This happens surprisingly more than you would imagine. Sometimes, people grow apart and then they move apart, but never bother to legally separate or divorce. Time passes, addresses change, and then, usually, one of the parties wants to get remarried. As most people know, you have to personally serve the other party with a Summons and Complaint to initiate divorce proceedings. But how do you serve someone if you don’t know where they are? The answer is: service via publication.
First, you have to make reasonable efforts to find him, and inform the Court that your process server has tried to locate the person. My process server gives me an affidavit informing the Court of the steps he has taken to locate the person. You attach the affidavit to an ex parte (one sided) application for service via publication. When the Judge signs the Order, you then must publish a notice in a periodical of your choice (I like to use Nevada Legal News), once per week for four weeks. At the end of four weeks, the other party is considered “served” and the 20 days he has to respond commences.
If 20 days runs, and you have not heard from that person, then you begin default proceedings. People often ask: how long will it take? I even had a client once come into my office with a wedding planned in 30 days. I told her to move her wedding immediately. This process takes a long time because there is a lot of red tape to cut through. It takes about two weeks to get the affidavit from your process server, then about another two weeks to get the Order for Service Via Publication, then you have to Publish for four weeks, then the 20 day period runs, then it takes about another 2 weeks to go through the default process. All in all, you’re looking at about three-and-a-half months in the best case scenario, so plan accordingly!
Divorce in Las Vegas 