You’ve decided to get a divorce, but there is one small problem. You have no idea where your spouse lives. To start a divorce, the court must serve divorce papers on your spouse; therefore, you need to know where they are to achieve that. So what do you do?
This problem is more common than you think. You may have separated from your husband or wife some time ago and had no communication since. Now you decide that it’s finally time to get a divorce. And that’s when we get a call. ‘I don’t know where they are’ they say, often followed by, ‘they could be dead for all I know.’
The myth of the automatic divorce
There is a common misconception that after several years divorce is automatic, but this isn’t the case. To get a divorce, you must make a statement that your marriage has irretrievably broken down – in other words, the problems with your marriage cannot be fixed.
How can I divorce if I don’t know where my spouse is?
You have two options if you want to divorce but don’t know where your spouse is. You can find your spouse or prove to the court that you have done everything possible to locate your spouse.
The starting point for finding your spouse would be to check on social media and reach out to old friends and family members. But if that isn’t successful and you still want to divorce without knowing your spouse’s address, you must complete a form known as a D13B and make a statement to request to dispense with service of the divorce. And this is where it becomes difficult and expensive because there are many hoops to jump through.
The problem with the D13B dispense with service
You must provide evidence that your missing spouse no longer lives at their last known address, which means providing letters that have been returned ‘not known at this address’ or details of enquiries made with the neighbours.
You must provide details of your contact with known relatives and friends and make inquiries with their last known employer and other professional organisations.
If you do not have contact with these people, then you would have to ask the court for an order that makes a government agency such as HMRC provide the address they have on file.
To make matters worse, there is no guarantee that your efforts will be successful. The court does not have to give you permission to divorce just because you want one. You must meet their requirements – one of which is that your husband or wife knows you are divorcing them. This is important because the divorce process would be exposed to fraudulent divorce cases without this rule. For this reason, allowing a divorce to go through without a spouse’s involvement is a very rare occurrence, and the chance of this approach being successful is low.
If this sounds like a headache, it is, but there is an easier way.
The easiest way to find your missing spouse to divorce
Once we have found your spouse, you can proceed with your divorce. Our managed no-fault divorce service costs £299. When you order our no-fault divorce service, you will be sent a link to an online questionnaire. Fill this in and attach a photo of your marriage certificate, and we will prepare your application.
Haven’t got your marriage certificate? Read here.
After your application is submitted, the court will review it and send a notification letter to your spouse’s address, informing them of your request for divorce. Your spouse then needs to respond to the court by going online using the details in the letter. This is known as acknowledging the service.
While your spouse can no longer defend against a divorce (except on the rare grounds of jurisdiction), they must acknowledge the service for your divorce to continue.
The downside of losing touch with your missing spouse
When you haven’t been in touch with your spouse for a long time, there is a risk that they will ignore the papers. If this happens, you will need a bailiff to serve the documents on your spouse. If they still ignore the papers, we can then apply to the court to proceed with your divorce without their involvement. The cost to do this is £449. You can find more details here. In most cases, this isn’t needed, but I want to make you aware of the risk.
We only charge you for the service you need. You will only pay £299 to start the divorce, and about four weeks later, we will know if they are ignoring the papers and if you need a bailiff.
Court Fees
All divorces in England and Wales are subject to court fees of £593 to pay for the court’s staff. If you have savings of less than £3000, and your monthly income before tax is less than £1200, you might be entitled to help with these fees.
The cost of divorcing your missing spouse
The total cost of your divorce will depend on your spouse’s response to the papers. In most cases, they do respond, and your divorce will cost:
- £150 for Tracing Service
- £299 for No-Fault Divorce
- £593 for court fee (if applicable)
£1042 total cost
If your spouse decides to be difficult, we would have to use a bailiff to serve the divorce papers. The cost to divorce your missing spouse in this case would be:
- £150 for Tracing Service
- £299 for No-Fault Divorce
- £449 for Bailiff Service
- £593 for court fee (if applicable)
£1491 total cost
How long does it take to divorce a missing spouse?
A no-fault divorce takes just over seven months to complete from starting the application. If you don’t know where your spouse is and you need to trace them, we will need an extra week to trace them first, and then you can start the divorce process.
If your spouse decides to be difficult and you need a bailiff to serve the papers on them, it will add approximately four months to the process because we need permission from the court and a notice of proceedings pack, then serve the papers on your spouse, wait at least 30 days for them to respond, and if they don’t respond, ask the court and wait for their permission to continue your divorce without your spouse’s involvement.
In total, if additional steps are needed, your divorce may take 12–14 months.
Missing Spouse – Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use your tracing service if my spouse isn’t in the UK?
No, unfortunately, our tracing service only extends to the UK. If your spouse has left for another country, you would have to try and trace them using a local service.
What happens if I use your tracing service and they aren’t in the UK?
If our tracing service is unable to locate your spouse within the UK, we will refund your £150 tracing fee.
Can I use your bailiff service if my spouse lives in another country?
Our bailiffs only operate in England and Wales, so you cannot use our bailiff service if your spouse lives in another country.
Next Steps
Tracing your spouse is the most affordable way to initiate a missing spouse divorce, allowing you to use our fully managed no-fault service for £299, saving you significantly. A client who asked us to trace her husband told me that a solicitor had quoted her a minimum of £3000 to file a missing spouse divorce using a D13B!
To start our tracing service for £150, click here.
For more details about our trace service or to discuss your divorce in general, you can call 0204 530 8101, email us or book a free consultation with one of our friendly experts.
