If you’ve decided to divorce your partner, there are a number of legal hoops you have to jump through in order to make it official. The main one is serving your partner with the divorce petition in the first place. If you don’t serve the petition to them on time and in the correct manner, a judge may throw out your divorce and make you start the whole process again.
Process serving and divorce papers
If your divorce is mutual then you shouldn’t have too many issues. One of you will still be the one to file for divorce while the other party will technically be the respondent, but they can waive the formalities if they just want to get on with things and show that they are also in favour of a divorce.
The problems start to arise when a divorce isn’t something you both agree on, especially when the respondent then becomes evasive. You can’t move ahead with your divorce easily if you don’t have evidence that you’ve at least made every effort to serve the documents.
This is where many solicitors will recommend the use of a dedicated process server – a service that we offer. We can use our expertise to help ensure the papers are delivered on-time and in the correct manner. This means providing a legal document called a Statement of Service which proves that the documents were served. If the process server is unable to properly deliver the documents in person to your ex, then they can still give you a Statement of Attempted Service which will be a sworn account of their attempts.
Then, as a last resort, you’ll be able to deliver the documents through your ex’s letterbox. This must absolutely be the final thing you try. Then, you can use the Statement as evidence for the courts to then push ahead with your divorce without the consent of your former partner.
In most cases, when we carry out process serving we are able to deliver the documents in person, eliminating the need to put together evidence to show all of your attempts. Even if your ex-partner is trying to avoid being served, we can use our extensive specialist skills as private investigators to legally serve them either at work, on their way home or at a place where they are temporarily residing.
A Court Bailiff will also offer a similar service, but be wary of accepting this if it’s an option presented to you. Court Bailiffs may be less cost effective and with their case load they might not be as efficient. Your solicitor will likely recommend you find a process server, or they may already have one that they work with. And if you’re a solicitor who deals with a number of divorce cases, we’re able to work closely with you to ensure all papers are served in a timely and legal manner, helping to lighten your workload.
So whether you’re a client who is trying to push through their own divorce proceedings as efficiently as possible, or a solicitor in need of on-going support with process serving, give us a call on 01772 334700.