Legal advice needed: 5 years after my divorce, I may still be married

[Character Assassin]

Divorced (or so I thought) about 5 years ago, while I was in San Diego and Monterey, and my wife at the time was living in LA.

She offered to have her attorney draw everything up, and I had no problem with that, as it was relatively amicable and she is scrupulously ethical.

Just having returned to law enforcement, I had to undergo the standard background check, polygraph, records check, etc....

In the course of doing so, the investigators could find no records whatsoever in either the city or county of LA for a divorce between two parties with our respective names (she had always kept hers) between 1983 and 2003.

IOW, it is possible the fuckwit never filed the papers, either correctly or otherwise.

My presumably ex-wife returned to her native Europe and is incommunicado thus far.

Any legal brainiacs out there with any advice on how to search this out?

[SoCalDem]

1. Sounds like a case for Magnum P.I.

:shrug:..

Did you have to pay alimony?? If so, there would be a record of that..

How odd.. Do you remember the name of the lawyer??

[Character Assassin]

4. No, no kids, no support of any kind.

I lost some files in my last move, and this should be a simple matter of just finding the right state/county repository of records.

I just found this out, and am used to catching bad guys, not hunting down court documents from domestic cases, but if nobody knows, I'll find out sooner or later.

[thebaghwan]

2. Here is what I would do.

I am not an attorney just a paralegal but I have seen similar problems.

Can you get the records from the investigators?

I would go see a divorce attorney. My brother in law had a similar problem where his wife left him and returned to Iran a long time ago.

I took him to a friend who was a good attorney and he filed for divorce and what they did to "serve" her was to publish a notice in some national newspapers. They never heard from her and that was it and it didn't cost too much money and it wasn't a hassle.

[Character Assassin]

7. Thanks. The problem is, the investigators found no records.

Can you get the records from the investigators?

I can get their request forms, but those same forms came up with no hits.

[no_hypocrisy]

21. Divorce complaints and judgments are usually filed in the county in which

you were residing at the time of divorce. Since it's been several years, the legal papers (if existing) would be found in your state capital.

Call your county family court and get a number for the office in the state capital and get some free advice from the court clerk at the same time.

It's easy after that: if there is no judgment of divorce, you're still married. Then file your complaint (maybe you should see an attorney so you won't get stuck with alimony and sharing property, etc.) and when there is no answer, you get your judgment at last.

[Cleita]

3. If you aren't divorced, you can claim she abandoned you

since you can't find her. Don't you have to sign final divorce papers in California? I know someone that this happened to, but since he couldn't find his wife he was able to get a divorce saying he was abandoned by her and he couldn't find her.

[ZenLefty]

5. Do you know if a court case was ever filed?

I'd check the courthouse myself first. Hopefully it was filed but they just missed it.

Did you ever receive a final divorce decree from the court? I put mine in a nice frame on the mantle, immediately prior to some dancing and partying.

[Character Assassin]

10. I recall getting some documents

But never really looked at them because we had been seperated for like 3 years before it took place, and I trusted her choice of attorney.

[ZenLefty]

11. I'd still check the courthouse in person

It's probably a dead end, but it happens from time to time.

You could also call her attorney's office and see if they can at least give you a case number. From there you can see what's filed with the court. I just can't imagine that nothing was ever filed.

I'm no attorney, but I play one at work sometimes.

[Character Assassin]

17. The problem is I live in Monterey (300+ miles north) and I lost all doc's

with the attorney's name on them. I requested them from my ex, but she has yet to respond (if she ever will).

[ZenLefty]

20. I know what the docs said:

Dear Mr. Assassin,

Please file these important documents with the Monterey County Courthouse. Failure to do so will result in your divorce not being finalized. Retain court certified copies forever.

Regards,

Your soon-to-be-ex-wife's attorney

[CatWoman]

6. You???? Divorced???????

*gasp*

:D

[Character Assassin]

9. It was a case of two kids, too young to know what they were getting into

Very painful at times, very passionate and ultimately it could have been saved if we had known then what we know now.

Maturity and marriage go hand in hand.

[thebaghwan]

8. By the way

this was also in L.A. My brother in law wanted to remarry so this is what we did.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

12. Those mail order brides'll get ya everytime!

I don't know jack about dissolutions but a friend is a good divorce lawyer and I will see her over the coming week...I can ask what she would do amd PM it to you if it's not handled by then.

[Character Assassin]

16. Nah, we met as students at university in Germany

She is a quality person, and got her PhD in Russian Literature when she was here.

It wasn't intended to be fly-by-night when we got into it.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

19. I was just ribbin ya!

A little elbow in your side..it's your christmas gift :D

[readmylips]

13. Oh my God...this just happened to my cousin...

He's getting married in January and his wife-to-be was divorced 20 years ago, now she finds that she was never divorced. Her husband never filed for divorce after she left him.

[thebaghwan]

14. Go to this website

http://regrec.co.la.ca.us/recorder/birth_death.htm

Near the end is the info on divorce records. Hope this helps.

[Character Assassin]

15. Thanks very much. I tried all those sources about an hour ago.

No luck, and neither did the police background investigators have any.

And those guys are good.

[Booberdawg]

18. Wow, this is an interesting twist

I can't help you but I'm watching with interest and wishing you the best. What an interesting complication.

I do hope it all works out for you in the end.