Legal Question in Family Law in California

You have a very confusing situation. It sounds like your husband tried to serve you by publication, but you can't do that without a prior court order, and you can't get the court order without proving you tried to personally serve the court papers on the other person and couldn't locate them. So it sounds like his service of the Summons is not valid at all. He certainly cannot serve you by handing you a copy of the newspaper notice. Did he give you a copy of the Petition for Dissolution of Marriage? If not, you have nothing to respond to. Bottom line, it sounds like he has completely misunderstood the law about initiating a divorce proceeding and has fouled up service completely. HE is the one who needs to get some guidance from a lawyer. It's probably not a bad idea that you get one to, since it sounds from your story like he is obligated to support you until you can get on your feet, and it doesn't sound like he's willing to do that voluntarily at this point.