.

If your social media appeal does not meet with any success, then you should always consult with a solicitor and give to them as many historic details of your spouse as you can, including pictures, last known whereabouts etc. The solicitor can then instruct an enquiry agent to see whether or not they could trace your spouse and a current address for them. The enquiry agent may be able to trace a current address for your spouse. If not, they will prepare a report confirming this. In either situation, divorce proceedings can be issued in the normal way.

In addition to issuing the divorce proceedings, an Application must be made to the Court to “dispense with service” of the divorce proceedings. On the assumption that suitable information and documentation has been given to the Court in support of such an Application, the Court will not require the petition to be sent to or served on your spouse and then the proceedings can be dealt with in the usual way.

It is therefore vitally important, if you have been separated for years and you have lost contact with your spouse, to seek specialist family law advice

Harrowells’ Family Law team can guide you through the process so that you can be divorced in the correct manner.