Legal Question in Family Law in Maryland

Re: Divorce/custody when can't locate other party

You will have to use the father's last known address for the court papers. Then you will have to file a motion asking permission to "serve" him with the papers by publishing a legal notice in a newspaper in the area where he might be located. You can qualify for the divorce using this method, but the court might not rule on the custody issue unless you can find him and actually prove that he received the papers. There are locator services that might be able to track him down via a computer search. I assume he's not under a child support order that you obtained after separation. Practically speaking you have de facto custody, and if he ever were to reappear and challenge it, you'd get custody and most likely child support at that time.