Serving Divorce Papers

ciare

I am currently going through a divorce, and am doing it myself.

I was wondering what happens when the papers are sent to my ex, can he just sign them, and then return them to the court?

Will he have to go to a solicitor to sign them?

He won't give me his address,but has given me his friends.

I just thought I could give him the papers, get him to sign them, and then send them to the court.

galvanizersbaby

ciare wrote: »

I am currently going through a divorce, and am doing it myself.

I was wondering what happens when the papers are sent to my ex, can he just sign them, and then return them to the court? Yes

Will he have to go to a solicitor to sign them? No, not if he doesn't intend to contest the divorce

He won't give me his address,but has given me his friends Why won't he give you his address?

I just thought I could give him the papers, get him to sign them, and then send them to the court.

Nothing to stop you doing this

I think my advice is correct - if this is a straightforward divorce (with no children involved) which your husband doesn't intend to contest

shellster72

Hi Ciare,

There are court advisors who can help you with this. Im doing my divorce myself also. If I have a query I just contact the court house that I am lodging the papers with and the advisors can give you the answers. I asked them if my ex can just sign the papers without a solicitor - their answer was YES.

never_enough

As previously posted there is no need for a solicitor to be involved if it's straightforward. The court will send papers to his friends address, as it is your only place of contact for him. He just needs to return them to the court.

ciare

Thanks for the replies.

I was wondering how the papers would be sent, would it be by registered post?

When(if) he signs them, would he need to be in touch with the court, or would it be a case of, he signed the papers, so the court would just deal with me in future?

never_enough

Just ordinary postal service. The court will copy everything to him so that he knows whats going on after he has returned the forms.

AlisonCVS

re not having his address. I read up that if someone else is used to accept the petition as you have no address for him, an affidavit has to be signed by the person accepting it on his behalf eg friend, relative. is this correct? I am getting so many mixed bits of info on this matter. my brother in law is going through this at the moment. has no idea where is wife is living - she ran off with another man. he wants to petition for divorce but there seems to be this whole big thing about "substituted service" but cant find any form for this purpose.
Help!

Bossyboots

Alison you are getting two bits of the system mixed up. You can put a c/o address for the respondent on the petition provided you think there is a reasonable prospect of the petition being received by the correct recipient. In the OP's case an address has been given by the respondent for use and he will no doubt collect the papers from the friend when they arrive. There is a form in those papers which the respondent has to complete and return to the court. Receipt by the court of that form is all that is needed for service to be proven to have taken place as the respondent themselves have admitted to it.

"Substituted service" is where a petition is delivered to an address where it is reasonably believed it will be passed to the respondent. This delivery is usually undertaken by a process server who then has to swear an affidavit stating the date, time and location of the delivery and their reasons for believing the petition will have reached the person name. For example, a place of work is often used for this as it would be considered more likely than not that the documents would be handed to the employee. Another example would be where the process server has seen the respondent go into a property and is certain they cannot have left. They can then put the papers through the letter box and substituted service has taken place.

If you BIL knows where other in-laws live, he could arrange for the papers to be served there but they do need to be served by a court recognised process server not only for their expertise, but to avoid a mistake being made that could be costly down the line.

There is also "deemed service" which allows the court to order that the in all probability, the respondent received the papers at the address they were sent to. This may involve the householder swearing an affidivit that they handed the documents to the respondent but in reality, the householder will not want to get involved and thus persuading them to swear an affidavit confirming they handed the papers over is likely to be very difficult.

As for just handing the papers to the respondent and his completing them and sending to the Court, my friend loaned her ex the pen, watched him sign the papers and then followed him to the court to make sure he put them through the letter box as he had promised he would!