Legal Question in Family Law in Kentucky
If someone was married to a citizen of another country and that person returned to his country while still married, how can the marriage be legally dissolved? He has been gone about three years. Where he is currently residing is unknown.
1 Answer from Attorneys
The court does NOT have to obtain jurisdiction over the missing spouse in order to dissolve a marriage. By virtue of you living in a particular state for at least 6 months, that state's courts have jurisdiction over the marriage itself. In a situation like yours, one does attempt to serve the missing spouse by getting the court to appoint a warning order attorney. That warning order attorney makes reasonable efforts to notify the missing spouse of the divorce and if they fail, the court will still proceed with the divorce. The only thing the court can't do in this situation, is attach the missings spouses property that exists OUTSIDE of the state.