Serve Divorce Papers in Another Country

by Anonymous from Florida

How do you serve papers to someone not living in the US? My spouse and I were married in Massachusetts.

I currently live in Florida and have for one year. She currently lives in Thailand.

We have no property and no children and are both in agreement of divorce. What is the easiest way for us to divorce?

Answer to Florida Divorce Question

Dear Anonymous,

Your wife needs to be properly served with the divorce petition.

Obtaining service of process for someone outside of the USA is a fairly complex matter, but it can be done.

There are two methods to fulfill service of process requirements for Florida divorce on someone living outside of the country.

One is the "Letter Rogatory" method, and the other is through the "Hague Service Convention".

In both cases, you will need to speak to either a family law attorney or a professional process server to see how this is done in your circuit. Click on the links below for more information.

If you cannot locate her, you could use constructive service instead, this is commonly called service by publication. Compared to foreign service, this would be easier.

Wiki Resources

Hague Service Convention

Letter Rogatory

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