Married couples face a wide range of challenges over the years, but they generally do so together. If your spouse simply disappears, you are completely on your own, and even the matter of divorce becomes more complicated. If you find yourself in this difficult position, know that help is available. An experienced Round Rock divorce attorney is standing by to help.
Marriage Is a Relationship Built on Trust
The best marriages are rooted in mutual trust and respect. Even marriages that ultimately fall apart often start with a foundation of trust. While couples may not withstand all life's storms, trust typically doesn’t disappear overnight.
When Trust Disappears
If your spouse takes off without warning, it can leave you feeling adrift. It’s difficult to overstate the impact of living in a marriage where your partner vanishes without notice. Whether they inform you they're leaving or simply disappear, it’s a lot to process — and you’re going to need a clear plan moving forward.
If you feel abandoned and unsure of your next step, don’t wait. Contact a Round Rock divorce lawyer to start protecting your future today.
You Need Legal Guidance
While your situation is unique, the most important step you can take is reaching out for professional legal representation. Most divorcing couples can work through the divorce process together. If your spouse is missing, however, you must rely on your experienced Round Rock divorce attorney to guide you.
Can You Divorce Someone Who Isn’t There?
The State of Texas recognizes that some spouses do everything in their power to become ghosts, leaving their partners with few options. In response, the state affords avenues for divorce even when one of the spouses has gone missing.
Divorce is challenging at the best of times, and when one spouse isn’t there to navigate the difficult path forward, the matter is that much more complex. It is not, however, an impossible situation.
Is It Spousal Abandonment?
Texas offers both no-fault and fault-based divorces. Most divorces are no-fault, based on insupportability. However, abandonment is a valid fault-based ground. To qualify, your spouse must have left with no intention of returning and failed to provide support for at least one year.
Regardless of whether abandonment applies, you still have the right to pursue a divorce.
A Note about Fault-Based Divorce
Most Texas divorces proceed on no-fault grounds, but if your case qualifies for a fault-based divorce under abandonment, it could work in your favor. A fault-based divorce has the potential to lead to more favorable property division and child custody terms.
Typically, fault-based divorces take longer, cost more, and are more hotly contested because the spouses must resolve more issues in court. However, if your spouse is missing, there’s no one present to contest your claims — which can simplify the process considerably.
While divorcing a missing spouse is still a legally complex undertaking, pursuing a fault-based divorce under abandonment may strengthen your position without significantly increasing your challenges. In fact, the abandonment itself can directly influence property division and custody determinations in your favor.
If you believe abandonment applies to your case, reach out to our legal team in Round Rock to explore your options.
The Steps to Divorcing a Missing Spouse in Texas
If you’re ready to divorce your missing spouse in Texas, there are specific steps you must take.
Establishing Jurisdiction
In order to file for divorce in Texas, there are specific residency requirements that you must meet. Since you probably can’t establish residency for your soon-to-be ex, the following will apply to you directly:
You must have lived in Texas for at least six months prior to filing.
You must have lived in the county where you file for at least 90 days.
Once you meet the residency requirements, you can proceed with the divorce process.
Filing the Original Petition for Divorce
The first step in the divorce process is filing your petition for divorce in the county in which you meet the residency requirement. Even if your spouse is missing, you are still responsible for attempting to notify them.
Attempting to Serve Your Missing Spouse
Under Texas law, both parties in a legal action must receive proper notice. In divorce cases, this means having your spouse served with divorce papers once they’re filed. Alternatively, if your spouse agrees, they can waive the service requirement and simply accept the papers informally.
If your spouse is nowhere to be found, however, you’ll need to put serious effort into finding another way forward. Your options for locating your missing spouse include:
Contacting relatives, employers, friends, and co-workers
Searching public records
Hiring a private investigator
Conducting online and social media searches
If you cannot locate your spouse after diligent efforts, you can request alternative service.
If your efforts come up short, an experienced Round Rock divorce attorney can help you petition the court for alternative service.
