my husband has told me that he has divorced me and re married i have had no paperwork can he do this without me being informed

[upsetspouse]

my husband has divorced me without me being notified and has re married can he do this

[sir.prize]

///can he do this without me being informed///

It seems like the answer is Yes!

[Kathyan]

How long have you been apart? If it's longer than 5 years, he can divorce without your agreement.

[cathfromsaron]

sounds a bit unlikely, if he has known where you have been living and you were unaware of the split ...

was this in the UK?

[tonywiltshire]

You are unable to obtain a divorce until you have been married for over one year, and there are no exceptions to this, if your spouse does not object it will be undefended, which I assume was your situation, if one person does object it will be defended, there are very few defended divorces at present. Your ex-partner and you have probably claimed irretrievable breakdown, separation or desertion.
If your ex-partner was the petitioner and you were the respondent I can think of no legal circumstances where you should not be aware of your position.

[Mick-Talbot]

Are you still living together too ?

[upsetspouse]

we would of been separated 4 years when he applied for a divorce but have seen each other regularly and i thought he wanted to try again he told me yesterday we were divorced and he had re married

[upsetspouse]

i am in the uk

[fadeout73]

Where in the UK are you? In Scotland you can divorce, without consent of the other party, after being separated two years and with consent after one year. I think in England it is five years without consent and two years with consent.

[tonywiltshire]

As said I can see no legal circumstance where you would not be aware of your position, ask you (ex) spouse if he has obtained his decree absolute, if he has not received it and has married again he has committed bigamy.

[Ann]

Barmaid could probably advise.

[Ann]

Sorry I see you are a new member as of today - we have members on here who are brilliant on legal matters.

[cathfromsaron]

you need to get legal advice asap!

what about the division of assets? unlikely you could not know about that?

[Prudie]

I thought the 2 and 5 years rule was no longer in place. Although I have always suspected there was foul play afoot I can tell you that my husband and I had been separated for 2 or 3 years but in regular contact yet a decree nisi arrived in the post without me ever having received or responded to any letters or seen a solicitor. I ignored it and the the absolute came through 6 (or 8?) weeks later, still without me seeing anybody.

[tonywiltshire]

No Prudie the 2-year undefended and 5-year defended (in England not Scotland) is still in force. Before the decree nisi you (and upsetspouse) should have received a copy of the petition and notice of proceedings. Six week after the decree nisi has been issued the petitioner can apply for the decree absolute. I have never before heard of someone complain (rightly) that they did not know they were unmarried and the respondent can apply for a copy of the decree absolute, if it exists.

[Bambiagain]

From experience, I know that even a divorce "without consent" after five years needs a response from the party being divorced. The only way it can take place without the other party (in this case you) knowing is if your address is unknown to the person divorcing you and you are uncontactable. My ex, who left me, returned all correspondence to the court marked "no longer at this address" (which was untrue) and I had a hell of a job divorcing him. The party being divorced has to be served with papers.

[upsetspouse]

I am seeing a solicitor tomorrow but he has always been aware of were i live according to him he has a decree absolute but i have never received anything the only things i can think of is that a) he has lied about not knowing were i live or b) he has never really divorced me in which case I can get him for bigamy and perjury i will no more tomorrow and will let you know the outcome. Thankyou all for your advice this website is really useful and seems friendly.

[Eve]

Did you marry in England/Wales under the usual law here?

[upsetspouse]

cath i have not received very much off him for years he was useless with money and the only thing i know for sure that i am entitled to his half of a pension he receives he has a business that we started together but i dont know if he closed it or just sold everything as for other assets he has i havent a clue since we split i live in rented accomodation and have raised the kids and paid the bills on my wages thank god they are older now and can support themselves but i still struggle every month paying debts that he should be paying but that is a whole other issue.

[upsetspouse]

I married in england under the usual law

[treetops1]

Do you believe him? He might think it's an easy way out to tell you this.