Automatic divorce after a long separation

The common myth that you can get an “automatic divorce after 7 years UK” is alive and well. Divorce-Online family law experts are often asked the question “Can you get an automatic divorce after long separation?”

The simple answer is no – regardless of how many years you have been separated from your ex-husband or wife, there is no such thing as an automatic divorce in England or Wales. So whether you have been separated for 5 years, 7 years, 10 years or more, you will not be granted an automatic divorce.

How to divorce someone you haven’t seen in years

Marriage is a union or partnership formed by two people, so even if you have been separated from each other for several years your missing spouse is still entitled to see a copy of the divorce papers.

“Under the new divorce rules, the default method of notification of divorce to the other spouse is via email – the digital divorce service replaced the paper service in September 2021.”

The court requires that your spouse is either served with the divorce papers or you must prove that you have done everything possible to find them without success.

Therefore, the court will not grant you a divorce unless you have demonstrated that you have taken all reasonable steps to try and locate your missing spouse, so that they can be served with the divorce papers. Fortunately, not knowing where your spouse lives does not automatically mean you have to hire a lawyer and spend thousands of pounds getting divorced.

If you have no address for your spouse or no contact with their relatives you can apply for a disclosure order if they last lived in the UK. The order is made against HMRC who will use their database to find an address and if they do they will tell the court who then send the divorce papers to that address. If they do not respond the divorce can proceed without their consent.

If you no longer have contact with your ex-spouse (referred to in the application as the the Respondent) this can be difficult as the Court will require an address. If you don’t have an address for the Respondent, you have to show the court;

• That you do not know where your spouse is residing
• What you have done to locate them, such as contacting relatives and friends, searching the electoral roll, or enquiring with their employer

Ex won’t sign divorce papers

Having to serve your spouse with divorce papers also presents a potential problem if they choose to ignore them. When your spouse is sent a notice of divorce proceedings, they also receive an ‘Acknowledgement of Service’ form which must be returned within 14 days to enable the court to move your application forward.

If your spouse chooses to ignore the divorce papers in an attempt to delay or prevent the divorce from happening there are fortunately still options for you to take to get divorced.

We would need to look at getting the papers served upon your spouse by a court bailiff or process server. They physically give your ex-partner the divorce papers and then submit a statement of truth to the court saying they have served the papers.

The judge will then allow 14 days for them to respond. If they still choose to ignore the papers then the judge will allow the divorce to go through without their signature.

When to use our missing spouse divorce service

Missing spouse divorce is for anyone separated for some time and has no address for their spouse or they believe they are unlikely to sign divorce papers.

• You are unable to locate your spouse or don’t know their current address
• Your spouse won’t sign divorce papers or will not co-operate

START YOUR MISSING SPOUSE DIVORCE FOR JUST £499.00

What we do when you order this divorce service

How we go about handling your missing spouse divorce depends on your situation and which option or combination of options we feel is best for your particular case. There will be some additional steps and court procedures to deal with, but don’t worry, we are experts at handling divorce in absentia.

• We will make an application to the court to find an address for your missing spouse
• We will if necessary use a court bailiff to serve the divorce papers
• We will if necessary use a process server to serve the divorce papers
• We will if necessary ask the court to dispense with having to serve the papers

What’s included for our fee and how does the divorce process work?

The missing spouse divorce service is fully managed by us, which means we handle the entire divorce process for you, including drafting and filing all required divorce papers.

All you need do to get divorced using this service is complete a short questionnaire and then return any paperwork we need you to sign, we then do the rest. We deal with the courts on your behalf and file all court documents & petitions.

You will have a designated case manager who supports you throughout the whole process, from start to finish.

This service would generally cost over £2,000 with a high-street solicitor, whereas our fixed-fee service costs just £499 including VAT, plus any mandatory court filing fees.