New York Divorce Lawyer Blog

Quite often I receive phone calls from people who seek a divorce but cannot locate their spouses. Such a situation is not uncommon in our immigrant community. Some people simply go back to their home countries leaving their spouses clueless of their whereabouts.

The due process clauses in the Constitution require the defendant to have notice of a legal proceeding and the right to be heard. But what if you cannot locate the Defendant? Or what if he/she is evasive of service?

In 2015, a New York court granted the plaintiff in a matrimonial case permission to serve the defendant with a divorce summons solely by sending it to him in a private message via Facebook. Since that time, the courts have permitted plaintiffs to serve papers in part through social media platforms and by email.