Legal Question in Family Law in California
Divorce/abandonment
My mother and father separated in 1983, my father disappeared about a year later, he contacted me via phone once or twice in 1988 and none of our family has heard from him since. My mother tried to obtain a divorce in 1989, she petitioned the court in Santa Barbara and the judge refused the filing indicating she had not done enough to find him and he did not believe in divorces anyway. Since then, we have been unable to locate him via web searchs and are not able to afford an investigator. She would like to file for a divorce again, and we are wondering if there is a statute of limitation, will there be the same problem again? Thank you for your help.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Divorce/abandonment
if you and your family has done due diligence in trying to locate your father, and such a significant timeframe has passed since his last contact with your family, you are definitely within your rights to re-file your divorce, documenting the circumstances in which your father cannot be located. no reasonable court or judge would deny your petition. if you would like further assistance and/or representation in this matter, email my office today with more details.
Re: Divorce/abandonment
The only limitatio which would appear to apply to your case is the 5 year limitation to get the case to trial after it haa been filed.
You would probably have to refile the case. Contact the registrar of voters, the DMV and any family or friends of his that you can locate. This along with an internet search should probably be enough to convince the judge that you should be allowed to serve him by publication.
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