You can still divorce

You can still divorce if your spouse is missing. However, the process has additional legal steps and naturally takes more time and has additional costs. For example, you must demonstrate to the court that you made genuine efforts to locate your spouse. Those efforts are usually contacting family members, friends, sending letter to a last known address, etc. Once the judge is satisfied that you can’t locate your spouse you may then be able to post a legal notice in the newspaper for a the appropriate period of time and this will be accepted as alternative service (or notice to your spouse).

In an agreed your divorce your spouse will sign a waiver of service which prevents your for having to officially notify your spouse. If your spouse is simply unwilling to “sign” the divorce papers but you know where your spouse is, then you can have the papers served on your spouse, usually by the sheriff or other process server.

Before pursuing a missing spouse divorce, we encourage people to consider using www.findmyspouse.com. It’s an electronic search that usually allows you to find an address, phone number, or similar that will allow you to make contact with your spouse. Then you can see if your spouse will be willing to cooperate and sign the paperwork allowing you to complete an agreed or uncontested divorce via this website. This will of course save you time and money versus completing a missing spouse divorce. If you use www.findmyspouse.com and you aren’t able to locate your spouse, the report the website provides will be useful evidence to demonstrate your search efforts to the court allowing you to pursue a missing spouse divorce.

Continue with Tennessee Divorce Online

If you would like to still proceed with Tennessee Divorce Online, please tell us a little more about your situation and one of our attorneys will review your situation and provide options for you to use Tennessee Divorce Online.