Additional Information:

I separated from husband in 2008 and moved to Chelmsford, MA from NY. How can I get divorce if we have no contact? We did not have any children from marriage but I do have a ten year old from previous. We parted in ill terms & I have no way of contacting this man as I do not know where he moved to after I left. How hard is it to get a divorce in the State of Mass?

ATTORNEY ANSWER:

It is not difficult to get a divorce in Massachusetts. Usually, you file for divorce and can have your spouse served at their last known address. As you know that he moved from his last known address, you will have to accomplish service by Publication. This is a request to the Court to publish in a local newspaper the legal notice that you are seeking a divorce. If you have any knowledge of where your husband’s parents or siblings live, you might want to contact them to see if they have a means of contacting him as that would make it easier.  As you have lived here for more than a year, you can file in Massachusetts. Once you have filed and served by publication, you will have to wait six months to request a hearing. At that hearing, so long as you have complied with service requirements, the Court will enter a Judgment of Divorce Nisi which will become final 90 days later. I would be happy to discuss the process further with you.

The Chelmsford divorce lawyers at Berid & Schutzbank serve all of Middlesex County, Essex County, Worcester County, and the Merrimack Valley region including Andover, Billerica, Burlington, Carlisle, Chelmsford, Dracut, Dunstable, Groton, Lawrence, Lowell, Methuen, North Andover, Pepperell, Tewksbury, Westford, and Wilmington Massachusetts.