Submitting paperwork to the Texas family courts is only one of the early steps required for a successful divorce filing. You will also need to serve your spouse to advise them of the upcoming family law proceedings and then either negotiate a settlement with them or prepare for litigation.
Simply completing the service process can be a serious challenge. If you already know that your spouse does not want a divorce, you likely worry that they may go to great lengths to prevent you from ending the marriage. You may have delayed filing for months or even years out of fear of how they would react.
Now that you have submitted paperwork to the family courts, the next step will be ensuring legal service. Typically, family law matters require in-person service. Can your ex go into hiding to avoid the divorce?
There are alternative options to serve someone
It is common for people to try to avoid legal service, and most process servers will eventually find a way to reach an individual that needs to receive legal paperwork. They might approach someone at work or ask a casual question on the sidewalk in front of someone’s house to identify the recipient.
However, there are scenarios in which someone successfully evades a process server for weeks. You may need to eventually employ alternate methods of delivery. Certified mail can be an alternative option. So can in-person delivery of the paperwork to a home. It can either end up posted on a door or left with a family member who is 16 years of age or older.
Regardless of how stubbornly your ex tries to avoid legal service, they generally cannot prevent the delivery of certified mail nor the delivery of service paperwork to their primary residence.
What about after you serve them with paperwork?
Some people worry that their spouse’s refusal to negotiate will persist even after they successfully serve them. It is possible that your ex will continue to ignore your divorce petition. Thankfully, in that circumstance, you would be able to move forward with a divorce bite default because they fail to answer in a timely manner.
Learning more about the basic steps involved in a Texas divorce will help you feel confident moving forward with your own case.
