Is it possible to have a divorce granted with one of the parties not being present in the court? Say you were married to a person who took off in the dead of the night and who seems to have fallen off the face of the earth. You obviously can’t serve them papers to sign, so can the court grant a divorce in absentia?
This is another law that varies from state to state, but the general answer is that after a person has been missing for seven years, the remaining spouse can petition a court to have the missing spouse declared legally dead. I don’t know of any way to compel a divorce, however. IANAL so there may be loopholes I’m not aware of.
Short answer. Yes. You don’t need to physically serve someone with process if they can’t be found. You get a court order to serve by publication.
We’ve done a couple of threads on this issue. There are some problems if the court lacks personal jurisdiction over the defendant. For example the court cannot divide marital property or award support. *E.g., * http://www.divorcesource.com/research/edj/jurisdiction/99mar30.shtml But inability to personally serve is not the same as lack of personal jurisdiction.
People get divorced while they are sitting in jail all the time. They don’t don’t even bother dragging them into the court room unless they contest the divorce.