As it would be unfair to allow your spouse to disappear and prevent you from terminating the marriage, Georgia law accounts for this. There is a kind of service called “service by publication,” which allows the court to consider the defendant on notice of the suit after the petitioner has followed a few steps.
The petitioner will first have to ask permission from the court to notify by publication. This is done by filing both an affidavit and a motion. The affidavit contains the oath of the petitioner, who swears that he or she doesn’t know where the spouse is, that he or she tried to find the spouse using reasonable diligence, and what state the spouse last resided in. If the motion is granted, the petitioner puts an ad in an appropriate periodical, usually a newspaper for four weeks, stating that the divorce has been filed, and with what court. Once this happens, if the defendant doesn’t file an answer with the court, a divorce can be granted at least 60 days after the first notice was published. It should be noted that divorces that are served by publication will keep the court from being able to award alimony, child support or distribute any property outside of the state of Georgia. Further, lying to the court about knowing where one’s spouse is can have serious consequences.