In some divorces, one spouse cannot be located. The individual may have deserted his or her spouse without letting the spouse know where he or she was going.
The spouses may have split up, but for some reason didn’t file for divorce until years later, and may not know each other’s whereabouts.
In order to get a divorce without locating your spouse, you have to take certain steps to locate your spouse. This could include contacting his or her family members or former place of employment, performing an online search, contacting the Department of Motor Vehicles, asking the post office for forwarding addresses, asking people in the neighborhood where the spouse formerly lived about his or her whereabouts, asking utility companies, using a private investigator, or writing letters to the Armed Forces, if the spouse was in the military.
After you have attempted to locate your spouse for a divorce, you will prepare a sworn declaration listing what steps have been undertaken in order to attempt to locate the individual. This is called an Affidavit of Diligent Search and Inquiry. Once this has been approved by a judge, an advertisement is published in a legal newspaper which notifies the individual of the divorce proceedings.
If the missing spouse has never lived in Florida, the court may require that a second notice be published in the town of the individual’s last known address. If the missing spouse doesn’t respond within four weeks, the divorce can proceed as a default divorce.