Before a Georgia judge will let you serve your spouse by publication, you have to show that you genuinely tried to find them.
The Standard
In Abba Gana v. Abba Gana, 251 Ga. 340 (1983), the Georgia Supreme Court explained that “[b]ecause notice by publication is a notoriously unreliable means of actually informing interested parties about pending suits, the constitutional prerequisite for allowing such service when the addresses of those parties are unknown is a showing that reasonable diligence has been exercised in attempting to ascertain their whereabouts.”
The call is not the filing spouse’s to make. “[I]t is the duty of the courts to determine whether the movant has exercised due diligence in pursuing every reasonably available channel of information,” and on appeal the appellate court decides for itself whether the search was “legally adequate.”
What Falls Short
For example, in Pierce v. Pierce, 270 Ga. 416 (1999), the husband’s affidavit said only that his wife’s last known address was “General Delivery, Kansas.” He could have contacted her Missouri attorney or her parents, or mailed to the former marital home. The court concluded “without hesitation” that he “did not use reasonably diligent and honest efforts” to find her.
Similarly, in Reynolds v. Reynolds, 296 Ga. 461 (2015), the husband knew his wife was living with her boyfriend, she had been charged days earlier with damaging his property at a Georgia address, and her daughter was in contact with both of them. The decree was set aside.
Actual Knowledge Does Not Cure It
Telling your spouse about the case is not a substitute. Abba Gana holds that “an interested party’s actual knowledge of pending proceedings is of no consequence unless he was legally served or waived service.”
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This post is a quick overview of the law and is not intended as legal advice. Please feel free to contact our office for a consultation if you have questions about this or any other legal aspects regarding your case!