I wasnt informed for my court date and I missed it for my divorce hearing. Is there anything I can do
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I wasnt informed for my court date and I missed it for my divorce hearing. Is there anything I can do
Asked on June 22, 2009 under Family Law, Virginia
Answers:
S.J.H., Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 14 years ago | Contributor
A lot of this is going to depend how long along the hearing was held and whether a decision was rendered yet. Either way you are going to have to make a motion to the Judge that held the hearing to seek a rehearing. If he has already ruled and issued a decision you are going to have to seek a judgment vacating and setting aside the decision and this may not be as simple as if the Judge has not yet ruled. Also, were you ever notified that a divorce was even pending or just not the hearing itself. Either way you are going to have to paint a clear picture as to why you were not not there at the hearing. I suggest you go to the Court Clerk and pull your file and the affidavit of Service. See how you were supposed to be served with a notice of the trial. Normally you need to be served in person with the original divorce proceeding and then it depends on the court how you are to be served with subsequent notices. If you can establish that you were never served you should be able to get a rehearing. If it was due to your lax conduct in not picking up a certified mail or forgetting the date, then you may be stuck by the results. You need to immediately get your file from the Court clerk and make copies and then go and see a lawyer in your area.
B. B., Member, New Jersey Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 14 years ago | Contributor
I'm not a Virginia lawyer, and divorce law and procedure are different from one state to the next. You are going to need an attorney to deal with this, if there's any problem with the decree, and one place to look for qualified counsel is our website, http://attorneypages.com
A lot may depend on exactly why you weren't informed of the date. I would have to start out believing that the court sent you a notice in the mail; if you moved without giving the court your new address or leaving a forwarding address with the post office, it's your fault that you didn't get the notice.
Anything that you might try to do about this has to be done as quickly as possible. Don't waste a day following up on this.
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