If you were married or entered into a civil partnership in England and Wales, but your spouse lives abroad, you will need to think carefully about how to serve the divorce proceedings on them overseas.

You can initially post the issued divorce proceedings to your spouse or civil partner, however this may not be a reliable way to ensure that they receive the documents and may delay progressing the proceedings. Alternatively, you may need to arrange for personal service of the proceedings and the methods for doing this will depend on the specific country and particularly whether the country is a signatory to the 1965 Hague Convention on Service; which sets out the process for serving such documents.

The rules relating to the service of court documents abroad are varied and complex and therefore if you would like further information in respect of the procedure, George Green’s specialist Divorce Solicitors would be more than happy to assist.

To discuss your matter with our family law solicitors in a free initial telephone consultation call Mark Vandaele on 01902 796930 (mvandaele@georgegreen.co.uk) at our Wolverhampton office or Rachel Baker on 01384 340 580 (rbaker@georgegreen.co.uk) at our Cradley Heath office.