Can My Spouse Deny My Request for Divorce?

Our York divorce attorneys at Ilkhanoff & Silverstein have been helping families through tough times and legal disputes for more than 30 years combined. Needless to say, we have seen some pretty interesting and unique divorce cases, but few are more surprising than when a client tells us that their spouse has “denied their request for a divorce.” This is such a strange thing to hear because it legally cannot be done.

You both need to agree to get married in our culture but you both don’t need to agree to get a divorce. With all states now adopting “no fault” divorce laws, meaning you don’t have to cite a specific issue for wanting to end your marriage, you can head into your county clerk’s office all by yourself and tell them you want divorce forms. If you aren’t sure what to write down, you will be given the option to say “irreconcilable differences”, which is a nice legal way of saying you simply cannot get along anymore.

Serving Your Divorce Papers

If your spouse refused to acknowledge your request to dissolve your marriage, you cannot simply give them the divorce papers and expect the results you want. More than likely, they will continue to deny everything and claim you never handed them the paperwork. What you need to do next is get a third-party involved to serve those papers.

If you are in a pinch and need to have your papers served right away, the sheriff’s department in your town should be able to provide this service for you. If domestic violence is part of your reasoning for needing a divorce, these services may even be granted free of charge. To take things a step further and to get the entire process rolling sooner, allow a divorce attorney to serve the papers for you. This will provide you with clear, third-party evidence that your spouse is aware of the divorce and make it impossible for them to feign ignorance in court later.

If you live in Pennsylvania and need help starting or finalizing your divorce, don’t hesitate to give us a call at (717) 744-0531. You can also fill out an online case evaluation form to get in contact with our York family law attorneys now.

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