Filing a Motion for Substitute Service
If you’ve come this far and haven’t located your spouse for service, the next step will be filing a motion for substitute service. This generally entails carefully outlining the steps you’ve taken to locate your spouse so far, before the court will allow one of the following alternative service methods:
Service by publication, which means publishing a legal notice of your divorce in a court-approved news outlet in the last known area of your spouse’s residence
Service by posting, which refers to posting notice of your divorce in the courthouse in which you’re pursuing a divorce, and which the court may allow if you can’t afford to publish the notice in a newspaper
Every divorce comes with its own unique complications, but the ones you face as a result of having a missing spouse will kick in right up-front, in the form of applying due diligence in relation to locating your spouse in the first place.
Waiting Out the Waiting Period
The State of Texas requires a 60-day cooling off period from the filing date before the case can be finalized. Although your divorce differs somewhat from most, this waiting period still applies. If your spouse doesn’t respond to your attempts to notify them within these 60 days, you can petition the court for a default judgment.
Moving Forward with a Default Judgment
Default divorces occur when one spouse either refuses to participate in the process or cannot be located. In these cases, the judge will move forward without the missing spouse’s input and make decisions based solely on the information provided by the filing spouse. As a result, the terms of the divorce often favor the spouse who initiated the case.
Divorce Terms When One Spouse Is Not Present
The Division of Marital Property if Your Spouse Is Missing
Texas is what’s known as a community property state, which means that all the assets that either spouse or both spouses together came to own during the marriage is divided between them in an even split.
The State of Texas, however, takes a slightly different approach, and this is that Texas courts aim for a just and right division of assets, which means a fair division in light of the circumstances that apply.
A Fair Division
In order to divide assets fairly between the spouses, Texas courts must consider the available information, and when one spouse doesn’t participate, this means that the division will be based on the information the remaining spouse presents.
In other words, your financial rights are very likely to be favored in a default judgment. This means you can expect a larger share of the marital assets, and this is further supported if your spouse’s sudden disappearance burdened you financially, which is almost certainly true.
Separate Assets
Those assets that either of you brought into your marriage with you and kept separate throughout are considered the separate property of the original owner. Texas courts, however, begin with the presumption that all assets are marital, which means that the spouse who claims a separate asset is called up to prove its separate nature.
If you have separate property, you probably won’t have any difficulty proving that it belongs to you alone if your spouse isn’t there to argue against the point. Further, if your spouse wants to make a claim regarding a separate asset or assets, the fact that they abandoned you and the asset isn’t going to do them any favors.
Missing Assets
If your spouse took off with marital assets, it makes the matter of you obtaining your fair share far more difficult. Your formidable divorce lawyer, however, will spare no effort in their quest to secure your interest in the missing asset or assets in question.
Protect your property rights by consulting a Round Rock divorce lawyer.
Child Custody and Child Support
Texas courts base all child custody determinations on the children’s best interests, and if their other parent abandoned them, the court will almost certainly find you better suited to provide them with the care and support they need.
In other words, you’re likely to be awarded sole managing conservatorship, which means sole legal custody, or decision-making authority, and sole physical custody, or parenting time.
Even if your children’s other parent is missing, the court can issue a child support order. If they do reappear, you can seek reimbursement for what you’re owed through the legal system, which can translate to wage garnishment, liens, and beyond.
If you’re facing custody issues while your child’s other parent is absent, get experienced legal guidance to protect your child’s well-being.
Alimony
Although alimony is rare in Texas, if you qualify, you can seek it through a default judgment. While it will be difficult to make your ex pay alimony if you can’t locate them, there is a chance that they will reappear – at which point you could take legal action in pursuit of arrears and any current alimony payments you’re owed.
Help Protect Your Rights by Consulting with an Experienced Round Rock Divorce Lawyer Today
Brett Pritchard at The Law Office of Brett H. Pritchard understands the unique challenges of divorcing a missing spouse and is well prepared to help you. Our dedicated legal team is ready to protect your rights and guide you through every step.
Call us at 254-781-4222 or contact us online to schedule your free consultation today.