In an interesting story out of New York City several years ago,  a woman who was 59 years old, sued her husband, who was 90 years old, after being married for over 20 years, after he secretly divorced her, just a few short months after they were initially married. The reason the husband claims to have divorced his wife was to “protect his assets.” The wife then filed a lawsuit to determine that the divorce is was  “null and void,” as she was unaware of any divorce proceedings. The wife alleged that her husband was using the “illegal and fraudulent” divorce to rob her.

According to an article in the New York Post, after four months of marriage, the husband secretly arranged for a divorce in the Dominican Republic. The wife in her lawsuit claimed there was “fraud” involved and that she never knew nor did she ever consent to the divorce. Neither party ever lived in the Dominican Republic. If the divorce was not legal, than the parties would still be legally married. At stake, among other assets of the parties, was a $1.4 million Manhattan condo at West 55th street, in the heart of New York City.

So, the question is can someone secretly get a divorce, without the other spouse knowing about it, which would deprive them of their right to the marital estate or spousal support? Without knowing the law in New York State, in Wisconsin, you cannot obtain a divorce without proper legal notice to your spouse. The law requires personal service of the divorce papers on the other spouse. If the other spouse cannot be located, which periodically happens, the process server is required to make reasonable attempts at personal service and provide due diligence in locating the other spouse. In the event that the process server has made reasonable attempts and the spouse still cannot be located, in that event only, the law allows one to resort to what is called “substituted service.” The process server will provide an affidavit of non-found. The Petitioner (the person who filed the divorce), is than legally obligated to publish notice of the divorce in a community newspaper and to mail the divorce papers to their spouse’s last known address. Only after all of these things are accomplished, to the court’s satisfaction, can a person proceed with a divorce.

Another legal issue that would face someone attempting to get a divorce in another state or country is “residency.” As an example, you cannot file for divorce in Wisconsin, unless you have been a bona resident of the state for the last 6 months as well the county you are filing the divorce case in over the last 30 days. One would assume that other states or going outside of the United States, would not allow someone to obtain a “quickie divorce,” without having lived there, for some period of time as prescribed by law.

While the New York case is an interesting reading, this could not arguably happen in the state of Wisconsin. With the requirement of residency and notice to the other party, one cannot obtain a “secret divorce” from their spouse to avoid having to divide up their estate or pay their support obligations. You can also not obtain a “quickie divorce” in Wisconsin, as there is a mandatory 120 day waiting period counted from the time that your spouse is served with the divorce papers, or when filing a joint petition, from the time the joint petition is filed with the court.