divorce after more than five years but he is abroad...what to do?

dollyrocks

oh my goodness, I can't believe I've only just discovered this part of the forum! It just goes to prove that every question I ever want to ask is on MSE. Anyway...

My husband and I split up in November 2003. We agreed to try and divorce as cheaply as possible, so we didn't do anything about it at the time. A few months later he left to live in Ibiza, and then moved to Barcelona, where he has stayed ever since.

Do the rules applying to divorce after five years still apply even if the other party has been abroad the whole time? When I was looking into divorce before we had got to the five year point there were thorny issues with domicility, but everyone keeps telling me I don't actually need to get him involved at all so it shouldn't matter if he's been abroad or not.

I'd really like to get this sorted but I'm so broke. Am working full-time but on a very low wage so if I could do it with the cheapest possible court costs it would be great.

Can anyone advise?

Many thanks if you have taken the time to read this.

celyn90

In my understanding (I am not a legal professional) the time frame does still apply even if he is living abroad, but if your spouse lives abroad he gets more time to return the acknowledgement of service form to the court than he would if he was in the UK (it's about a week if he is in the UK, longer if he is abroad - a month or so I think, but don't quote me on that). Obviously if he wants to send it back sooner, he can. Are things still civil between you? The only reason I ask this is that you still have to attempt to get him a copy of the forms and it's just easier if you know he's going to play ball.

There shouldn't be issues with where you are resident - if one of you is habitually resident in the UK then you can divorce under UK law no problems, no matter where the other person is, you just need to provide his address for service.